Uplands Park Wastewater Treatment Facility – here the effluent enters an open, fenced wetland.
In the sampling run on oct 2, 2020, I visited the area of the Uplands Park Waste Water Treatment Facility (UPWWTF). I was impressed with what I saw, especially that it had tertiary treatment. (Sewage going into Bedford Basin/Halifax Harbour gets secondary treatment at best.) After the crud is removed (primary treatment) and a lot of the organic matter is broken down (secondary treatment), and the water goes through a UV system to kill pathogens, there is still a step to remove nutrients: it goes through a fenced off marsh (it could be a “constructed wetland” or partially constructed wetland, or totally natural marsh, I am not sure which) to remove nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen. That’s important because there are very high levels of nutrients in sewage effluent that could make a downstream lake – in this case Sandy Lake – go ‘skunky’ with algal blooms and the like.
View Photo Album: Sandy Lake: Wetlands and Riparian areas to W & SW Oct 2, 2020 PART III