Raleigh's Neuse River Wastewater Treatement Plant (Raleigh, North Carolina)

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The Neuse River Wastewater Treatment Plant is an advanced or tertiary wastewater treatment facility serving the City of Raleigh. Its capacity is 60 million gallons a day, and it is treating an average of 46 million gallons a day (11/2006). The City plans to expand the plant in five years to handle 75 million gallons per day.

In 1989, the Neuse Plant won the EPA's national award for Operations and Maintenance based on its outstanding record of permit compliance. The plant has not had a violation of its permit in over twenty years!

Advanced or tertiary treatment means that wastewater undergoes three stages of treatment: primary, secondary and advanced treatment. Primary treatment removes solids that will settle to the bottom and greases and oils that will float to the surface. Secondary treatment uses microorganisms to digest or eat material that is dissolved or suspended in the water, and then separates the "bugs" from the cleaned water.

Advanced treatment includes filtration and disinfection with ultraviolet light to kill germs in the water.

Recent construction at the Neuse plant has added biological nitrogen removal to secondary treatment and tertiary treatment processes in the plant. In 1999 these new processes at the Neuse River Wastewater Treatment Plant reduced nitrogen levels by 55% when compared to 1995 levels, which the state has established as a benchmark year. The state regulations which require a 49% nitrogen reduction and compliance in January, 2003 have already been met by the City of Raleigh at the Neuse River Wastewater Treatment Plant in 1999.