Our wastewater treatment is state of the art, using the latest techniques to remove wastes form the water and return it to a clean state. The basic process is simple: It uses naturally occurring soil microorganism, called Saprophytes, to eat organic material in the water.

This same purification process occurs naturally in streams, but it may take days, depending upon the type of organisms present, their population, the temperature of the water, oxygen levels in the water, and other variables. Out two treatment plants do the same job in a matter of hours because it controls the environment so that these microorganisms will grow, reproduce and do their job of cleaning up the water quickly and efficiently.

A well-operated wastewater treatment plant will have a mild earthly or musty odor. That's because the microorganisms -- bacteria and protozoa -- used in the treatment process are the same ones that live in soil and convert leaves and sticks to rich organic humus or compost, and animal manure to organic soil.

1. Water and wastes flowing into the treatment plants first encounter a series of screens, which remove debris, such as small sticks and rags.

2. Next the water arrives at the grit and grease chambers. There, heavy solids, such as sand and grit, along with the grease that may have accidentally escaped from your house are removed so they won't damage treatment pumps.

3. The main part of wastewater treatment occurs in the aeration basin where air is added to the water, thus creating an environment where the bacteria and protozoa can grow and reproduce, feeding on the wastes in the water. Adding the air provides mixing and oxygen for the microorganisms treating the wastewater. With the large amounts of "food" and oxygen present, the reproduction rate of the microorganisms is enormous.

4. In the sedimentation tanks, microorganisms are separated from the liquids. With the solids removed, the final step in treating municipal wastewater is to disinfect the water and kill any remaining bacteria.

5. The water is now clean. It often meets or exceeds federal and state water treatment standards, and is ready to be returned into the environment.

The treatment plant operator must balance the microorganism population with the volume of solid wastes or food entering the plant. Each day, he must remove the amount of microorganisms that exceed the amount of food.

These extra organisms that are taken from the system are called biosolids because they are the microbiological solids that were part of the water treatment process, but were removed from the system to keep the population in balance with the available food supply.

When stabilized, JEA uses the biosolids to produce an excellent soil-enhancing product called compost then applies the compost to agricultural land.