Junction Chamber No.1
The beginning of the treatment process is Junction Chamber 1. This facility is also known as odor control. The influent is aerated and the air emissions are treated to reduce the odor. This process includes removal of the hydrogen sulfide via air scrubbing and filtration. The influent comes directly from wastewater collection system pipelines located throughout the City of Tampa service area.
Screen & Grit Building
Next, the water goes through the Screen and Grit Building. The water passes through a screening process that remove solids, organic and non-organic material. The velocity of the wastewater is reduced to one foot per second which allows the sand and other abrasive materials to settle out and be removed. These type of non-organic matter reduces the efficiency of our equipment and can also damage equipment.
Primary Sedimentation Tanks
After Screen and Grit, the water flows to primary sedimentation. The primary sedimentation consists of eight tanks with a total volume of 5 million gallons and a 1.2 hour residence time. The solids in the bottom of the tanks, known as primary sludge is pumped to anaerobic digestion, which will be described later.