{"id":252,"date":"2025-06-01T17:16:50","date_gmt":"2025-06-01T21:16:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/?p=252"},"modified":"2025-07-02T12:25:43","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T16:25:43","slug":"how-sewage-treatment-usually-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/2025\/06\/01\/how-sewage-treatment-usually-works\/","title":{"rendered":"How Sewage Treatment Usually Works"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

By Desirae Sin
UConn Journalism<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Hartford\u2019s sewer sys\u00adtem dates to the 1850s, when it was mod\u00adeled on much older European waste treat\u00adment sys\u00adtems. In those early days, when fewer peo\u00adple lived in Hartford, waste chan\u00adneled away from build\u00adings, direct\u00adly into streams and rivers, with the goal of keep\u00ading it away from con\u00adtact with humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt start\u00aded here in the late 1800s and early 1900s, when peo\u00adple start\u00aded rec\u00adog\u00adniz\u00ading there was a con\u00adnec\u00adtion between waste\u00adwater, cholera, and dysen\u00adtery,\u201d said Tom Tyler, who showed jour\u00adnal\u00adists the oper\u00ada\u00adtion of the Hartford Water Pollution Control Facility in the South Meadows area of the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tyler is direc\u00adtor of facil\u00adi\u00adties for the the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC), which has man\u00adaged water and waste\u00adwater in Hartford since 1929. The sewage treat\u00adment plant was built in 1938.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The MDC oper\u00adates three other plants in East Hartford, Rocky Hill and Windsor. The Hartford WPCF is the only one that process\u00ades sludge, the solid mate\u00adr\u00adi\u00adal removed dur\u00ading treat\u00adment. Sludge from the other plants is trucked to Hartford, where it is incin\u00ader\u00adat\u00aded to pro\u00advide elec\u00adtric\u00adi\u00adty for the plant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On typ\u00adi\u00adcal days with mod\u00ader\u00adate weath\u00ader, when the under\u00adground pipes can han\u00addle every\u00adthing that goes into them, these pipes carry sewage from homes and build\u00adings direct\u00adly to the plant, where water is screened and fil\u00adtered in sev\u00ader\u00adal stages before being released into the Connecticut River.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first stage is called pre\u00adlim\u00adi\u00adnary treat\u00adment. Raw sewage flows through mul\u00adti\u00adple mov\u00ading racks, which screen out objects like toi\u00adlet paper, solids, trash, con\u00addoms, tam\u00adpon appli\u00adca\u00adtors, and more. This screen\u00ading is not unlike giant combs or brush\u00ades mov\u00ading through the water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just try\u00ading to get big stuff out,\u201d Tyler said of this first step. \u201cThis is a phys\u00adi\u00adcal process. There\u2019s no chem\u00adistry involved, no biol\u00ado\u00adgy involved. All we\u2019re try\u00ading to do is pro\u00adtect some big pumps\u201d where water will fil\u00adter later in the break\u00addown process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Metropolitan District Commission facilities director Tom Tyler shows journalists the first stages of sewage treatment at the MDC's main plant in Hartford. Photo <\/p>\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/files\/2025\/06\/Journalists-by-dumpster-at-plant-1-1024x768.jpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/files\/2025\/06\/Journalists-by-dumpster-at-plant-1-1024x768.jpeg\" alt class=\"wp-image-1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/files\/2025\/06\/Journalists-by-dumpster-at-plant-1-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/files\/2025\/06\/Journalists-by-dumpster-at-plant-1-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/files\/2025\/06\/Journalists-by-dumpster-at-plant-1-150x113.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/files\/2025\/06\/Journalists-by-dumpster-at-plant-1-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/files\/2025\/06\/Journalists-by-dumpster-at-plant-1-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/files\/2025\/06\/Journalists-by-dumpster-at-plant-1-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/files\/2025\/06\/Journalists-by-dumpster-at-plant-1-850x638.jpeg 850w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">
Metropolitan District Commission facil\u00adi\u00adties direc\u00adtor Tom Tyler shows jour\u00adnal\u00adists the first stages of sewage treat\u00adment at the MDC\u2019s main plant in Hartford. Photo by Christine Woodside<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWastewater treat\u00adment fun\u00adda\u00admen\u00adtal\u00adly comes down to one func\u00adtion. We take things out of the water that humans put into it. We give you per\u00adfect\u00adly clean drink\u00ading water, you make it dirty, and how we have to take out what you just put in it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next, the waste\u00adwater moves through aer\u00ada\u00adtion and set\u00adtling tanks, where bio\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal process\u00ades break down con\u00adt\u00ada\u00adm\u00adi\u00adnants. Microorganisms in these tanks remove nitro\u00adgen from waste\u00adwater. This process does not remove all of the nitro\u00adgen, but it reduces the amount. High amounts of nitro\u00adgen can cause algae to build up and stim\u00adu\u00adlate the growth of other aquat\u00adic plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNitrogen is like a fer\u00adtil\u00adiz\u00ader. If you put nitro\u00adgen on your lawn, it turns green,\u201d Tyler said. \u201cEveryone wants to bring on strong fer\u00adtil\u00adiz\u00ader. We want to remove that, because if nitro\u00adgen is in the river, it\u2019s a fer\u00adtil\u00adiz\u00ader and it\u2019ll grow plants. That in of itself isn\u2019t so bad, except when those plants die, they need oxy\u00adgen to decom\u00adpose. They take oxy\u00adgen out of the water. If we didn\u2019t treat that waste\u00adwater, it\u2019s going to imme\u00addi\u00adate\u00adly kill the fish.