How are microbes used to break down human feces in waste treatment facilities when copious amounts of bleach, alcohol, etc poured down drains?

Question

How are microbes used to break down human feces in waste treatment facilities when copious amounts of bleach, alcohol, etc poured down drains?

In: 2

Answer 1

Copious amounts of bleach, alcohol, etc poured down drains?

Answer 2

There just isn’t enough of those to make a difference. The bleach reacts with various organic molecules and gets used up. Alcohol gets so diluted that microbes don’t get negatively affected. Some microbes can even use alcohol as a food source when the concentration is low enough.

An analogy:

If all your air was replaced by smoke, you would die because your body can’t handle that—but smelling a tiny bit of smoke from a distant fire won’t negatively affect you much. Similarly, if you replace a microbe’s surroundings with chemical cleaners, it will die but a tiny amount won’t affect them much.