How Chicago Cleans 1.4 Billion Gallons Of Wastewater Every Day | Deep Cleaned | Insider
Summary
TLDRThe Stickney Water Reclamation Plant in Chicago processes over 600,000 pounds of sludge daily, transforming it into clean water, fertilizer, and energy. Covering 413 acres, it's one of the world's largest wastewater-treatment plants, serving 2.3 million residents. The facility can handle 1.4 billion gallons of wastewater in a day, equivalent to 2,000 Olympic pools. It employs a series of treatments including coarse screening, aeration, and digestion to produce nutrient-rich biosolids used as fertilizer, emphasizing the importance of responsible flushing and environmental protection.
Takeaways
- 🌿 The Stickney Water Reclamation Plant processes over 600,000 pounds of sludge daily, turning it into clean water, fertilizer, and energy.
- 📏 Located near Chicago, Stickney is one of the largest wastewater-treatment plants globally, covering 413 acres and serving 2.3 million residents.
- 🌧️ During rainfall, the plant can handle an astonishing 1.4 billion gallons of wastewater, equivalent to over 2,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
- 🚰 The plant's primary goal is to treat wastewater to produce clean water that meets environmental standards and to transform solids into biosolids for fertilizer.
- 🚫 Joe Cummings, the operations manager, advises against flushing 'flushable wipes' as they do not break down and cause significant issues in the treatment process.
- 🔬 The treatment process at Stickney mimics natural processes, condensing what would take weeks in nature into just a few hours.
- 🌀 Aerated grit tanks are used to separate lighter materials like fats, oils, and grease from heavier solid waste, which is then further processed into nutrient-rich fertilizer.
- 🛑 The plant strictly adheres to quality standards set by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to ensure the treated wastewater is safe for the environment.
- 🌱 Biosolids, the end product of the sludge treatment, improve soil health, reduce nutrient loss, and increase water retention when used as fertilizer.
- 🚂 Over 1,000 wet tons of biosolids cake are produced daily, transported via railcars to a lagoon for additional treatment and drying before being used as fertilizer.
- 🔬 Stickney has an in-house laboratory for monitoring and research, including a greenhouse to test the optimum use of biosolids on various plant species.
Q & A
How much sludge does the Stickney Water Reclamation Plant remove from sewage and wastewater daily?
-The Stickney Water Reclamation Plant removes more than 600,000 pounds of sludge from sewage and wastewater every day.
What is the purpose of drying the sludge at the Stickney facility?
-Once the sludge is dry, it is used as fertilizer in surrounding farms and fields.
What is the size of the Stickney Water Reclamation Plant in acres?
-The Stickney Water Reclamation Plant is 413 acres, making it one of the largest wastewater-treatment plants in the world.
How many residents' sewage does the Stickney plant process?
-The Stickney plant processes sewage from roughly 2.3 million nearby residents.
What happens to the sludge at the Stickney plant after it is separated from the liquid?
-The sludge is treated further to produce a nutrient-rich material known as biosolids cake, which is used as a fertilizer.
What is the capacity of the Stickney facility during heavy rain?
-During heavy rain, the facility can handle 1.4 billion gallons of wastewater in a single day.
What is the first step in the wastewater treatment process at Stickney?
-The first step in the wastewater treatment process at Stickney is passing the sewage through a set of coarse screens to filter out larger objects.
Why should flushable wipes not be flushed down the toilet according to the script?
-Flushable wipes should not be flushed because they do not break down in the sewer system or inside the plant, causing them to form large blocks that need to be manually removed.
What is the role of oxygen in the secondary treatment tanks at Stickney?
-Oxygen in the secondary treatment tanks neutralizes compounds such as ammonia, turning it into less toxic forms of nitrogen, which are less harmful to aquatic life.
How does the Stickney plant ensure the treated wastewater meets environmental standards?
-The treated wastewater is tested daily in the plant's lab to ensure it meets specific quality standards set by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
What is the final product of the sludge treatment process at Stickney, and how is it used?
-The final product of the sludge treatment process is a biosolids cake, which is used as a fertilizer on farm fields, golf courses, parks, and recreational facilities.
What is the Stickney Plant's greenhouse used for?
