How is New York City’s sewage and garbage treated You ever wonder where the stuff you flush down the toilet goes? Or where the water goes after you brush your teeth? Or what’s under those manholes that has sewage written on it? What happens when you throw wasted in the garbage? You probably don’t but all of the content that is discarded throughout the day gets sent to a sewage plant through the pluming system that is connected to your house. There are sewage plants located throughout New York City. One of these plants that I visited is located under Riverbank State Park. The question of the our that I plan on answering is “How is New York City’s sewage and garbage treated?” What is sewage you ask, the dictionaries defines sewage as; the waste matter from domestic, commercial, and industrial establishment carried off in sewers. When waste matter enters water, the resulting product is called sewage or wastewater. Garbage is defined as; animal or household refuse Sewage is stored in sewers. Then treated or in a sense recycled. Raw sewage includes waterborne waste from sinks, toilets, and industrial processes. Treatment of the sewage is required before it can be safely buried, used, or released back into local water systems. In a treatment plant, the waste is passed through a series of screens, chambers, and chemical processes to reduce its bulk and toxicity. The three general phases of treatment are primary, secondary, and tertiary. During primary treatment, a large percentage of the suspended solids and inorganic material is removed from the sewage. The focus of secondary treatment is reducing organic material by accelerating natural biological processes. Tertiary treatment is necessary when the water will be reused; 99 percent of solids are removed and various chemical processes are used to ensure the water is as free from impurity as possible. Problems with sewage a...
