CHATHAM, Va. â Six STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) students from Hargrave Military Academy received a tour of the Chatham Wastewater Treatment Plant this morning, where they learned about the plant s processes, equipment and operations. This is an activated sludge plant, said Malcolm Burgess, lead operator. What we re doing is cultivating bacteria, which will then eat the inorganics.
Wastewater travels through three tracks sequentially, before it drops into a clarifier. The cleanest water comes out the top and flows over. The heaviest stuff sinks to the bottom, where it s pumped out and returned back to be reaerated again and keep the bacteria moving, Burgess said. As the bacteria ages out and dies, we waste so much of it. Wasting means we get rid of anything dead that we donât need. It goes into our tanks, and we haul it to Danville later where it sits for 180 days by Virginia state law.
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