Wastewater

Our Wastewater Treatment Plants process materials so they can be safely recycled back into the environment. These materials include:

• residential sewage
• landfill leachate
• septic waste

How wastewater treatment works

The sewage treatment plants use live microorganisms (i.e., activated sludge) to breakdown the sewage and then separate the solids from the liquids. The water is treated to remove harmful microbes and chemicals before returning it to the lake. The solids are anaerobically digested at 35C for 30-60 days and then given to local farmers as fertilizers.

Types of stations

Sanitary pumping stations

Sanitary Pumping Stations move waste from homes, businesses and industries to the treatment plants where they can be processed.

Stormwater pumping stations

Stormwater pumping stations remove rain and ground water from streets and gutters and move them to Lake Ontario.

Leachate pumping stations

Leachate collected from collection systems under landfill sites are trucked to the wastewater treatment facility for treatment before being released into local waterways.

Wastewater treatment plant locations

There are two wastewater treatment plants in Cobourg.

Wastewater treatment plant locations

Sanitary pumping station locations