How Do Wastewater Treatment Plants Work? 

Want to learn the process but don't have 10 minutes to spare? We've condensed all this information into a quick 3 minute video here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-cUFKay8VPqo.html

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

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

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!

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

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 ♥️

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

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!

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!!

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

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!

i'm on my second year of waste treatment engineering,i can say it's pretty shitty hhahahahahaha

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.

I salute the people who do this work 👌👌

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

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. ;)

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.

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.

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

A really nice video explaining all the mechanism and process involved in the treatment. It can also help some other town planning.

I work at the 5th largest plant in the country out of newark NJ. Im a maintenance mechanic and i love it

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!!!

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!!!

Im an operator at a large plant in ny and this is accurate. Its really cool stuff and mind boggling how intense/ in depth it is when you witness it everyday

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 !

i remember going on a tour of my local wwtp for a school field trip. it was a hot day and the stench was absolutely rotten, just the thought of the shit soup simmering away in the summer heat was enough for me to dry retch. i respect the men and women who work in that environment

This answered a question I've had for all my life, 30 years which is what happens after I go. Thank you

I am amazed by how many people think there is a water factory somewhere, making new water for them to drink everyday. I have been a subcontractor in a number of WWTP's and learned this stuff on the job. Great people, doing great work, behind the scenes.

A process component during waste water treatment is the filter press. The filter press is used in a variety of applications and still remains a pioneer in solid-liquid separation in terms of dewatering before the centrifuge, decanter and belt filter. Greetings MSE Filterpressen.

Water treatment plants are pretty amazing! I'm very thankful we have them. Great video!

I’m playing city sky lines and I was just wondering how sewage and water treatment works and honestly I think I can say that I’m ok with drinking water from the treatment plants even if it was sewage before. Really cool stuff to know if I do ever deal with some thing along the lines of water treatment

I love that I can ask myself/the internet a question and it provides! Thanks for sharing!

Woke up today really curious about all of this. Gladly I live in a time when I can find videos like these. Great work!

I'm in the public works dept and I have to say this video is the best of its kind.

This was an amazing video. I have always been fascinated by utility engineering and waste water recycling is especially fascinating since i see it as a major accomplish went of human ingenuity

Have my microbiology exam in 2 days and a big part of a chapter is dedicated to waste water treatment. This video made it quite a bit more digestible. Thank you very much.

I am a second year MBBS student.we were recently taught in community medicine about treatment plant using this video.keep up the good work.

This made so much sense. Thank you so very much

this is incredibly accurate, scientifically sound and simple to understand. Thanks a lot

I used to work as a Public Works intern for a city in Southern California. The water that comes out of your hoses and sprinklers is recycled, but the one from your faucet is extracted from underground aquifers. Where I worked, they used to always say that their recycled water is safe for drinking but that in practice they wouldn't drink it. The director of the treatment plant used to drink the recycled water in front of the Director of Public Works to prove it's safe, but he was still not convinced to follow suit lol.

It's so helpful to me because I'm studying water and sanitation at Kushinga Phikelela Polytechnic in Zimbabwe

This video is an interesting one, thanks for sharing. I am a Coordinator in an organization and i found this video most educative

An Operator career is rewarding and stable work. Most begin their careers by apprenticeships or some form of vocational schooling. After a year, you have the hours (2080) to sit for most state licensing exams to enter the field at the lowest license. It takes dedication, an ability to solve complex problems, really good understanding of mathematics and continuing education to be successful. I've known people who wanted just the basic entry level license and are happy at that level. But if you want greater pay, it comes with greater responsibilities and knowledge. Apply yourself, license up to the highest level DEP license in your state. The next 10 years, Operator demand is going to be huge with all these old guys retiring in droves. The demand for Operators, particularly, those with good knowledge of SCADA system design, AWT troubleshooting ability, mechanical aptitude and blueprint reading, really good knowledge of biological processes and state DEP laws and regulations are going to make Operator pay skyrocket as municipalities seek knowledgeable Operators. License up by applying yourself. This means homework while not being paid. I've been an operator for 7 years. Began my career older than most, but I do have a degree in IT with PLC programing language experience. In conjunction with a minor in biology and 10 year VET. With public service at a local or state municipality, student loans get wiped clean with 10 years of payments under an income driven plan. I've been offered numerous jobs in the private sector that pay much better, but I am happy doing public service. The pay isn't too bad either. With time, the old guys in the leadership role retire. Then I move up. And working 1 mile from home is pretty nice too.

this video made me cry. something so simple as settling velocity (and the rest) allows us to drink , live, and reuse.

Great video for understanding basics of Water treatment plant. Being a billing & settlement system designer, I wanted to learn the process and understand the names of process equipment which will help me to design the system.

Thank you. Just the knowledge I was looking forward to gaining. Thanks a lot

Thankyou so much for this amazing explaination, i have my chemistry exam tomorrow and this helped me alot! Keep up the good work!!!

This video is very helpful! I was fishing the effluent water discharge at a waste water treatment and was wondering what kind of water was being discharged.

Proud industrial WWTP operator here. (Vietnam) let us keep the environment free from waste.

Excellent and very informative, well done! This video would be perfect for outreach campaigns with schools and public events, since not everyone thinks about or wants to tour their local wastewater treatment plant.

I really can't think if humans hadn't discovered this technique of sewage. It's genius.

