Wastewater Treatment
Getting Huntsville's wastewater away from its
homes, businesses and other facilities is only half of the
challenge. Next, WPC must remove pollutants from the
wastewater. The water containing the pollutants must be
reclaimed and purified to natural stream water quality... or
better.
To meet this challenge, WPC operates six (6) wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs, for short).
The WWTPs differ in some ways, but all operate on the same
principles. They remove pollutants through several basic
steps:
-
the sewer system delivers wastewater to a WWTP
at the Headworks
-
large, inorganic solids are removed with
Bar Screens
-
smaller inorganic solids are settled out and
removed in Primary Clarifiers
-
suspended organic solids are consumed by
natural micro-organisms in oxygen-rich Aeration Basins
-
dead and excess micro-organisms are settled out
and removed in Final Clarifiers
-
remaining micro-organisms are eliminated
through Disinfection
-
the clean, clear reclaimed water is released back
into a local waterway.
See an
illustration of the process of
wastewater treatment.
See
photos of
each sep of the treatment process.
WPC operates Huntsville's six (6) wastewater
treatment facilities.
Click the facility names below for more
facts about each.
* MGD = "Million Gallons per Day"
Click the map below to see a larger version.
Then click in the area
in which you live to find out which of
Huntsville's wastewater treatment facilities serves you.
A useful
by-product of the process of treating wastewater is a material
called "biosolids". Click here to see how WPC turns this natural material into steam
energy