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secondary set\u00adtling tanks aer\u00adate the waste\u00adwater next. As the water churns through these long tanks, it looks choco\u00adlate brown, but not from human waste; rather, this is from nat\u00adur\u00adal microor\u00adgan\u00adisms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a later stage, the fil\u00adtered water flows beneath ultra\u00advi\u00ado\u00adlet lights, which dis\u00adin\u00adfect the water before it\u2019s released dis\u00adin\u00adfec\u00adtion to the Connecticut River. Ultraviolet light treat\u00adment replaced past use of chlo\u00adrine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The elec\u00adtri\u00adcal pro\u00adduc\u00adtion facil\u00adi\u00adty at the Hartford WPCF uses the heat gen\u00ader\u00adat\u00aded from burn\u00ading the solids in waste\u00adwater to pro\u00adduce elec\u00adtric\u00adi\u00adty. \u201cIt\u2019s basi\u00adcal\u00adly pow\u00ader\u00ading your own plant with ener\u00adgy cre\u00adat\u00aded. It\u2019s saved tens of mil\u00adlions of dol\u00adlars, it\u2019s very inno\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive,\u201d said Nick Salemi, the MDC spokesper\u00adson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPart of the waste\u00adwater treat\u00adment process takes a lot of ener\u00adgy. The biggest cost of oper\u00adat\u00ading any\u00adthing for the MDC is the elec\u00adtric\u00adi\u00adty cost to oper\u00adate the plant,\u201d Salemi said, adding that the MDC is a non-prof\u00adit com\u00adpa\u00adny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the MDC oper\u00adates the treat\u00adment facil\u00adi\u00adties and con\u00adtrols the sew\u00aders, it is reg\u00adu\u00adlat\u00aded by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), which is charged with enforc\u00ading the fed\u00ader\u00adal Clean Water Act for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nisha Patel, direc\u00adtor of the Water Planning and Management Division of DEEP\u2019s Bureau of Water Protection and Land Reuse, said the depart\u00adment reg\u00adu\u00adlates how sewage is col\u00adlect\u00aded, how the plants fil\u00adter and treat the water to prop\u00ader stan\u00addards, and \u201cdis\u00adcharg\u00ading it to a level that is con\u00adsis\u00adtent with our water qual\u00adi\u00adty stan\u00addards.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stan\u00addard of the Connecticut River, which takes on treat\u00aded waste\u00adwater, is \u201cSB,\u201d which means it is sur\u00adface water used for a mix\u00adture of uses, includ\u00ading recre\u00adation, com\u00admerce, and indus\u00adtry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As in all of New England, con\u00addi\u00adtions in Hartford include large amounts of wet weath\u00ader. This phe\u00adnom\u00ade\u00adnon is exac\u00ader\u00adbat\u00aded because of cli\u00admate change and the extreme weath\u00ader asso\u00adci\u00adat\u00aded with it. The sys\u00adtem was not designed to han\u00addle so much water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Salemi empha\u00adsized that flood\u00ading hap\u00adpens dur\u00ading heavy rain\u00adfall. \u201cMost days it\u2019s fine. It\u2019s a capac\u00adi\u00adty issue for the pipes. The city was built before [the infra\u00adstruc\u00adture] in Hartford,\u201d he said. \u201cThe CSOs hap\u00adpen when it rains a lot. Even if you have reg\u00adu\u00adlar steady rain, there\u2019s still enough capac\u00adi\u00adty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the past few decades the MDC has been updat\u00ading the cen\u00adturies-old sys\u00adtem, and that work will con\u00adtin\u00adue for up to a few decades more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t dig up every street in Hartford at once and replace one pipe with two pipes. But you find the areas that are worse, so we strate\u00adgi\u00adcal\u00adly tar\u00adget areas,\u201d Salemi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While sewer sep\u00ada\u00adra\u00adtion is still under\u00adway, the Hartford WPCF con\u00adtin\u00adues to oper\u00adate and will con\u00adtin\u00adue oper\u00adat\u00ading.  \u201cWe\u2019re work\u00ading 24\/7. There has been a human at this facil\u00adi\u00adty since 1938 and there will be a human at this facil\u00adi\u00adty until the fore\u00adsee\u00adable future as long as there are peo\u00adple in the Greater Hartford region that need water,\u201d Tyler said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

TOP IMAGE: The first stage of sewage treat\u00adment removes large objects, which end up in dump\u00adsters. Photo by Elijah Polance<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Desirae SinUConn Journalism Hartford\u2019s sewer sys\u00adtem dates to the 1850s, when it was mod\u00adeled on much older European waste treat\u00adment sys\u00adtems. In those early days, when fewer peo\u00adple lived in Hartford, waste chan\u00adneled away from build\u00adings, direct\u00adly into streams and rivers, with the goal of keep\u00ading it away from con\u00adtact with humans. \u201cIt start\u00aded\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":932,"featured_media":253,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[16],"class_list":["post-252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-explainers","tag-explained"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/files\/2025\/05\/Photo_grit-removal-dumpster-Elijah-scaled.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/932"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1169,"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252\/revisions\/1169"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}