I am a second year MBBS student.we were recently taught in community medicine about treatment plant using this video.kerp up the good work.

Very noice video, gives clear understanding of the system compared to the other ones I watched today. You rock

So I’m watching tv getting ready for some football and just wondering What in the world possessed me into typing sewage treatment plants in RU-vid? Sometimes my random thoughts amaze me

Very good video, i hope you get more views!

Wow thanks. I am working on such projects and it has given me more understanding.

Nice video, I work for Lovibond as a Business manager. And it's very important that even a common man understand the working and importance of a STPs/ETPs. Nice work.

I watched this video while on the toilet.

I'm a B level operator in Colorado and I'm about to get my A level. I also have a B.S. in hydrology. It's an interesting job for sure. It pays good and is generally laid back with opportunities for pay increases. The benefits of working for the government are nice as well. There's a couple things in this video that aren't 100% accurate but it definitely gives a good enough description. In the future, I will probably leave my plant for a higher paying job in my field. Thanks for the video.

I work for a company that dedicates itself on building and upgrading this types of facilities and I love it.

Very well done! I used to work in the field and taught this subject for years. Thanks!!

Sir i m wastewater treatment operator .i m from india and now i working in Saudi Arabia... 5 yrs experience

Who's here for an assignment that has to be completed in their Environmental Science class.

I'm a operator at a plant as well, it's great and not as gross as everyone thinks. I remember 1 day they said as a trainee, no matter the economy or anything happens you will always have a job. It's a pretty big plant 190mgd flow at peak hours non storm flow.

Watching this as I get ready to take a job in waste water networks. Thanks so much for the summary.

When I was in the Navy back in the late 80’s we spent a lot of time in the Mediterranean. In particular we had several port visits to Naples. At that time Naples flushed most of its raw sewage directly into the harbor. Being a catholic nation, a great number of the citizens didn’t believe in oral contraceptives. I remember trash and millions of condoms floating everywhere. We literally had to blast the bottoms of the liberty boats off with water cannons to remove debris and yes condoms.... before going ashore, we were told to never swim at the beaches and if we accidentally fell into the water boarding the liberty boats that we would be given a series of shots and out under medical supervision. No one fell in and I still don’t know how true they medical officers threats were...... it made me appreciate waste water treatment we have enjoyed in the US.

Yeah I work at one. Someone’s gotta do it😩

Great video! I just started in the industry and this video is great at the end of the day to help different processes and terms stick in my memory! Thank you!!!

I was just chillin at work when the question popped in my head. Great informative video.

Concerning,thanks,i'm retired and you brought back great memories.

The company I work builds these plants. It's pretty interesting stuff.

Amazing!! A great service that makes every day life so much better!!

I'm taking WWT Class I class right now. This video was very helpful in summing up the flow path. Thanks

Thank you..I was struggling trying to understand this thru' my textbook :)

Effluent from Activated sludge system is still far from drinkable, even after disinfection. The COD removal rate can barely reach 75%, and the effluent TSS still hundreds times more concentrated than drinking water.

Grateful for the incredible purification systems that keep our water clean and safe, even if it's mind-boggling to think about where it all comes from! Let's appreciate the efforts of those working behind the scenes to ensure our well-being. 💧

Just started working in a treatment plant and it is a really cool experience.

you know, there are plenty of condoms found on bar screen everyday.

thanks for the video you really helped me on my science project :)

Great Video! It was really interesting in addition to the Tour my City's Treatment plant had a few years ago

During my End of studies project internship, I had the chance to visit 3 facilities of WWTP's in my city, each one has it own technique (whether : activated sludge or Infiltration-percolation or natural lagoon), It's mesmerizing to see the diversity of those methods, during my internship I worked at biological denitrification of purified Wastewater using phyto-purification technique combined with denitrifying heterotrophic bacteria

Want to learn how water treatment plants work? Check out our new video here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0_ZcCqqpS2o.html!

Sludge solids can be further used in bio digestion plants to produce natural gas. Which Is suitable for generating power. The company I work for had one of the first in the world! The solids remaining are used as fertilisers.

So I just found your channel and looked through your videos. I'm subbing and probably gonna binge watch everything.

Been working at a plant for a week and it’s been a great experience

I don't know how I did not know this. First World privilege, I guess. PS the background music has major Twin Peaks vibes. Loved it

Thank you so much now i can make my science project confide😀😀😀

A hats off for ur hard work

People take these water waste plants for granted. Just because or its gross as topic. Its a God gift to our environments.

I used this for a school project guess what... because of this I got 100% on my work. 😃

It's a reminder that while we may complain about minor inconveniences like power cuts and traffic, we should truly appreciate the effort put into keeping our water clean. After all, no one wants to unknowingly enjoy a toilet smoothie!

Love this feed!!! currently I am pursuing my BTech in chemical engineer in final year, In future probably want to go in this field. This video much helpful to me to get an overview on this subject.💕

Thanks. 💕💕💕

Thanks for the little floating shit emoji during the entire video :D

I work in a compant that focus on the water treatment plant outlet ,, and this is a good video i want to say

Nicely done.. thanks

0:54 perfect use of the turd emoji

What a time to live

Without these wastewater treatment plants living in an urban environment would be extremely hazardous and dirty. I'm thankful to all the people whom work at these plants making life possible in the city.

Very good explanation. Thank You