-The Stickney Plant's greenhouse is used for research, where they test the biosolids as a nutrient-rich fertilizer product mixed with soils in different proportions on various plant species to determine the optimum use.
What is the main purpose of the Stickney Water Reclamation Plant?
-The main purpose of the Stickney Water Reclamation Plant is to protect the water environment by treating wastewater and transforming it into clean water, fertilizer, and energy.
Outlines
🌿 Sewage to Fertilizer: The Stickney Water Reclamation Plant
The Stickney Water Reclamation Plant, located near Chicago, is one of the world's largest wastewater treatment facilities, processing over 600,000 pounds of sludge daily from 2.3 million residents. The plant transforms sewage into clean water, fertilizer, and energy. During heavy rains, it can handle up to 1.4 billion gallons of wastewater, equivalent to 2,000 Olympic-sized pools. The process begins with coarse screens to filter out large objects and continues with the separation of sludge and liquid. The solids are further treated into nutrient-rich 'biosolids cake,' used as fertilizer. Operations Manager Joe Cummings emphasizes the importance of not flushing non-degradable items like wipes, which can cause significant problems in the treatment process.
🌀 Secondary Treatment and Biosolids Production at Stickney
After passing through primary settling and coarse screens, the wastewater at Stickney undergoes secondary treatment involving aeration tanks with microorganisms that consume pollutants. Oxygen helps neutralize ammonia, reducing its toxicity to aquatic life. The final settling tanks separate remaining solids from the treated wastewater, which is then returned to the river after meeting strict environmental standards. The sludge is processed through centrifugation and anaerobic digestion, producing biogas used for plant energy. The resulting biosolids cake is a nutrient-rich fertilizer, transported by rail for further treatment and use in various landscapes. The plant also operates an in-house laboratory and greenhouse to research the optimal application of biosolids, emphasizing their benefits for soil health and water retention.
🚰 Protecting the Water Environment: Stickney's Role and Public Awareness
The Stickney Water Reclamation Plant plays a crucial role in protecting the water environment by treating an enormous volume of wastewater daily, significantly more than the average plant in Illinois. Joe stresses the importance of public awareness, advising against flushing anything other than bodily waste and toilet paper. He also highlights the need to keep street drains clear to prevent debris from entering the sewer system. The plant's size and capabilities allow it to conduct extensive in-house monitoring and research, ensuring the treated wastewater and biosolids are safe for the environment and beneficial for agricultural and recreational use.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Sludge
💡Wastewater Treatment
💡Aerated Grit Tanks
💡Biosolids
💡Anaerobic Digestion
💡Centrifugation
💡Flushable Wipes
💡Olympic-sized Swimming Pools
💡Nutrient-rich Fertilizer
💡Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
💡Sewage
Highlights
The Stickney Water Reclamation Plant processes over 600,000 pounds of sludge daily, turning it into clean water, fertilizer, and energy.
Located on the outskirts of Chicago, Stickney is one of the world's largest wastewater-treatment plants, covering 413 acres.
The plant serves approximately 2.3 million residents, treating all their sewage.
During heavy rains, Stickney can handle up to 1.4 billion gallons of wastewater in a single day, equivalent to over 2,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
The Stickney facility can treat 1 million gallons of wastewater per minute at peak operation.
Wastewater undergoes a primary treatment involving coarse screens to filter out larger objects like garbage and plastics.
Flushable wipes, despite being marketed as such, do not break down in the sewer system and cause significant issues at the plant.
The plant uses aerated grit tanks to separate lighter materials like fats, oils, and grease from heavier solid waste or sludge.
The Stickney plant transforms sludge into nutrient-rich biosolids, suitable for use as fertilizer.
The process at Stickney mimics natural organic processes, condensing what would take weeks into just a few hours.
Secondary treatment tanks use microorganisms and oxygen to neutralize harmful compounds such as ammonia.
Treated wastewater must meet strict quality standards set by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency before release.
Stickney operates an in-house laboratory for continuous monitoring and research on water treatment and biosolids.
The plant's anaerobic digesters produce biogas, which is used as part of the plant's energy supply.
Centrifuges at Stickney further separate solids from liquids in the sludge, producing biosolids cake.
Over 1,000 wet tons of biosolids cake are produced daily, transported for additional treatment and drying.
