noun Water that people have already used at home or in industry, and that now contains waste.
- The commission's recommendations would require the removal of toxins and heavy metals from wastewaters that now run into regional rivers and New York Harbor untreated, and collect at their bottom.
— Ronald Sullivan, PROGRAM SHAPES UP ON HARBOR SLUDGE (1976)
- As the zoogleal slime reenters the wastewater, excess solids and waste products are stripped off the media as sloughings. These sloughings are transported with the wastewater flow to a settling tank for removal.
— Frank Spellman, Revonna Bieber (2012)
- The city built a plant to clean wastewater before it flows into the river.
- Pipes under the street carry wastewater from every home to the treatment center.
- Factories must treat their wastewater before releasing it anywhere near the lake.
