FLORIDA WASTEWATER STUDY GUIDE 2025/2026
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS RATED A+
✔✔Anaerobic - ✔✔is a condition under which free, dissolved, and combined oxygen is
unavailable in an aqueous environment.
✔✔Anoxic - ✔✔is a condition under which oxygen is only available in a combined form
such as nitrate (NO3-), nitrite (NO2-), or sulfate (SO4-2) in an aqueous environment.
✔✔Biosolids - ✔✔are the nutrient-rich, organic byproduct of a municipal wastewater
treatment plant that is utilized as fertilizer
✔✔Clarifier - ✔✔is a circular or rectangular tank used to remove floatable and settleable
solids in wastewater.
✔✔Disinfection - ✔✔is a process used to destroy most pathogens to a safe level in the
effluent. Disinfection does not destroy all microorganisms
✔✔Grit - ✔✔is the fine, abrasive particles removed from wastewater, such as sand and
eggshells.
✔✔Headworks - ✔✔is the beginning, or head, of a treatment plant where influent flow is
measured and sampled and where preliminary treatment occurs.
✔✔microorganism - ✔✔is a living organism too small to be seen with the naked eye, but
is visible under a microscope. They include: bacteria, viruses, fungi, or protozoa.
✔✔Primary treatment - ✔✔is a treatment process usually consisting of clarification by
solid and liquid separation removing a substantial amount of suspended and floating
matter.
✔✔Process control - ✔✔is the tools and methods used to optimize treatment plant
operations.
✔✔Return activated sludge - ✔✔is the settled activated sludge (biomass) collected in a
final clarifier and returned to the secondary treatment process to mix with incoming
wastewater. This returns a concentrated population of microorganisms back into the
aeration basin.
✔✔Screenings - ✔✔are the materials in wastewater removed with screens at the
headworks of treatment plants. They include: sticks, stones, plastics, and personal
hygiene products.
,✔✔Secondary treatment - ✔✔is a treatment process using biological processes that
utilize bacteria to remove pollutants.
✔✔Selector - ✔✔is part of the treatment system that selects for a specific type of
microorganism by providing an environment (anaerobic, anoxic, or aerobic) that favors
its growth.
✔✔Sidestreams - ✔✔are flows generated within the plant, usually from solids
processing that has been recycled back through the plant.
✔✔Tertiary treatment - ✔✔is a treatment process using physical, chemical, or biological
processes to remove suspended solids and nutrients in wastewater to accomplish a
level of treatment greater than what can be achieved by secondary treatment.
✔✔treatment process - ✔✔means a physical, biological, or chemical action that is
applied to wastewater to remove or reduce pollutants
✔✔Treatmeant unit - ✔✔is an individual structure or equipment within a collection
system or a wastewater treatment facility that is part of a treatment process.
✔✔Waste activated sludge - ✔✔is the activated sludge (excess biomass or cell mass)
removed from the secondary treatment process. For most treatment plants, this will be a
portion of the RAS flow stream.
✔✔Confined space - ✔✔is a space large enough for an operator to enter and perform
assigned work. It has limited or restricted means for entry or exit and is not designed for
continuous occupancy.
✔✔Pathogens - ✔✔infectious microorganisms in wastewater that pose health risks.
✔✔WPDES. Wisconsin pollutant discharges elimination system. - ✔✔is issued to
wastewater facility owners and contains facility effluent, biosolids and sludge limitations,
conditions, and reporting requirements.
✔✔Discuss where a wastewater treatment plant operator would find information on
conducting wastewater tests. - ✔✔can be found in 'Standard Methods for the
Examination of Water and Wastewater', prepared and published jointly by the American
Public Health Association, American Water Works Association, and Water Environment
Federation. It is commonly referred to simply as 'Standard Methods'. The first edition
was published in 1905 and many editions have since been published as information is
updated and instrumentation and methodologies change.
✔✔Discuss the early historical methods of dealing with wastewater. - ✔✔human waste
and wastewater was basically disposed of directly on the land surface. In urban
, communities, it was common to discharge human waste in gutters and ditches. This
situation created sanitary problems (illnesses and diseases), nuisance odors, and
unsightliness. Rains were counted on to flush the waste away. Later development of the
pit toilet or outhouse facility continued until underground collection systems were
developed.
