How is wastewater treated?

Wastewater is treated at a plant to DEQ standards.

What is the purpose of a bar screen?

A bar screen filters out large solids from wastewater.

Lift stations are used when pipes are too deep.

Wastewater is 99.8% water and 0.2% solid material.

Infiltration and inflow can overwhelm the plant.

Wastewater treatment plants play a vital role in cleaning wastewater from homes and businesses to meet strict DEQ standards, utilizing various mechanisms like bar screens and bacteria to remove solids and contaminants effectively.
The wastewater treatment process involves complex steps, such as utilizing different zones within Basins to facilitate denitrification, ensuring the presence of essential bacteria for waste treatment, and employing UV disinfection for quality control to meet environmental standards.

How is wastewater treated?
Wastewater is treated at a plant to DEQ standards.
What is the purpose of a bar screen?
A bar screen filters out large solids from wastewater.
How does a lift station function?
Lift stations are used when pipes are too deep.
What is the composition of wastewater?
Wastewater is 99.8% water and 0.2% solid material.
How does a wastewater treatment plant handle peak flows?
Infiltration and inflow can overwhelm the plant.

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Every home and business generates wastewater, which is treated at a wastewater treatment plant.
Wastewater travels through pipes to the treatment plant, where it is cleaned to DEQ standards.
Gravity carries sewage from homes to the treatment plant, but lift stations are used when pipes become too deep.
A bar screen filters out large solids like diapers and toys from the wastewater.
A new bar screen and rake mechanism project aims to automate waste processing at the plant.
Grease balls form in the wet well and must be removed to prevent pump damage.
Wastewater is 99.8% water and 0.2% solid material, with 18 sewage pumps moving it to the treatment plant.
Infiltration and inflow of groundwater can overwhelm the plant, with peak flows reaching 38.5 million gallons per day.
JBS, a meatpacking plant, contributes a significant portion of the wastewater flow to the plant.
The plant uses bacteria to naturally treat wastewater, with a focus on removing suspended solids and biochemical oxygen demand.

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Each Basin in the system contains approximately 2,500 ceramic diffusers to break up warm air, allowing bugs to break down ammonia into nitrates and keep the water temperature above 55 degrees.
The first part of each Basin, at 700,000 gallons, operates without oxygen (anoxic zone), while the second part, at two million gallons, is aerated (oxic zone), converting ammonia nitrogen into nitrates.
The bacterial flock in the anoxic zone coagulates to facilitate denitrification, ensuring bugs can take oxygen off nitrates, crucial for the process.
Solids remain in the system for up to 16 days, with only two to three tons removed daily, as they contain bugs necessary for waste treatment.
The final clarifiers act similarly to primary clarifiers but are deeper, allowing more solids to settle out, with pumps capable of moving 3 million gallons per day for recycling. UV disinfection ensures water meets warm water B stream standards, with quality control sampling and testing crucial for environmental protection.