Environmental Benefits

The SLRWD sanitary sewer system helps relieve a number of stressors on the environment. Because wastewater may contain high levels of the nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus, excessive release to the environment can encourage the overgrowth of weeds and algae. Algal bloom is a rapid growth of algae that is unsustainable, causing most of the algae to die. The decomposition of the algae by bacteria uses up so much of the oxygen in the water that most or all of the  animal life dies, which in turn, creates more organic matter to be decomposed. Some algal species also produce toxins that contaminate drinking water supplies.

In addition, because centralized wastewater treatment facilities can be closely monitored, they provide control over how treated effluent is returned to the ground. Because the wastewater of thousands of homes and businesses is combined into just a few controlled points of discharge, state regulatory agencies, environmental groups and conservationists strongly prefer centralized sewer systems over the proliferation of many individual septic tanks.