✔✔Discuss the Clean Water Act. - ✔✔is a federal law created in 1972 with the main
objective of chemically, physically, and biologically restoring and maintaining the
nation's waters. It was created to stop the continuous dumping of pollutants, both point
source and non-point source, into surface waters and wetlands.
✔✔Discuss the importance of treating wastewater. - ✔✔is treated for two main reasons:
A. Protect public health by destroying pathogens B. Protect the environment by
removing pollutants
Pathogenic organisms are disease-causing microorganisms. They include various
bacteria, viruses, and parasites. The discharge of waterborne human wastes will
contain these organisms from ailing individuals and would be expected to be present in
wastewater entering a wastewater treatment plant.
✔✔Describe the sources of wastewater in a community - ✔✔is used water that goes
down the drain and flows to the wastewater treatment plant. Flows originate from
domestic (household), industrial, and commercial sources. Some wastewater is trucked
to the wastewater treatment plant as septage, holding tank waste, leachate, and some
high strength industrial wastewater. In addition, clearwater (rain, snow, and
groundwater) from inflow and infiltration (I/I) can get into the collection system.
✔✔List and define common sources of I/I. - ✔✔is unwanted clearwater that gets into the
collection system. Clearwater is classified by how fast it gets into the collection system
and is determined by weather and groundwater conditions.
Common sources of clearwater (I/I) are:
A. Roof leaders connected to the sanitary sewer
B. Storm and sanitary crossovers
C. Low lying manholes in roads or ditches subject to flooding D. Uncapped lateral
connections
E. Sump pumps and foundation drains
F. Cracks and offset joints in the sanitary sewer
G. Manhole cracks and defects
H. Buried manholes
I. Cracks and leaks in building sewers
✔✔Discuss the effect of I/I on a collection system. - ✔✔enters collection system pipes, it
can exceed the flow capacity of the pipes and result in surcharging, basement backups,
and sanitary sewer overflows (SSO). I/I in the collection system can also lead to very
high flows entering the treatment facility and can lead to wastewater pumping and
treatment problems. Too much flow going through aeration basins and clarifiers can
wash out solids, creating a loss of treatment efficiency and
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS RATED A+
✔✔Anaerobic - ✔✔is a condition under which free, dissolved, and combined oxygen is
unavailable in an aqueous environment.
✔✔Anoxic - ✔✔is a condition under which oxygen is only available in a combined form
such as nitrate (NO3-), nitrite (NO2-), or sulfate (SO4-2) in an aqueous environment.
✔✔Biosolids - ✔✔are the nutrient-rich, organic byproduct of a municipal wastewater
treatment plant that is utilized as fertilizer
✔✔Clarifier - ✔✔is a circular or rectangular tank used to remove floatable and settleable
solids in wastewater.
✔✔Disinfection - ✔✔is a process used to destroy most pathogens to a safe level in the
effluent. Disinfection does not destroy all microorganisms
✔✔Grit - ✔✔is the fine, abrasive particles removed from wastewater, such as sand and
eggshells.
✔✔Headworks - ✔✔is the beginning, or head, of a treatment plant where influent flow is
measured and sampled and where preliminary treatment occurs.
✔✔microorganism - ✔✔is a living organism too small to be seen with the naked eye, but
is visible under a microscope. They include: bacteria, viruses, fungi, or protozoa.
✔✔Primary treatment - ✔✔is a treatment process usually consisting of clarification by
solid and liquid separation removing a substantial amount of suspended and floating
matter.
✔✔Process control - ✔✔is the tools and methods used to optimize treatment plant
operations.
✔✔Return activated sludge - ✔✔is the settled activated sludge (biomass) collected in a
final clarifier and returned to the secondary treatment process to mix with incoming
wastewater. This returns a concentrated population of microorganisms back into the
aeration basin.
✔✔Screenings - ✔✔are the materials in wastewater removed with screens at the
headworks of treatment plants. They include: sticks, stones, plastics, and personal
hygiene products.
,✔✔Secondary treatment - ✔✔is a treatment process using biological processes that
utilize bacteria to remove pollutants.
✔✔Selector - ✔✔is part of the treatment system that selects for a specific type of
microorganism by providing an environment (anaerobic, anoxic, or aerobic) that favors
its growth.
