State to Allow Treated Water Into O.C. Bay : Checking the Flow
A tributary of Upper Newport Bay will receive millions of gallons of treated waste water during a two-year pilot program approved Monday. The water will be monitored frequently by the Irvine Ranch Water District to make sure it does not adversely affect the bay’s fragile ecosystem. Here’s how the treatment works and where monitoring station will be located:
Treatment
Reclaimed water is made by removing 90% of the solids from waste water. The steps:
1) Raw sewage enters reclamation plant; screens trap sticks, stones, sand
2) Waste water held in plant while microbes eat waste material
3) Water, 90% clean, released into ponds; flows over series of small dams to wash out remaining solids
4) Reclaimed water held in ponds for at least seven days before release
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