The final product, a fertilizer made from biosolids, is used in farm fields, golf courses, parks, and recreational facilities.
The Stickney Plant emphasizes the importance of not flushing non-biodegradable items and keeping street drains clear.
The plant's size allows for extensive in-house operations, including a greenhouse for testing the use of biosolids on various species.
Transcripts
Narrator: This facility removes
more than 600,000 pounds of sludge from sewage
and wastewater every day.
It's dumped into drying beds after a lengthy process here,
at the Stickney Water Reclamation Plant.
Once dry, it'll be used as fertilizer
in surrounding farms and fields.
Stickney is located on the outskirts of Chicago,
and at 413 acres,
it's one of the largest wastewater-treatment plants
in the world.
It processes all of the sewage
from roughly 2.3 million nearby residents.
And everything that arrives here
will eventually be transformed into clean water, fertilizer,
and energy to power the plant.
When it rains, the facility can handle a whopping
1.4 billion gallons of wastewater in a single day.
That's over 2,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools'
worth of wastewater.
So, when we're rocking and rolling, it's 1 million gallons
getting treated each and every minute.
Narrator: Here, everything that flows down a drain
has raw potential when it arrives.
Well, after it goes through the first stop:
the coarse screens.
Narrator: So, how does a facility like this
tap into the potential of sewage?
And what happens to everything that disappears
down Chicago's drains?
You flush the toilet or you take a shower,
you never think of what happens to that water
after it's gone down your drain.
It's just out of sight, out of mind.
Narrator: That's Joe Cummings,
the operations manager at Stickney,
and he's been working here for over 15 years.
Joe: I'm often asked what it's like working
in a wastewater-treatment plant.
Now, I'm not going to sugarcoat it.
You've walked past a manhole, a sewer, an outhouse.
You know what those smells are.
You are going to smell those things, because after all,
it is raw sewage coming in.
Narrator: Once all that sewage arrives at the plant,
there are two main processes at play:
treating the wastewater
so it's safe to be released back into rivers,
and transforming the solids into biosolids
to be used as fertilizer.
Joe: We're separating out the solid material
that will settle to the bottom, a sludge,
and the liquid that goes off back into the river system.
The solids have been treated further to produce
what we call biosolids cake, which is an earthy material.
It's very good for being used as a fertilizer.
Narrator: What's happening at this plant
recreates what happens organically in nature,
condensing what would normally take several weeks
into just a few hours.
The process begins by sending sewage
through a set of coarse screens.
These screens have gaps to filter out larger objects
like garbage and plastics
and one item in particular that Joe and his team see often.
Joe: This is as good a time as any
to discuss flushable wipes.
Just because you can flush them
doesn't mean that you should.
Those wipes do not break down in the sewer system.
They don't break down inside the plant.
So what happens is they come here,
they find any jagged surface,
and they just what we call rag up.
They form into large blocks,
and then ultimately we have to get those removed.
So my advice, my request to everybody,
don't flush flushable wipes.
Narrator: Once trapped, a rake scrapes up all the debris
and transfers it to a conveyor belt.
From here, it moves to a dumpster
that will ultimately be transported to a landfill.
Contrary to what most people might assume,
Joe and the team here don't mind what the job entails.
Narrator: Once the wastewater
passes through the coarse screens,
it's pumped aboveground to the aerated grit tanks.
At this stage of treatment,
the flow of water slows down.
The lighter materials, like fats,
oils, and grease, known as scum,
float to the top of these preliminary tanks,
while the heavier solid waste, or sludge,
settles to the bottom.
Next, a series of rotating slats
skims off the scum floating on the surface
and scrapes up the sludge from the bottom of the tanks.
Joe: That sludge goes on to our digesters,
to our centrifuges.
Ultimately become our nutrient-rich fertilizer
that we call biosolids.
Narrator: We'll come back to this sludge later.
Meanwhile, the remaining wastewater
passes through a primary settling phase
before moving on to the secondary treatment tanks.
Here, air is pumped into a tank
of carefully maintained microorganisms
that consume pollutants
and other harmful substances in the water.
This oxygen gives the bacteria
what they need to perform an important job.
