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City of Rockport Aims at Better Water Treatments with New Tank
Posted: Dec 10, 2012 6:09 PM by Meteorologist Juan Acuña
Updated: Dec 10, 2012 11:24 PM
On the outside, the tanks that were purchased by the city of Rockport may not look like much, but they have a very important function.
They're called anoxic tanks and what they do is remove nitrates from untreated water. If left in the water, nitrates can have a harmful affect on the environment. For example, they can cause algae blooms that deplete oxygen from the water.
That's why the city of Rockport took on a major investment to make sure they're water treatment facility strips the wastewater of many nitrates as possible.
In return, the oxygen levels in the surrounding ecosystems are kept in the safe zone.
Steve Colson, Chief Operator for the City of Rockport Wastewater Treatment said, "This allows the micro-organisms and the bacteria to utilize that oxygen from a nitrate molecule for their metabolism therefore they process the food supply and reduce that nitrate molecule to a nitrogen gas."
With nitrates out of the equation, algae blooms will be fewer and waters will hold more nutrients for all sorts of marine life. Colson also says they've seen a major improvement in the surrounding waters since the tanks were installed back in October.
"The city of Rockport takes its wastewater treatment part of their operations very seriously to ensure that the effluent leaving the plant is of high quality and is safe for the public and the environment," said Colson
An environment that relies heavily on the waters to survive.
Juan Acuna, KRIS 6 News
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