Wastewater Treatment Plant

Our team had the opportunity of receiving a tour of the Wastewater Treatment Plant in Lethbridge. This plant was built in the early 1900s and it is a biological nutrient facility, which makes it belong to the top five percent of all the treatment plants in the world. The plant removes phosphorus,nitrogen, ammonia, total suspended solids, biochemical oxygen demand (pollution), as well as works to reduces fecal and total coliform. The wastewater treatment plant is licensed under the Alberta Government which ensures that certain rules and obligations must be met. As previously mentioned, we had the opportunity to have a tour of the plant led by Duane Guzzi, the Process Coordinator of the wastewater treatment plant. During the tour we learned valuable information that would help us for the success of our project. As our project deals with the extraction of metals from tailings ponds, going to a wastewater treatment plant was beneficial as we learned the procedures and methods they take to remove chemicals from water and make it safe for rivers.

The Wastewater Treatment Plant is licensed under the Alberta Government, which ensures that certain rules and obligations must be met. As previously mentioned, we had the opportunity to have a tour of the plant; this was led by Duane Guzzi, the Process Coordinator. During the tour, we learned about the procedures and methods that are taken to remove chemicals from water and make it safe for rivers. Surprisingly, we discovered a few similarities between our system and the plant’s. The plant processes bacteria in order for it to form into flocks and create a netting; then, it sinks to the bottom of the tank and is subsequently able to be removed easily.

Our project is very similar to this process, as we use phages that have inducible precipitation, in order for easy removal after metal ion capture. This tour also provided us with valuable knowledge on how we can integrate our system into the plant. Mr. Guzzi told us that our project could be integrated into the secondary clarifiers, to remove the metals that are contained within the wastewater. If our project was integrated into the secondary clarifiers, the metals that are contained in the wastewater could be removed before moving on to ultraviolet disinfection, where the microorganisms that are left in the water are disrupted and unable to reproduce and cause harm. This final product that is produced would then be able to be discharged into the river.

Lastly, the plant focuses on the environment in the procedures they carry out, as wastes such as methane that is produced from the plant will be transported to cogeneration motors where it will then provide heat and electricity for the plant. This ensures that the Wastewater Treatment Plant’s energy costs are low. This inspired us to turn our attention to the potential impacts our project could have on the environment-- how our project could be used to improve the efficiency of metal removal from wastewater, and how this could impact the dependent ecosystem as a result.