South Fort Collins Sanitation District Water Reclamation Facility is a 6.0 million gallon per day rated wastewater reclamation facility located in between Fort Collins and Loveland. Each year the district treats and returns to the environment over 1 billion gallons of water, using naturally occurring microorganisms found in the environment. The water reclamation facility utilizes a “step-feed” aerobic treatment basin, where we grow and hold microorganisms (bugs) in quantities sufficient enough to treat the incoming wastewater. After passing through the treatment basin the liquid is sent to clarifiers, where the solids (excess bugs) and water are separated by gravity. A portion of the settled solids are removed “wasted” from the process to prevent overcrowding, while the remainder are recirculated back to the treatment basin to continue the treatment process. The water that leaves the clarifiers passes through a filtration system before being sent to an ultra-violet disinfection system. After a UV treatment the water is then returned to the environment.

The portion of solids that are “wasted” out of the system are sent to our biosolids processing system, called the ATAD system. ATAD stands for Auto-Thermal Thermophilic Aerobic Digestion. This system uses heat generated from the “bugs” to treat the biosolids much like the pasteurization process in milk. After the solids are processed by the ATAD system, they are sent through a centrifuge to separate the solids from the water. The water is sent back through the treatment facility and the dewatered solids are sent to a compost facility for beneficial reuse. Our water reclamation facility produces over 400 tons of biosolids annually that are composted and returned to the environment as a fertilizer source.

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Our Water Reclamation Facility can reclaim 6 million gallons of wastewater per day. The District treats and returns over 1 billion gallons of water to the environment. We do this through a natural and safe process. We start by using naturally occurring microorganisms found in the environment. These microorganisms consume the waste products, removing them from the water. Then, we remove the microorganisms from the water. The treated water undergoes an ultraviolet treatment to disinfect it. Then, it's returned to the environment. We compost any biosolids that are left from the reclamation process.