Learning About Waste Water Treatment

I realized that I don’t know much about how waste water treatment works so I set out to learn more. The following are some of the resources that I used to get a better basic understanding.


EPA 6 page pamphlet on the basics from 1998: How Wastewater Treatment Works… The Basics

EPA Effluent Guidelines: https://www.epa.gov/eg

EPA Municipal Wastewater: https://www.epa.gov/npdes/municipal-wastewater

YouTube – How does Wastewater treatment work? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDtUpkMqu6E

YouTube – Wastewater: Where does it go? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaXth88i7rk


What are some interesting things I learned?

  • Some wastewater treatment plants process both waste water and storm water. Will this new plant handle both?
  • Will the plant do emergency discharge events during heavy rainfall dumping raw untreated sewage into the creek? If it handles storm water, the answer is yes.
  • Waste water treatment plants are not designed to treat chemicals that can be in your pharmaceuticals or your personal care products. The purpose is to remove solids and pathogens.
  • Will disinfection be done utilizing chlorine, ozone, or UV?
  • According to one video there are/were 14748 treatment plants in the USA.

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