Meg Pritchard

Envr 105
Lab 7: Tacoma Wastewater Treatment Facility

1. What happened to Tacoma’s sewage during Tacoma’s first

decades as a city?
• Originally, sewage was dumped directly into the
environment until 1952.
2. When were Tacoma’s earliest sewage treatment plants built?
• Tacoma’s earliest sewage treatment plants were built in
1952.
3. When was this sewage treatment facility built?
• This sewage facility was built in 1952, but after 1982 was
when the current method of sewage treatment was put into
effect.
4. What is the difference between storm water and sewage? What
happens to each one?
• Storm water is water that comes from rain and drains into
a storm drain. Storm water flows directly back into the
environment without being treated.
• Sewage is wastewater that comes from our homes and
businesses. Sewage is piped to a wastewater treatment
facility where it is treated before being re-circulated back
into the water system.
5. What is the difference between industrial wastewater and
residential wastewater? Are they treated differently, and if so,
how?
• Industrial wastewater contains more heavy metals and
may contain other hazardous materials such as toxic waste.
Residential wastewater is the waste that comes from homes
so the pollutants it contains are mainly types of soap and
solid wastes. The treatment of industrial wastewater is very
similar to the treatment of residential wastewater however
special treatment of toxic materials is required by changing
the pH or treatment with other chemicals.
6. What are the primary pollutants in wastewater?
• Primary pollutants in wastewater include shampoo, soap,
toilet waste, detergents, and household cleaners.
7. How is wastewater treated? Follow the steps and briefly explain
what happens during each one. Would you drink the final
product?
• First, sewage is piped to the facility where is streamed
through a headworks bar screen. This large gapped bar
screen screens trash. The next tank is a grit tank where grit
is screened through. The next tank is a primary settling tank
 where fats, oils, grease, and plastic are screened. All of these
materials go to a landfill, as these materials are untreatable.
• The primary settling tanks is also were raw waste is
separated out to another tank where aerobic thermophillic
digesters breakdown in the organic material under extreme
heat. This pasteurization process naturally kills all disease
carrying bacteria. After the solids are properly processed, it
becomes TAGRO Liquid Dry Mix.
• After the primary settling tanks, the water minus the
sludge next goes into oxygen tanks, circling through twice.
After this process is complete, the water has become
effluent. This water is returned to Commencement bay.
8. What is TAGRO? How clean is it? Would you use it? Why or why
not?
• TAGRO stands for Tacoma Grow. It is a premium soil
product that recovers important nutrients from the
wastewater process. I would use TAGRO because it is much
cleaner than the soil found in a typical backyard and it is full
of nutrients that will help my garden grow. It is also relatively
cheap as I would be able to get some for free.