Which is a primary objective of tertiary treatment in wastewater processing?

Tertiary treatment is a crucial stage in the wastewater treatment process that comes after primary and secondary treatments. Its primary objective is to provide an additional level of purification to the effluent, ensuring that the water is treated to a higher standard before it is discharged into the environment or reused for various purposes.

This level of treatment often involves advanced processes such as filtration, biological nutrient removal, and disinfection methods like chlorination or ultraviolet light treatment. These processes effectively eliminate remaining contaminants, pathogens, and nutrients that may not have been fully removed during the earlier treatment stages, thereby enhancing water quality to meet regulatory standards or specific reuse requirements.

While other options mention important aspects of wastewater treatment, they do not capture the comprehensive goal of tertiary treatment, which is focused mainly on further purification.