The water treatment process at the Easton WTP begins when the water is taken from the Delaware River.  When the treatment process is finished, clean, safe drinking water is the results.  So everytime you take a drink of water from the faucet, or take a shower, you've got Basil Darmiento, et al, to thank.

The mixing/channel room

The first place the water goes at the Easton WTP is the intake room.  This building has four pumps:  2 of them pump 4 million gallons per day, and the other 2 pump 6 million gallons per day.  Typically, one pump runs during the day, and two at night, depending on water demand.
After leaving the intake room, the water enters the mixing/channel room, and goes into one of two possible contact tanks.  At this point, potassium permanganate is added to combat taste and odor.  The channel is two feet deep.  Other pre-treatment involves the addition of lime or soda ash to adjust the pH of the water.  Chlorine gas is also added to help with oxidation -- the plant uses about 300 pounds per day.
 
 
 

The forming of flocs

When the water has passed through the mixing room, it goes to the flash mixer, where alum is added.  The alum reacts with impurities, and floc is formed.  Next, the water enters the flocculators, which are connected to each other by mixer motors.  The mixer motors are giant paddles that mix the water, for the purpose of getting the impurities to settle out.  The water spends about one hour in the flocculators from beginning to end.  The flocculators is the last stage of the water treatment process that involves mechanical energy.
 

Chillin' by the clarifiers

After leaving the flocculators, where a good portion of the impurities have settled out, in the form of floc, the water enters one of four clarifiers, which operate independent of each other.  Here, gravity, rather than mechanical energy, is used to settle even more of the impurities out of the water.  The particles that settle out to the bottom of the clarifiers are removed by redwood scrapers.
 

Treatment of the sludge

The sludge that is removed from the clarifiers is treated separately.  It is taken to a plate press, where as much water as possible is squeezed out of it, for the same reason that sludge is dewatered at a wastewater treatment plant -- to lower the cost of getting rid of it.  The Easton WTP has a large tank that holds the sludge, and it may be there for as many as five years.  At the Easton WTP, approximately 220 dry tons (700 wet tons) of sludge are produced each year.
 

Click to learn about the remaining water treatment processes