WATER RECLAMATION EXPLAINED

Businesses and municipalities use water reclamation systems to return waste water to the natural environment. Most of the water that goes through a waste water systems does not get used in homes. The pipes that contain drinking water and the pipes that handle waste water are kept separate. Keeping the pipes that handle potable water and waste water separate minimizes the risk of contamination. Water Reclamation in Los Angeles works the same way it does anywhere else.

Reclamation plants use several steps to clean the water. When the water is clean, they return the water to the environment or recycle it for other usage. The first part of the process is bar screening. The process gets it names because of the large screens that are used to sort out large solid matter from the rest of the water. After the water passes through the bar screens, it will go to the filtration tanks.

The primary filtration tanks used at most water filtration plants hold water for several days. The tanks hold water for a few days. At the end of the settling process, heavy matter will collect at the bottom and light matter will collect at the top. Water treatment plant workers skim the matter off the top and machines remove the matter from the bottom. Plant workers remove the matter and store it elsewhere. The matter removed gets used for fertilizer.

When the water gets removed from the settling tanks, it will go through a biological process. The process adds bacteria and other microorganisms that will remove he sludge and that will reduce the nutrients in the water. Oxygen bubbles are pumped into the tank to keep aerobic bacteria alive and give them the gases they need to convert the food they find in the tanks into the energy.

After the biological process is finished, the waste water is sent into a secondary settling tank more slowly. The secondary settling tank lets the bacteria settle to the bottom and the clean waste water remain on top. Bacteria still left on the bottom will get sent back to the secondary settling tanks. The water will be sent to another area. The net area finishes the reclamation process.