How Do Wastewater Treatment Plants Work?

It's a topic we'd rather not think about, where does last nights dinner go when we flush it down the drain? While you may already be grossed out just thinking about it, this question leads way to a significant subset of civil engineering and a massive amount of public funding.

Just like all dogs go to heaven, all drains in a city lead to a wastewater treatment plant where that wastewater gets turned back into water that we can drink.

Now, you may be thinking that you'd rather just let bygones be bygones and not think about this nasty part of real life, but here's the thing. Chances you've drunk water that was waste at some point... So, you might want to take some time to understand the engineering process that makes dirty water, clean.

CREDITS:

Isolated galaxy data visualization created by the Advanced Visualization Lab, National Center for Supercomputing Applications. Scientific simulation by Nathan Goldbaum, Mark Krumholz, and John Forbes.

A big thank you to the Kilgore Wastewater Treatment Plant for letting me come out and film.

Another big thank you to Dr. Low and LeTourneau University's Civil Engineering Department for helping coordinate the capture of this video.

All images courtesy of Creative Commons or protected under Fair Use. For questions or concerns about the use of any media, please contact the page directly.

[benschmidt]

I build water and wastewater treatment plants, and I was really impressed with the accuracy of this video. Nice work! I’m glad to see people interested in our essential and mostly unseen infrastructure!

[jasonmatthews]

One of the most stable jobs out there. Been doing this for 11 years and plan on another 30.

[checkoutmyyoutubepage]

Water filtration and treatment is one of the most overlooked technology that people never think about.

[ChesterTheLilDrummer]

I am a WWTP operator in South Carolina. Like others have said, it is an absolutely great job. It's not what I dreamed of doing as a kid, but I'm happy it's what I do now. This is a wonderful video that provides an easy to understand summary of what we do!

[Maya__Mia___]

Thank you to everyone you works or has worked in one of these facilities, or has made a contribution to the development and management of the equipment used at these facilities. Respect ♥️

[bret]

Thank you. This should be one of the mandatory videos in Junior high. Kids need to known where food comes from, and where it goes when we are done using it. Engineering is awesome. Hope more kids chose this field of work

[ConcerningReality]

Sorry about the voiceover audio! We have a new mic in all of our new videos, so everything should be much better. Thanks for watching!

[jwschwartz]

Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) are truly amazing places! They replicate what 'Mother Nature' does over several weeks in 24 hrs. They provide a greatly needed service. The operators of these plants are some outstanding individuals and I for one hold them in high regard. (full disclosure: I've worked for some of the top OEMs that manufacture the equipment used in WWTPs) "I love the smell of Influent in the morning"!! Sludge Rules!!

[worldofwastewater]

Wastewater is a great career choice!!! Thank you for making a video highlighting this hidden gem of an industry.

[MC-yxgn]

I might suggest you add a second to final step: denitrification. It’s a more modern and widely growing step which removes harmful nitrates, which cause problems for algae growth and sea life in whatever body of water the effluent is discharged into. It’s basically running the effluent through sand and gravel filters, and adding small amounts of methanol and aeration to help the process along. Very well made video.

[tomharris]

Think of our world without these treatment plants. No one thinks about it until it fails. Thanks for posting.

[nicholaslent]

Good video - for those who don’t know, the secondary treatment process can usually achieve greater than 85% solids and organic removal… The reference to 85% removal in the video is actually the national standard for secondary wastewater treatment plants in the US. However, many secondary treatment plants can consistently achieve 95 - 98 % removal of these two conventional pollutants on a monthly average. With tertiary treatment processes such as sand or disc filters, 99% removal is fairly common.

[nyotosulistiyo]

I'm a Waste Management Diploma student and this video summarize everything essentials about wastewater treatment. Very recommended for new spirit that curious about wastewaters treatment.

[noelnatividad]

At the Fred Hervey wastewater plant, where I work, we take it all the way to potable standards. After the second stage clarifiers, the product hits lime reactors, reverb, sand filtration, carbon filtration, then ozone, finally chlorine, and is then potable, but still gets injected into our aquifer, if not used at from our domes by one of the electric plants. We are one of few that do this in the world

[Sthriven]

I'm a mechanical engineer with little technical training in water, but its my dream job. I just got an interview with my city's treatment plant. I hope I can recall information from this video!!!

[Centa]

Wastewater treatment plants do NOT turn wastewater into drinkable water, but just into water clean enough to release it into the natural circle of water without the risk of causing damage to the environment. That's a difference. ;)

[kavitaaggarwal]

Have to give a science exam tomorrow and this is a major part of the syllabus. Thanks a lot for posting this video on the web as you have indeed given a practical view of what we'd just studied in the books. You're video has even encouraged the masses to show dignity for those who work in WWTPs and make the sewage fit for human consumption. Interest and great spirit has been retained throughout this video. Good Job!!!

[Ostsol]

I used to bike past the local treatment plant rather often -- which is unavoidable, as it's built along the river valley trail system. It doesn't actually smell nearly as bad I remember it did when I was a kid! :D

[hishouha]

I've always been curious as to where all the dirty water was going, because it didn't make sense for it to just disappear with all the dirt in it.
We'd run out of good water very fast if it weren't for these plants.
Really interesting and underrated !

[komalthapa]

I salute the people who do this work 👌👌