What Happens When You Flush?
An average of 6.72 million gallons of water comes through 130 miles of sanitary sewers throughout the District to reach the plant each day. Smaller sewer mains feed into larger ones that eventually dump into the plant "headworks" where the "raw influent" enters the treatment process.
What's In It?
Wastewater is water that has been used by people.
- Domestic sources are human wastes from toilets and household wastes from sinks, washing machines, bathtubs and showers.
- Commercial sources discharge much the same kind of waters in greater quantities.
- Industrial sources are the water used in cleaning equipment, cooling waters and discharges of manufacturing processes. Some of these have to be pretreated to remove harmful metals and chemicals before they are allowed to enter the wastewater collection system.
What Do We Do With It?
The District returns the water to the environment to once again serve the needs of the community. We do so by cooperating with natural processes.
What we do at the wastewater treatment plant is to accelerate the process by which water naturally purifies itself in rivers and streams. We use mechanical and biological processes much like those found in nature to remove solids and contaminants from the wastewater. Constant monitoring, sampling and testing assure that the cleansing process is working correctly and that the outfall water is pure.