Clermont County Water and Sewer District provides information about how clean drinking water becomes available to homes, businesses, restaurants or other locations.

How people get clean drinking water
The Waterworks provides clean water to residents and businesses in Clermont County. To make sure treated groundwater or surface water is safe for public use, the local Waterworks employees collect samples of water for testing before it is released to the distribution system.

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency describes the rules regarding drinking water standards. They provide a list of contaminants that might be found in water sources. The water is tested and the results are published in pub.

How used water is cleaned
At home, when you wash the dishes, bathe or flush the toilet, the water goes down the drain and it becomes wastewater.

Do you know how water is treated at the wastewater treatment plant? The treatment processes are described below.

Used water goes to the wastewater treatment plant
By the time the wastewater reaches the treatment plant, it is a mixture of liquids from homes, businesses, restaurants, and industries within the service area of the sewer network.

When this mixture arrives at the wastewater treatment plant, solids are separated from the liquids. The solids are later dewatered for landfilling or land application.

Treatment is a process of several steps
Wastewater is treated through a process of several steps. Each step utilizes physical, biological, or chemical treatment to remove contaminants found in wastewater.

Examples of physical treatment are screening, clarification, or filtration. Physical treatment is generally used to remove solids from the waste stream.

Examples of biological treatment are suspended growth processes (such as activated sludge) or attached growth processes (such as rotating biological contactors). Biological treatment is primarily used for removal of organic material from wastewater; however, biological treatment is also used for nitrification, denitrification, phosphorus removal, and the oxidation/stabilization of organic sludges.

Examples of chemical treatment are chemical precipitation and disinfection. Alum or Lime is often used for chemical precipitation and chlorine is often used for disinfection.