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  • Wastewater treatment facility

What is Wastewater Treatment?

A Wastewater Treatment plant (WWTP) takes sewage or otherwise contaminated water and cleans it so that it can be reused or released into the environment. This is accomplished with well-proven biological and chemical processes that enable cost effective treatment of sewage and other wastewater streams.

How do we use it?

Every drain in the building, be it a floor drain, sink, urinal or toilet, flows into our treatment plant. Technically called a flat-plate membrane bioreactor, the WWTP contains beneficial bacteria that “eat” our waste and break it down so that we can filter out the clean water with banks of filter cartridges. This clean water is then run through a carbon filter and sterilized with ultraviolet (UV) light before being stored in a 310,000 L tank beneath our parking lot for reuse and fire suppression.

How does it make us more sustainable?

The ERC earned every available LEED credit for water savings. The integrated nature of the water cycle in our building makes the most of every drop of water that we harvest from the local water table, while ensuring that the water is healthy, clean and available when needed. Instead of using city water and then dumping sewage into aging municipal infrastructure that is near capacity, we handle our water needs entirely on site.

Wastewater image gallery

Wastewater plant
Wastewater plant

The tank consists of two zones, one called the anoxic zone, where bacteria break down the waste with very little oxygen present, and the other called the aerobic zone, where entrained oxygen supports further processing.

 

Pipes
Pipes

Two clear horizontal pipes demonstrate the activated sludge and the clean, clear effluent that is coming out the system on its way to a 310,000 liter holding tank.

Filters
Filters

These two banks of Kubota flat plate membrane cartridges filter and keep solids and debris inside the reactor, while allowing clean water to be sucked through small pores in their surfaces. Bubble scour the surface to keep them from being plugged.

Operating terminal
Operating terminal

A dedicated supervisory control and data acquisition system (SCADA) maintains control of the system and allows for remote supervision of the system by our Facility Team.

Water testing equipment
Water testing equipment

Water testing ensures that the processed water is maintained with balanced pH levels, steady total phosphorus, stable chemical oxygen demand and other chemical and biological metrics.

Detailed look at wastewater treatment
Detailed look at wastewater treatment

The original treatment system as installed in 2004 was reused equipment from another plant that was refurbished for use at the ERC. Today’s system consumes 50% less energy and is much simpler with fewer components to maintain.

Storm interceptor
Storm interceptor

The stormwater interceptor will capture debris that washes from the green or white roofs. Treated wastewater also flows through the device on its way to the 310,000 non-potable holding tank beneath the parking lot.

Outdoor water supply
Outdoor water supply

Non-potable water captured from the roof or treated in the wastewater plant can be used to water new plants on the grounds in the parking lot or gardens from a hose bib like this one concealed beneath an access plate.

Dry hydrant
Dry hydrant

The 310,000 liter non-potable water holding tank also serves as a fire reservoir should a fire truck or hose cabinet be needed to fight a fire.

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Did you know?

  • Capacity and energy consumption

    Our Wastewater Treatment plant is capable of treating up to 12,000 liters of raw sewage every day. Anything that goes down a drain in the building first drains into a sediment interceptor which allows solids like grit in the waste to settle out. The waste then enters a 40,000 liter tank, called the equalization tank. This provides a buffer for the batch process that occurs in the bioreactor in the basement.

    The waste water is then transferred into the bioreactor, where waste is broken down by bacteria in the system which remove nitrogen and phosphorus with combined chemical and biological processes. The clean effluent is sucked out of the system through banks of Kubota cartridges, which have nomimal pore sizes of 0.4 microns.



    The system was retrofitted in 2009, dramatically reducing maintenance requirements while also reducing the energy consumption of the system by 50%. Ovivo and H2Flow Equipment helped us accomplish these impressive results and continue to support ongoing operation of the system.

  • Water quality control

    Each week the Facility Team tests the water quality from the membrane bioreactor (MBR). The staff are certified as Level 1 Wastewater Treatment Operators by the Ontario Wastewater Certification Office.

    Criteria measured include total phosphorus, carbonaceous biological oxygen demand (CBOD5), total ammonia nitrogen, total suspended solids and a verification that no E. coli has passed through the treatment system.

    Some parameters need to be changed to ensure stable operation of the MBR, including adjustments to maintain pH levels, total phosphorus and dissolved oxygen levels in both the anoxic (“without air”) and aerobic (“with air") digestion zones.

    These results are verified by a third party lab, ensuring the accuracy of the measurements. Each year, the results are reported to the Ministry of the Environment.

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