✔✔Sidestreams - ✔✔are flows generated within the plant, usually from solids
processing that has been recycled back through the plant.
✔✔Tertiary treatment - ✔✔is a treatment process using physical, chemical, or biological
processes to remove suspended solids and nutrients in wastewater to accomplish a
level of treatment greater than what can be achieved by secondary treatment.
✔✔treatment process - ✔✔means a physical, biological, or chemical action that is
applied to wastewater to remove or reduce pollutants
✔✔Treatmeant unit - ✔✔is an individual structure or equipment within a collection
system or a wastewater treatment facility that is part of a treatment process.
✔✔Waste activated sludge - ✔✔is the activated sludge (excess biomass or cell mass)
removed from the secondary treatment process. For most treatment plants, this will be a
portion of the RAS flow stream.
✔✔Confined space - ✔✔is a space large enough for an operator to enter and perform
assigned work. It has limited or restricted means for entry or exit and is not designed for
continuous occupancy.
✔✔Pathogens - ✔✔infectious microorganisms in wastewater that pose health risks.
✔✔WPDES. Wisconsin pollutant discharges elimination system. - ✔✔is issued to
wastewater facility owners and contains facility effluent, biosolids and sludge limitations,
conditions, and reporting requirements.
✔✔Discuss where a wastewater treatment plant operator would find information on
conducting wastewater tests. - ✔✔can be found in 'Standard Methods for the
Examination of Water and Wastewater', prepared and published jointly by the American
Public Health Association, American Water Works Association, and Water Environment
Federation. It is commonly referred to simply as 'Standard Methods'. The first edition
was published in 1905 and many editions have since been published as information is
updated and instrumentation and methodologies change.
✔✔Discuss the early historical methods of dealing with wastewater. - ✔✔human waste
and wastewater was basically disposed of directly on the land surface. In urban
, communities, it was common to discharge human waste in gutters and ditches. This
situation created sanitary problems (illnesses and diseases), nuisance odors, and
unsightliness. Rains were counted on to flush the waste away. Later development of the
pit toilet or outhouse facility continued until underground collection systems were
developed.
✔✔Discuss the Clean Water Act. - ✔✔is a federal law created in 1972 with the main
objective of chemically, physically, and biologically restoring and maintaining the
nation's waters. It was created to stop the continuous dumping of pollutants, both point
source and non-point source, into surface waters and wetlands.
✔✔Discuss the importance of treating wastewater. - ✔✔is treated for two main reasons:
A. Protect public health by destroying pathogens B. Protect the environment by
removing pollutants
Pathogenic organisms are disease-causing microorganisms. They include various
bacteria, viruses, and parasites. The discharge of waterborne human wastes will
contain these organisms from ailing individuals and would be expected to be present in
wastewater entering a wastewater treatment plant.
✔✔Describe the sources of wastewater in a community - ✔✔is used water that goes
down the drain and flows to the wastewater treatment plant. Flows originate from
domestic (household), industrial, and commercial sources. Some wastewater is trucked
to the wastewater treatment plant as septage, holding tank waste, leachate, and some
high strength industrial wastewater. In addition, clearwater (rain, snow, and
groundwater) from inflow and infiltration (I/I) can get into the collection system.
✔✔List and define common sources of I/I. - ✔✔is unwanted clearwater that gets into the
collection system. Clearwater is classified by how fast it gets into the collection system
and is determined by weather and groundwater conditions.
Common sources of clearwater (I/I) are:
A. Roof leaders connected to the sanitary sewer
B. Storm and sanitary crossovers
C. Low lying manholes in roads or ditches subject to flooding D. Uncapped lateral
connections
E. Sump pumps and foundation drains
F. Cracks and offset joints in the sanitary sewer
G. Manhole cracks and defects
H. Buried manholes
I. Cracks and leaks in building sewers
✔✔Discuss the effect of I/I on a collection system. - ✔✔enters collection system pipes, it
can exceed the flow capacity of the pipes and result in surcharging, basement backups,
and sanitary sewer overflows (SSO). I/I in the collection system can also lead to very
high flows entering the treatment facility and can lead to wastewater pumping and
treatment problems. Too much flow going through aeration basins and clarifiers can
wash out solids, creating a loss of treatment efficiency and