Joe: Oxygen neutralizes the compounds such as ammonia,
turns it into less toxic forms of nitrogen.
Ammonia is toxic to the small fish
and the larger fish that live in our waterways.
So by turning it into nitrate and nitrite,
it's a less toxic form
that the wildlife can tolerate much better.
Narrator: These circular tanks,
known as the final settling tanks,
are the last stop in the process
for treating wastewater at Stickney.
Here, solids and liquids further separate.
The remaining solids are removed
and the treated wastewater is returned to the river.
All of the liquid that you see traveling over that weir,
that's going out to the sanitary
and ship canal as treated effluent.
Narrator: This treated wastewater
needs to meet specific quality standards
set by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
to ensure it does not harm the environment
or pose a risk to the public.
Samples are analyzed every day in its lab
to ensure that treated wastewater is safe to be released.
What we have here are some of the samples
that we collect inside the plant.
Just starting from the beginning,
this is what raw sewage looks like.
You know, it's a mixture of 99.9% clean water
and then all the solids that are in there.
What we have here is mixed liquor.
This is what is captured and treated in the aeration tanks
and then settles out in the final tanks,
the secondary treatment.
So, as you can see here, I shook this up a few minutes ago,
and you're already getting some of the separation
of the solids separating out.
The liquid that comes off the top of it,
that's what goes back into the waterways,
and the solids are sent for further treatment,
and then that water, after it comes out of there, is this.
Looks very nice and clean. It's not drinkable.
The important thing is
we do not produce drinking water here,
but it goes back out into the waterways
much cleaner than it came.
When the flushable wipes go into the system,
they never break down.
These have been in here for roughly four years.
Narrator: While the wastewater
is being treated and released,
the sludge is moving on to a different area
to be treated through centrifugation and digestion.
Inside these centrifuges,
the sludge is mixed with a polymer
and spun at high speeds.
This helps further separate the solids from the liquids.
The digesters break down the organic matter in the sludge
through a process called anaerobic digestion.
Here, solids are heated and broken down by microorganisms
to produce a biogas product.
Think of it as your stomach just digesting,
breaking down the solids.
And as part of that process,
it actually produces methane gas
that is reused in the plant for part of our energy uses.
Narrator: After this, it enters a set of centrifuges again,
resulting in a biosolids cake.
On an average day, this facility will produce
over 1,000 wet tons of biosolids cake.
These are loaded into railcars
to be handled at a separate facility.
Joe: This is where all of the biosolids
that have been produced from our centrifuges
that you saw upstairs
that go onto the conveyor-belt system
all go into our hoppers
and then are deposited into our railcars.
We fill up roughly one railcar
with 70 wet tons of biosolids in one shift.
Over the course of a normal day,
we might fill up enough railcars
for 1,000 to 2,000 wet tons of biosolids.
Narrator: The railcars transport this material
a few miles away on a private railroad,
and the biosolids are dumped into a lagoon
for additional treatment and drying.
The final product is fertilizer
that can be used on farm fields, golf courses, parks,
and recreational facilities.
One thing that's special about the Stickney Plant
is because of the size of it,
we do a lot of things in-house.
We have an entire laboratory right here
that we do the monitoring and the research.
One of the research things that we have
that might surprise people is we have a greenhouse.
We will take our biosolids,
that nutrient-rich fertilizer product,
and we'll mix it with soils,
blend it in different proportions,
test it on many different species,
and that's all to determine
what is the optimum use for that biosolid.
Narrator: When used as fertilizers,
biosolids can have several positive impacts.
They've been shown to improve soil health,
reduce nutrient loss,
and increase the amount of water soil can retain.
Joe: The main thing that the Stickney Water
Reclamation Plant and all of our plants are doing
is to protect the water environment.
Toilets are not trash cans.
Just because something can be flushed down the toilet
does not mean that it should be.
So what you should really concentrate on
is your bodily waste, your toilet paper.
That's what should go down the toilet.
Street drains, you should keep those clear,
because anything, when the rain falls,
it's going to sweep everything into the street drain
and it's all going to come here.
In general, Stickney is considered the biggest
or one of the biggest plants in the world.
In the state of Illinois,
the average plant is probably treating
about 1 million gallons a day,
and we're treating 1,440 times that during high flow.
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