Sewer and Wastewater Treatment Services in Alabama
Maintaining healthy communities isn’t just about protecting the clean water supply; it’s also about treating wastewater. That’s why Living Water Services offers municipal wastewater treatment in Alabama: to give municipal leaders and their constituents a safe, reliable, and cost-effective way to manage water sanitation.
Our Wastewater Treatment Services and Your Benefits
LWS can help your city or town by:
- Sampling and testing wastewater
- Operating and/or overseeing wastewater treatment plants
- Installing and maintaining sanitary sewers and septic tank systems
- Removing organic waste and inorganic waste from water
- Complying with all state and federal water treatment regulations
- Delivering regular reports
- Reducing total operating costs
The end goal is to get rid or reduce a wide variety of organic waste and inorganic waste—including pathogenic organisms that can harm the environment—and also keep up the long-term health of your sewer systems, mechanical equipment, and other infrastructure.
Why Wastewater Treatment Is Crucial for Public Health
It’s not uncommon for community leaders to focus more on protecting incoming water than worrying about what happens to it after it’s used.
However, treating wastewater can’t and shouldn’t be disconnected from taking care of your water supply. Wastewater that is released back into the environment without being properly treated can endanger your clean water supply and cause harm to humans and animals alike.
Nature has its own methods of cleaning water, but in our developed society, those natural processes can become overloaded. When this happens, dangerous illnesses can spread and cause a public health crisis—not to mention prolonged water shortages.
Wastewater treatment services maintain a safe and reliable source of water by leveraging a community’s municipal sewer systems, septic tanks, facilities, and infrastructure in the most effective way possible. That’s where Living Water Services comes in: using our experience and technology to handle this vital function on behalf of your community.
How Your Wastewater Is Treated
There are many options available to a municipality or private company when it comes to dealing with sewer treatment. These conventional processes involve several stages that each represent an important step toward the desired end product: discharging water that is as clean as possible.
The types of sewage treatment we can use are outlined below:
Preliminary Wastewater Treatment
Preliminary wastewater treatment is the first stage and involves screening the water for coarse solids and objects that can get in the way of mechanical equipment. It also includes removing as much grit as possible, by separating inorganic solids like silt and gravel. The goal of this stage is to prepare the water for further treatment, not improve the water quality itself.
Primary Wastewater Treatment
Primary wastewater treatment mainly settles solid particles and suspended matter in wastewater. These processes get rid of about half the solids and a third of the BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand—the amount of oxygen it takes to remove waste organic matter from the water).
This primary treatment process somewhat reduces the levels of trace elements, harmful microorganisms, nutrients, and potentially toxic organic compounds in the wastewater. The leftover material is called “primary sludge,” made up of solid particles that may have absorbed stuff from the wastewater.
Secondary Wastewater Treatment
Secondary wastewater treatment is a key step in purifying water from industrial and municipal sewage. Here, we use biological processes like activated sludge and trickling filters to break down pollutants. Microorganisms remove organic materials through oxidation and form particles—known as secondary sludge—that contain elements from the wastewater, including pathogens, trace elements, and chemicals.
These processes help us remove contaminants from water sources, improving water quality for consumption and protecting the environment.
Tertiary Wastewater Treatment
Tertiary wastewater treatment further improves water quality at municipal plants and helps prevent nutrient buildup. It includes disinfection to control pathogens, filtration for solids and BOD reduction, organic and trace element adsorption, nitrification for ammonia reduction, and nitrogen/phosphorus removal.
Advanced treatment of wastewater also removes heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products from wastewater plant discharges. Depending on your goals, advanced treatment may also involve multiple stages, from upgraded primary and secondary treatments to processes like ozonation, UV irradiation, fine-solids separation, electrocoagulation, sand filters, reverse osmosis, or membrane bioreactors.
The specific process LWS will use for your city or town will depend on your needs and resources. We’ll conduct a thorough survey and give you our tailored recommendations for ongoing service.
Want to Learn More?
The first step to take advantage of our water and wastewater services is to connect with our team and schedule a conversation. We’ll learn about your needs and challenges and walk you through our process and what we can offer. Contact Living Water Services today for healthier water tomorrow.