DeKalb Sanitary District - Population Served
The work done by a wastewater treatment plant is measured in MGD (millions of gallons per day) units.
Two Billion Gallons a Year
DeKalb Sanitary District treated about 2 billion gallons of wastewater last year.
More than 4 Million Gallons a Day
Users of the DeKalb Sanitary District generate between 4.5 and 6.0 Million Gallons of wastewater each day.
Serving a Variety of Users
Residential
Residential users include the estimated 42,599 people in the City of DeKalb.
Commercial and Retail
The District also serves the service and commercial businesses in its Facilities Planning Area. These include restaurants, retail stores, health care providers, recreational and entertainment enterprises.
Industrial
The industrial sector includes local industries that are considered "Significant Industrial Users" under the Environmental Protection Agency's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination program. The discharges of these and other industrial users are regulated to protect the population and the environment.
University
The District treats the wastewater generated by Northern Illinois University. The more than 25,000 students account for a significant proportion of the total wastewater volume. The operation of the treatment plant is complicated by the university's schedule. The volume of wastewater the plant must handle jumps dramatically during the one or two days in which the students return to campus, demanding great expertise on the part of plant operators to keep the biological treatment system in balance under rapidly increasing waste loads.