THE IMPORTANCE OF WASTEWATER TREATMENT
The Water Cycle
Twenty
thousand feet above the surface of the Earth, water molecules change from
vapor to liquid in a storm cloud. The water falls to Earth as rain.
The rain soaks into the earth, and the underground aquifers from which
Orrville's Water Department pumps water. The water is treated at the
Water Treatment Plant and then distributed, under pressure, to Orrville
residents, businesses and industry.
After
being used for: laundry, cooking, sanitary uses, and numerous
industrial processes, the used (polluted) water flows into the building's
drain system. The water has now begun its return trip to nature.
This wastewater is joined by millions of other gallons of wastewater as it
flows, through miles of underground pipes (sewers), to Orrville's
Wastewater Treatment Plant.
At the
Wastewater Treatment Plant it is cleaned, disinfected and discharged to
Little Chippewa Creek. Little Chippewa Creek flows into Big Chippewa
Creek, the Tuscarawas, Muskingum, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and
eventually the Gulf of Mexico.
Along
the way this water may be used for agricultural purposes, by industry, for
drinking water, or it may evaporate into the atmosphere and return again
as rain to replenish the earth's infinite water resources.
Public
wastewater treatment plants are at a critical point in the water cycle.
Water is a finite resource, and must be protected.
