Wastewater Treatment

The Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) is located on Morningside Drive in Portland and treats the sewer generated by all customers of the City of Portland's sewer system. Wastewater coming into the WWTP is the product of your everyday activities such as toilet flushing, baths and showers, laundry and dishwashing.

The WWTP is a Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) system categorized as Class 4. SBR reactors treat sewer released by both domestic and industrial users. The WWTP removes 90% of the domestic pollutants, and on average, the WWTP treats 1.4 million gallons of wastewater per day, but is designed to treat up to 1.9 million gallons per day.

We have a State of Tennessee approved Pretreatment Program in place to oversee all the permitted local industries and make sure that nothing is discharged from their industrial facility that could adversely affect the WWTP.

We also have a Grease Management Program for any food preparation businesses to regulate the amount of oil and grease that are discharged into the wastewater collection system. Controlling the release of these into the sewer system can help to prevent line blockages and other problems.

Numerous laboratory tests are performed at the WWTP to insure that the City of Portland stays within the regulations imposed by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).