On Monday we visited and toured the El Prat Llobregat waste water treatment plant which was located right outside of Barcelona, about 20 minutes from our residence hall.

We sat through a quick and informative presentation given by two employees of the waste water plant.

This plant (technically located in Catalonia) services about a 1/4 of the city of Barcelona.

The plant was constructed in 2002 so it's been up and running since. They receive up to 73.5 million liters per day which is equivalent to the usage of 1,706,250 people. The treatment they provide purifies 95% of the water before returning it to the ocean.

Us touring the waste water facility as a group. We had to wear hard hats and vests as a safety (and awesome) precaution.

It's difficult for the waste water plant to treat water that contains the following waste:

These materials are difficult to remove completely from the water because they may not dissolve completely which clogs up the pipes and drains or they contain chemicals that are too small or strong to filter out.

Barcelona's drains cannot always absorb torrential rains, so to stop rainwater from overflowing or creating mud blockages in the system, tanks have been built to hold it. These tanks also prevent sediment and other torrential rainwater waste matter from flowing out uncontrollably into the sea. With the accumulated water in tanks, the flow that reaches the purification plants can be regulated and, once the downpour abates, all the water that is gradually put back into the drainage system will be treated before it reaches the sea. On the other hand, the actual waste gets dehydrated and can be used as compost or fertilizer (seen in photo below). 

The dirty water that arrives to the treatment plant (left), the water that is treated and purified although there are still visible tiny particles (middle), and then the waste that gets filtered out and dehydrated and can be used for compost (right).

This is a resilient and sustainable method of being able to recycle the water being used by returning it purified to the ocean and using the leftover waste as compost. This is returning all of the natural materials back into the Earth where it belongs and as a result it creates new life.

Scary fact: In United States we use four times the amount of water that Barcelona uses!

There are several steps that a waste water facility utilizes in order to remove all the waste and sedimentation from the water. The water is filtered several times with various treatments. For example, in the beginning of the process machines that resemble claws (see photo below) grab bulks of waste out of tanks of water for more efficient draining and filtration.

These photos show the claw device picking up big chunks of waste making it easier for water to go through filters and drains for better purification.

There are some ways we can reduce the amount of containment in the water to make it more easier and efficient for plants to treat the water:

-bio-gradable soaps or using less soap

-avoid using baby wipes or discard them in the trash instead

-dual flush toilets (uses less water which means less water to treat)

-don't flush tissues or makeup wipes

-using less water (shorter showers)

Although this was not a very glamorous trip because of the smells and sights, it was very informative and we would like to thank the members of the El Prat treatment plant for sharing their knowledge and time with us!