Wastewater –

Its Journey to Treatment and

Return to the Environment

ESI
 Where does it all go!
Where does the When you flush the
water from the toilet where does
washer go? the contents go?

By gravity flow, the waste is on its way

to your local wastewater treatment plant!
 Why treat wastewater?
• Causes a demand for dissolved oxygen
(lower DO levels of streams)

• Adds nutrients (nitrate and phosphate)

to cause excessive growth

• Increases suspended solids or sediments

in streams (turbidity increase)
 Parkway
Sewagesheds WWTP
- an area where
sewage is collected
and delivered to a Bowie WWTP
WWPT
Western
Blue Plains Branch
WWTP WWTP
Marlboro
Meadows
Piscataway
WWTP
WWTP

Mattawoman
WWTP approximate
boundaries
 Where do you locate the
WWTP in the watershed?
A

D
Consider the four possible sites.
 The volume of wastewater
35 WWTP Capacity
30 Average Flow
million gallon/day

25
20
15
10
5
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PGC 1992 Comprehensive Ten Year Water and Sewerage Plan

 Levels of Treatment
Primary
– removal by physical separation of grit and large objects (material to
landfill for disposal)

Secondary
Mostly dead
– aerobic microbiological process (sludge) microbes
organic matter + O2  CO2 + NH3 + H2O
NH3  NO3-

- lowers suspended solids content (into sludge) aquatic nutrient

 To tertiary process
Secondary process
From primary process

ir Aeration Settling
iffuser and rapid collects sludge
mixing on bottom
 Levels of Treatment continued
Tertiary (advanced)
– anaerobic microbiological process with a different microbe
where O2 is toxic (more sludge)
NO3-  N2 (escapes to atmosphere)

– PO4 if not removed in sludge in secondary process

-3

PO4-3 + Al+3  AlPO4 (s) (into sludge)

- aeration to strip N2 and re-oxygenate (add DO)

From secondary process
Tertiary process

Effluent
add methanol as food source

Slow mixing Settling

to keep suspended collects sludge
and O2 out on bottom
When the treatment is done…
• Effluent back to stream after
– a final carbon filtration and
– chlorination/dechlorination

• Sludge – very nutrient rich

– applied directly to land as fertilizer
– incinerated (good fuel after drying)
– composted (Compro® from WSSC)

Note – Leafgro® is composted

leaves and grass from MES