The sludge dewatering press screw sewage treatment plant is responsible for removing the sludge, along with all of the by-products of its breakdown, from raw sewage. Before the sewage treatment plant can begin to process the waste, it must first remove the sludge from the bottom of the tank, which is typically a thick layer of sludge. The sludge removal process is oftentimes done by adding chemicals to the sewage and then allowing it to sit and break up on the walls of the tank for several days.
After the sludge has sat and broken down on the tank wall, the sewage treatment plant will dispose of it via a sewer line. If the sewage treatment plant does not have a dedicated sewage disposal site, the waste will be discharged into the natural environment through the sewage pipes that currently exist. Most of the sewage that is disposed of this way ends up back in the rivers, streams, and lakes, eventually contaminating these bodies of water.
Unfortunately, there is no way to prevent this sludge from ever coming into the environment. By using sewage treatment plants that dewater the sewage, and then filtering out the sludge before it makes it to the wastewater treatment plant, most of the problems are eliminated. However, there are a few sludge treatment plants that are designed specifically to remove large amounts of sludge, without allowing the sludge to mix with the other sewage that is flowing through. These specialized sewage treatment plants are designed to remove the majority of the heavy sludge, along with a large number of bacteria and parasites that live in the sludge. Although the sludge is filtered out before it ever reaches a processing facility, it can still create quite an odor when it mixes with other untreated sewage.