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Town opens Wastewater Treatment Plant for public tours

May 26, 2022   ·   0 Comments

Do you ever think about what happens to all that wastewater when you flush a toilet, empty a sink, or drain your washing machine?

Most likely you forget about it as soon as it’s gone.

All that used and polluted water can’t just be released back into the environment or we would soon have some serious problems.

As part of 2022 National Public Works Week, the Town of New Tecumseth opened some of its facilities to the public and provided guided tours.

The public was invited to tour the Parsons Reservoir in Alliston and the Tottenham Wastewater Treatment Plant in Tottenham.

The current Tottenham facility was commissioned in 2015, just off the 4th Line on the west side of town.

Water that is release from home is called “grey water” and contains traces of dirt, food, grease, hair and household cleaning products.

The Wastewater Treatment plant receives that water and removes the pollutants and debris, and cleans the water before returning it to the natural environment.

Skilled facility operators know how to purify the water and work to a high level of standards to make sure the water from the Tottenham facility is clean before it is released into Beeton Creek to continue its natural journey.

The first step in the process is the removal of large objects like rocks, rags, sticks, and pieces of tissue or similar. The water is then moved into two aeration basins.

From there, microorganisms are used to promote the natural breakdown of pollution in wastewater by mimicking the perfect environment for the microorganisms to flourish.

Facility operators are tasked with providing the right environment for the microorganisms by supplementing nutrients, dissolved oxygen, pH level, at the right temperature.

The sludge is removed from the water by various processes.

“There are actual microscopic bugs that break down toxic and organic sewage,” explained facility operator Zach Delio. “The bi-product is neutral. Once each week we’ll take a sample and put it under the microscope. We’ll take a sample and depending the types of bugs and number of bugs of a type, we can tell if the process is doing the proper thing.”

From the aeration basins, the water travels to the clarifier.

Biosolids stay in a lagoon for a period of time then are hauled away and used as fertilizers in farmer’s fields.

The final stage of purification uses UV lights to destroy any remaining cell organisms like E-coli bacteria.

The remaining clean water is returned to Beeton Creek to begin the water cycle all over again.

Facility operators demonstrated the cleaning process at the microorganism level by placing a single drop of water under a microscope and showing the results. The TV screen image was filled with microscopic creatures eating their way through the material in the water.

The staff at the facility take their jobs very seriously and work hard to maintain the standards that places clean water back into local waterways and the environment.

By Brian Lockhart

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