POTABLE WATER ⇨ MUNICIPAL WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT

What’s the Story?

Gurgle, Gurgle, Flush! Ewww! When potable water is used in a municipal setting like a city or town, wastewater is likely to go to a wastewater or sewage treatment plant. These facilities handle all sorts of wastewater, not only from homes, but also from schools, businesses, and industry. Purifying water after being flushed down a toilet or used to make clothing in a factory is no small feat! Wastewater treatment plants must remove all of the solid organic matter or “sludge” - like human fecal matter, toilet tissue, and bits of food that go down the drain. Many other substances mix with and are dissolved in wastewater, such as personal care products, oils, cleaning chemicals, salts, microplastics, and medicines! Removing all this takes time and energy and requires many steps! “Sludge” goes to landfills while other processes clean the remaining liquid. Finally, most water is chlorinated to remove harmful germs and bacteria before being released into the nearest waterway and back into the water cycle. These systems are not perfect but the lack of these systems could be catastrophic to the environment.

Click on your water drop above to travel to the WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT next!!