Name Gianna Rabassi Date 12/4/16 Class Pd 3

Wastewater Treatment Activity*

RESOURCES
Please review the following resources to answer the questions that follow.
Wastewater Treatment for Youngsters (Ages 8 to 80)
http://www.metrocouncil.org/Wastewater-Water/Publications-And-Resources/ES_kids_book-pdf.aspx
What Can You Do to Protect Local Waterways? U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
http://www.epa.gov/npdes/pubs/centralized_brochure.pdf
What Happens After the Flush U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, The Family Handyman Magazine
http://www.epa.gov/npdes/pubs/what_happens_after_the_flush.pdf

BACKGROUND
Think about the things that enter the wastewater system from a typical home: human waste; soap, detergents, and cleaning
products from drains and washing machines; food items from garbage disposals; and anything people pour down the sink drain.
How is this material removed so that the water can be safely returned to the environment and used again? The answer depends
on where you live. If your home is not serviced by a public sewer system, your wastes are treated with a septic system. If your
home is connected to a public sewer system, the water goes to a local wastewater treatment plant.
1.

What happens in preliminary treatment at a wastewater treatment plant?

Dirty water passes through a bar scree. The bar screen takes the large object out. The objects are dumped on a conveyor
belt. The conveyor belt moves the waste objects to a dumpster, which is dumped at a landfill.

2.

What happens to large objects found in the wastewater?

The bar screen takes the large objects out of the wastewater.

3.

What is a grit chamber and how is it used?

A grit chamber is where the wastewater is pumped in a large tank. The velocity of the flow of material is slown down so that
the larger materials can settle at the bottom of the tank. Then flights move the dirt to a sump and then the materials is
pumped to a truck for landfill.

4.

Primary treatment removes 50% of the pollutants in wastewater.

Adapted from: Environmental Science Activities for the 21st Century

Name Gianna Rabassi Date 12/4/16 Class Pd 3

5.

What happens to solids such as grease and oil?

Solids such as grease and oil are pumped to incinerate.

6.

What happens to the sludge in primary treatment?

The sludge is spun around a centrifuge to dewater and leave it dry enough to be burned.

7.

What happens in secondary treatment?

Air is pumped into the water to create and environment foe bacteria and organisms to live. The bacteria and organisms eat the
pollutants in the water, then they sink to the bottom.

8.

What are some examples of microorganisms used in secondary treatment?

Vorticella, Paramecium, Tokophyra, Activated Sludge Floc, and Philodina.

9. What happens to the remaining dirt?

The remaining dirt sinks and is pumped out. It is also cleaned with chlorine to kill germs and clean the water.

10. What happens to the remaining water? (Discuss the role of chlorine in your answer)
The remaining water flows to the chlorine contact channel. The chlorine is added to kill germs and to clarify the water.

11. What is the final process of wastewater treatment?

The chemical SO2 is added to the water t eliminate the chlorine. The chlorine is very useful for killing germs, but harmful to
humans and animals.

12. According to the U.S. EPA, what does it mean to flush responsibly? What items should you never put down the drain in
your house?
Flush with the wastewater treatment processes in mind. Grease, tampons, fats, oils and pads should never be put down the
drain.

Name Gianna Rabassi Date 12/4/16 Class Pd 3

13. What did people do with their waste before we had sewer systems and septic tanks? When did the Federal government
start to mandate that wastewater be treated before being returned to rivers, lakes and the ocean?
People use to dump their waste into the streets, gutters, ditches, and cesspits. In the 1970s the federal government stated
to mandate that wastewater be treated before being returned to rivers, lakes, and the ocean.

Click on Blue Plains Virtual Tour: http://esa21.kennesaw.edu/activities/ww-treatment/ww-tour-dc/blue_plains.swf

Since we were not able to visit a wastewater treatment plant, this website provides an interactive virtual tour of a wastewater
treatment facility. It allows you to control the direction of the tour by selecting steps using the aerial view of the plant. Follow the
numbered steps, clicking on the thumbnail images to enlarge and reading the associated text as you progress and answer the
following questions.
Wastewater Treatment: Sequence of Events: Put the steps in the wastewater treatment process listed below in the right order.

1.

Order

Step in the Wastewater Treatment Process

Air is mixed vigorously into tanks with wastewater effluent

Chlorine or bleach is added to the wastewater effluent

Sand and grit are removed from the wastewater effluent

Bacteria are settled out of wastewater effluent

Oils ad greases float to the surface of wastewater effluent

Anything you flush down the toilet will eventually show up at the wastewater treatment plant. Lets say you accidentally
drop a small towel down the toilet. What device is likely to catch the towel at the plant, and what would be its ultimate
destination if this occurred at the Blue Plains plant?
It would be caught by the bar screen which removes large materials. It would ultimately be filtered out in the last stage.

2.

Why is the wastewater effluent treated with chlorine, bleach, or ultraviolet light after secondary treatment?
The wastewater is treated with chlorine to kill all of the bacteria before it enters the rivers, lakes, and ocean.

3.

Describe how the organic solids collected in the wastewater treatment plant are processed after collection, and list their
final destinations at the profiled plant.
Organic bio solids are transported and used as fertilizer ager collection, they land in MD and VA.

Name Gianna Rabassi Date 12/4/16 Class Pd 3

4.

Both nitrogen and phosphorus can occur in large concentrations in wastewater effluent. Why is this a potential problem?
Describe, the approaches taken at the Blue Plains plant to deal with nitrogen and phosphorus removal prior to the release
of the effluent into the environment.
It is a potential problem because it enters and pollutes rivers and lakes. It is a suspended growth process system that starts
with 12 reactors. The process facilitates the oxidation and ammonia nitrogen to nitrogen gas using methanol as a carbon
source.