City of Huntsville, Alabama *** Huntsville *** Alabama ***

Water Pollution Control

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.

Facility Name	Treatment Capacity
Spring Branch WWTP	41.00 MGD
Aldridge Creek WWTP	8.40 MGD
Western Area WWTP	20.00 MGD
Chase Area WWTP	4.00 MGD
Big Cove Area WWTP	6.00 MGD
Magnolia Springs	0.25 MGD
Total Treatment Capacity:	79.65 MGD

* 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