Raw Water

The treatment process begins when raw water is gravity fed from Claremore Lake to the water plants Rapid mixer. In the rapid mixer, chemicals are introduced to start the coagulation/ flocculation process.

Coagulation/Flocculation/Sedimentation

The Water Treatment Plant has three Flocculation/Sedimentation Clarifiers. Two large eighty-five foot and one 60-foot diameter clarifiers.

Coagulation

In the rapid mixer, treatment chemicals called coagulants are rapidly and uniformly mixed with the raw water. The coagulants act like magnets so smaller particles stick together to form heavier clumps, called “floc.”

Flocculation

During the flocculation stage, the larger, heavier floc will sink to the bottom of the clarifiers, taking impurities with it. This process also prepares the lighter particles for removal by sedimentation and filtration.

Sedimentation

In the Clarifiers, the flowing water is slowed down to allow gravity to pull suspended particles to the bottom.

Filtration

The last step in the solid’s removal process is filtration. Here the water passes through a bed of material such as sand, gravel, and anthracite to remove particles that did not settle out in the basins. The plant has seven filters. The filters are backwashed on a regular schedule to remove the captured material and send it to the “Backwash to Waste” holding pond.

Clearwell

The filtered water flows from the filters to a 282,000-gallon, aboveground storage tank known as a clearwell. Here chlorine is added to the “finish water” to kill any pathogens (disease-causing germs). The water snakes through baffles to maximize chlorine contact time. Four high-service pumps are located at the end of the clearwell baffle train. The high-service pumps are used to pump the disinfected “finish water” from the clearwell to the distribution system.

The Treatment Process

Wastewater comes in from the sewer collection lines. Bar Screens remove solids and debris from the raw wastewater as it enters the plant and is placed in a dumpster for disposal. The wastewater goes into the primary clarifiers to separate any remaining solids from the water. Aeration basons add oxygenation and mixing of active microorganisms with raw sewage. The water then travels to the secondary Clarifiers for further treatment and clarification.

Wastewater

The water is pumped through an effluent chlorination/aeration basin to remove any harmful chemicals before it is discharged into the stream.

The solids (also known as sludge) removed from the water are pumped to a sludge digester for further treatment. They are then pumped into a drying bed and a belt filter press. After spending a required amount of time in the drying beds or belt pressed, the biosolids are then tested and used as fertilizer on local farmlands for crops or hauled to a waste management landfill.