Water Treatment Plants


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Screening: Wastewater entering the treatment plant includes items like rocks, and even dead animals. If they aren’t removed, they could cause problems later in the treatment process. Most of which is sent to landfills.

 

Pumping Process: The wastewater system relies on the force of gravity to move sewage from your home to the treatment plant. Wastewater-treatment plants are located on low ground, often near a river into which treated water can be released. If built above the ground level, the wastewater has to be pumped up to the aeration tanks. From here on, gravity takes over to move the wastewater through the treatment process.

 

Aerating: One of the first steps that a water treatment facility can do is to just shake up the sewage and expose it to air. This causes some of the dissolved gases that taste and smell bad to be released from the water. Wastewater enters a series of long, parallel concrete tanks. Each tank is divided into two sections.

 

Removing-sludge: Wastewater enters the second section or sedimentation tanks.The sludge settles out of the wastewater and is pumped out of the tanks. Some water is removed in a step called thickening and then the sludge is processed in large tanks called digesters.

Removing scum: As sludge is settling to the bottom of  he sedimentation tanks, lighter materials are floating to the surface. This 'scum' includes grease, oils, plastics, and soap. Slow-moving rakes skim the scum off the surface of the wastewater. Scum is thickened and pumped to the digesters along with the sludge.

 

Killing Bacteria: Finally, the wastewater flows into a 'chlorine contact' tank, where the chemical chlorine is added to kill bacteria, which could pose a health risk, just as is done in swimming pools.