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Where the water goes
Millions of gallons of water are flushed down the toilet, rinsed down the drain or washed off lawns every day in Parker, but many residents do not stop to think where the water goes once it is out of sight.
By By: Jennifer Simonson
Millions of gallons of water are flushed down the toilet, rinsed down the drain or washed off lawns every day in Parker, but many residents do not stop to think where the water goes once it is out of sight.
The water spends more than a day at a wastewater treatment plant being disinfected before it is released into Cherry Creek.
The Parker Water and Sanitation District has two wastewater plants.
The south plant treats 2 million gallons of water per day, while the north plant treats 200,000 gallons per day, said superintendent James Roche.
A water particle spends about 30 hours in the plant where most of the harmful organisms including disease-causing bacteria and viruses are eliminated.
The plants sit at a low elevation so gravity helps wastewater flow through underground sewers to be treated, Roche said.
As water flows down the sink, toilet or sewer it is collected into a pipe carrying loads of wastewater away from a neighborhood. Pipes from multiple neighborhoods combine into a large pipe, which delivers rushing water to the plant.
The first step starts in a small brick building.
Inside the building, dirty water can be seen flowing through a steel gate just below the ground. The water passes through a screen that collects and removes pieces of trash larger than 8 millimeters.
"This is the physical removal of the pollutants such as toilet paper and rags," Roche said.
A revolving screen catches the waste, removes it from the water and dumps it into a large trash container.
Next the water is slowed down so the heavier particles, such as sand and grit, settle to the bottom. The particles are pumped out of the water from the bottom of the tank.
Once most of the large particles are removed, the water goes through a secondary treatment that uses bacteria to clean the wastewater.
Parker water officials grow specific bacteria used to feed on certain pollutants in the water, Roche said.
Bacteria are added to the wastewater in the aeration tank. In the tank, the water constantly bubbles as oxygen is pumped in to help the bacteria grow.
The water spends 24 hours in the aeration tank, while the bacteria eat the sewage before flowing into the secondary sedimentation tank.
There the sludge, a mixture of bacteria and waste, settles to the bottom and is removed.
The water, which has looked muddy all along, is now clear, but is still full of bacteria.
To get the water up to drinking standards it then goes through advanced water treatment, where chemicals such as chlorine are added to the water to eliminate most of the remaining bacteria and all the disease-causing bacteria.
Parker water officials test the level of bacteria in the water every month to ensure that the treatment is working.
The water then is released into Cherry Creek where it flows downstream into the Cherry Creek Reservoir.
The water spends more than a day at a wastewater treatment plant being disinfected before it is released into Cherry Creek.
The Parker Water and Sanitation District has two wastewater plants.
The south plant treats 2 million gallons of water per day, while the north plant treats 200,000 gallons per day, said superintendent James Roche.
A water particle spends about 30 hours in the plant where most of the harmful organisms including disease-causing bacteria and viruses are eliminated.
The plants sit at a low elevation so gravity helps wastewater flow through underground sewers to be treated, Roche said.
As water flows down the sink, toilet or sewer it is collected into a pipe carrying loads of wastewater away from a neighborhood. Pipes from multiple neighborhoods combine into a large pipe, which delivers rushing water to the plant.
The first step starts in a small brick building.
Inside the building, dirty water can be seen flowing through a steel gate just below the ground. The water passes through a screen that collects and removes pieces of trash larger than 8 millimeters.
"This is the physical removal of the pollutants such as toilet paper and rags," Roche said.
A revolving screen catches the waste, removes it from the water and dumps it into a large trash container.
Next the water is slowed down so the heavier particles, such as sand and grit, settle to the bottom. The particles are pumped out of the water from the bottom of the tank.
Once most of the large particles are removed, the water goes through a secondary treatment that uses bacteria to clean the wastewater.
Parker water officials grow specific bacteria used to feed on certain pollutants in the water, Roche said.
Bacteria are added to the wastewater in the aeration tank. In the tank, the water constantly bubbles as oxygen is pumped in to help the bacteria grow.
The water spends 24 hours in the aeration tank, while the bacteria eat the sewage before flowing into the secondary sedimentation tank.
There the sludge, a mixture of bacteria and waste, settles to the bottom and is removed.
The water, which has looked muddy all along, is now clear, but is still full of bacteria.
To get the water up to drinking standards it then goes through advanced water treatment, where chemicals such as chlorine are added to the water to eliminate most of the remaining bacteria and all the disease-causing bacteria.
Parker water officials test the level of bacteria in the water every month to ensure that the treatment is working.
The water then is released into Cherry Creek where it flows downstream into the Cherry Creek Reservoir.
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