That stuff that swirls down your toilet goes through a lot before it is allowed back into the river – as well it should.
The Sewage Treatment Facility on Koelle Blvd. in Secaucus is unique because the wastewater it treats comes out cleaner than what is produced by most treatment plants in the state.
Secaucus resident and Hackensack Riverkeeper Captain Bill Sheehan said that the facility is “one of the finest in the region.” He said Secaucus Municipal Utilities Authority Executive Director Brian Bigler and SMUA superintendent Brian Beckmeyer are serious about their work and do an exemplary job.
The water that runs through your plumbing and through the sewer system travels through a series of grates and tanks before it is treated and cleaned up to DEP standards for returning to the waterways. Then, it is sent from the plant into Mill Creek, a tributary of the Hackensack River.
Some of it can be kept by the treatment facility and used to water lawns, or for street cleaning and sewer jetting (cleaning).
“The effluent [treated water] can be used for irrigation purposes, and if it didn’t meet DEP [Department of Environmental Protection] standards, it couldn’t be used to water ornamental plants – which can be crucial during a drought,” he said.
Turning waste to useable water
Sewage is the wastewater released by residences, businesses, industries, and storm runoff and groundwater in any community. A multi-stage process is used to clean wastewater before it re-enters waterways or is otherwise reused. The process must reduce or remove organic matter, solids, nutrients, disease-causing organisms, and other pollutants.
When wastewater is treated at the SMUA, the plant disinfects wastewater and eliminates harmful organisms.
Statistics say that each person in Secaucus contributes an average of 50 to 100 gallons of wastewater a day. Beckmeyer said that over 3 million gallons of waste are treated per day at the Koelle Boulevard facility.
Wastewater is carried from homes and businesses, as well as from storm water runoff via underground sewers. As it runs through utility pipes, the liquid is filtered through bar screens where large pieces of trash are collected and disposed of. A grit chamber (the smelliest place of the process) allows sand, grit and other heavy solids to settle and then are removed.
Once in the plant, it heads into a series of tanks. In the primary sedimentation tank, scrapers collect primary sludge, or remaining solid matter, along with scum and grease that floats on top.
An aeration tank then puts large amounts of oxygen into the liquid to speed the growth of helpful microorganisms that eat the bad ones.
In the secondary sedimentation tank, the remaining solid wastes form clumps and settle. Then the liquid goes into another tank and is disinfected to kill disease-causing organisms left in the water.
Any remaining unusable sludge is carted off to another type of facility in Newark. Twenty employees help keep the treatment plant going 24 hours, seven days a week.
“There’s a lot of equipment here used to treat the 105 million gallons of wastewater that comes through here each month,” said Bigler.
Last year, the SMUA was one of 25 plants nationwide to receive a National Honor Association of Clean Water Agencies Award for the seventh year in a row for peak performance.
The SMUA also gives local schools tours of the plant to assist in their understanding of wastewater disposal.
“We want everyone to know that water is not the disposal resource it once was 50 years ago. You don’t just use it and throw it away,” said Bigler. “There is a beneficial use for our effluent.”
High level
“With some minor adjustments, we can water lawns with the effluent,” Bigler said. “This is high quality effluent – advanced secondary, level 3.”
There are four levels of effluent: primary, secondary, advanced secondary, and tertiary. Each level removes more of the offending organisms. DEP requirements for discharged water are stringent, Bigler said, and each treatment plant must hold a permit called NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) listing the allowable levels of BOD, suspended solids, coliform bacteria, and other pollutants.
“Since the plant upgraded in the late ’80s, we’ve been the only treatment plant working at that level [with effluent of advanced secondary, level 3],” Bigler said.
Bigler said since once the overhauled plant began running smoothly in 1991, the water quality in Mill Creek, a tributary of the Hackensack River, has gotten much cleaner.
“As the wastewater came out clean, the river changed immediately for the better,” he said. “I am happy to have been a part of the significant changes in the Creek and beyond.”
Since the Hackensack River and its tributaries have been cleaned up over the last 15 years, wildlife both in the air and in the water has returned in droves to the adjacent meadowlands, and the habitat has been refurbished.