How it Works


	Collecting	At home, at school or at work, everyone contributes to the flow of wastewater. Household sources include bath, laundry, toilet flushing, dishwashing, etc.
	Collecting
	Collecting
	Pumping Station	Wastewater flows through a network of collector pipes where it enters the "wet well," a concrete chamber that extends about 30 metres below ground. From here, the wastewater is pumped to the Inlet Building where the treatment process begins.
	Pumping Station
	Bar Screens	Bar screens, at the Inlet Building, remove any solid objects larger than 2 centimeters in diameter (such as textiles, sticks, stones, plastic bags) from the wastewater before it is treated. These solid objects are discarded at the regional solid waste disposal site.
	Grit Chambers	In the aerated tanks of the grit chambers, adjacent to the Inlet Building, sand and other heavy, non-biodegradable solids are separated from the wastewater, where they settle to the bottom for removal.
	Settling Tanks	The addition of chemicals to the wastewater enhances the natural settling action of suspended waste particles, which then sink to the bottom in two large settling tanks or clarifiers. The particles are collected and drawn off the bottom in the form of a thick, wet sludge, while clarified water spills over the top into a separate channel.
	Dewatering Centrifuge	The Liquid sludge is pumped to the Dewatering Building where centrifuges are used to increase the dryness of the removed solids to make them suitable for handling and further treatment.
	Lime Stabilization	The Lime stabilization process incorporates two 25-tonne lime storage silos, a transfer system, a volumetric feeder and a pugmill mixer. Lime is incorporated to sludge in slurry form prior to dewatering to control odours and enhance dewatering and again, in solid form using the volumetric feeder and pugmill mixer.
	Byproducts	Byproducts generated by the treatment process are primarily organic in nature and treated for reuse, are referred to as "biosolids." Lime stabilization renders these byproducts suitable for use as a soil additive in agriculture in accordance with provincial guidelines and consistent with common practices elsewhere. The Commission also focuses heavily on composting of the byproducts with the finish compost being used in landscaping and the manufacture of topsoil.