The Story Of A Successful Sewage Plant

The city of Pacifica, located just south of San Francisco, hasrecently opened a new sewage treatment plant. The plant is so effectivethat, in addition to ensuring that the effluent going into the PacificOcean meets environmental standards, the water released by the plantwill actually be used to restore a wetlands ecosystem. The wetlands arehome to an increasing number of plant and animal species, including twothat are listed as endangered. Rather than using chlorine to treat thewater, which would prevent it from then being transferred to thewetlands, the system uses ultra violet rays to treat wastewater. Fourmillion gallons a day can be treated by the system, which results in thetreated effluent meeting Pacifica's criteria for safe drinking water.