Wastewater

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  Wastewater from your home or business is directed through your sewer lateral and into our sewer lines where it flows through the municipal sanitary sewer system to our Wastewater Treatment Plant where it is treated.  The Thompson Run Sewage Treatment Plant has two main supply lines. One line feeds the Activated Sludge Plant, and the other line feeds the SBR Plant. 

Activated Sludge Sewage Treatment Process

• Step 1: Wet Well – Tank where the influent (untreated wastewater) enters the plant, flows through a grinder and into pumps.
• Step 2: Grit Channel – The wastewater is pumped from the wet well, into a channel where the grit settles to the bottom and into the primary clarifiers. 
• Step 3: Primary Clarifiers – Settling tanks where the sludge collects at the bottom and the settled clearer water flows to the aeration tanks, the sludge from the bottom is pumped to the digesters then to the belt press to have solids removed for transportation to a landfill.
• Step 4: Aeration Tanks – Large tanks where air is introduced from the bottom of the tanks to mix, agitate and further breakdown the wastewater and eventually flows into the final clarifiers.
• Step 5: Final Clarifiers – Clarifying tanks where the final settling process occurs. Any sludge is taken from the bottom of the final tanks and returned to the head of the aeration tanks. A percentage of the return is diverted back into the grit channel to mix with the influent to help it settle and activate. This is known as “waste activated.” (This process feeds the bugs (bacteria) nutrients to keep them happy.) The settled clear water flows over the tank weirs and is directed into the UV building.
• Step 6: UV System – The clear water enters the UV building and flows through a system of UV lights that disinfect the water. The now treated water is funneled into a large pipe flowing to the outfall.
• Step 7: Outfall – Discharge pipe where the effluent (disinfected treated water), continually being monitored and tested by our state accredited lab, is put back into the environment in the Thompson Run Creek eventually flowing into the Monongahela River. 

Sequential Batch Reactor (SBR) Treatment Process

• Step 1: Headworks – Wastewater enters the plant through the headworks building, where the flow goes through the fine drum screen, into the grit removal system and then to the SBRs. 
• Step 2: SBRs – Two large processing tanks where flow is continuously diverted equally. The tanks aerate, settle and decant working opposite of each other for a set time period. As one tank aerates, the other settles and decants. The settled clearer water is removed from the top and directed into the UV building. The sludge from the bottom is pumped to the digesters then to the belt press to have solids removed for transportation to a landfill.
• Step 3: UV System – The clear water enters the UV building and flows through a system of UV lights that disinfect the water. The now treated water is funneled into a large pipe flowing to the outfall.
• Step 4: Outfall – Discharge pipe where the effluent (disinfected treated water), continually being monitored and tested by our state accredited lab, is put back into the environment in the Thompson Run Creek eventually flowing into the Monongahela River.