Olympic Wastewater Recycling: Gross or Green?

A new sewer network and pumping station (above) was built to accommodate all the extra sewage from Olympic Park and Village. This wastewater, along with sewage from northeast London, will be recycled through the Olympics' innovative blackwater reclamation project. Photo: Olympic Delivery Authority, 2008

How does it work?

Olympic Park’s water recycling facility treats and sanitizes local sewage water in several stages. In the initial pre-treatment phase, wastewater undergoes a screening and settlement process in septic tanks to remove toilet paper and other solids.

Next, the water is treated using innovative Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) technology: Special membranes filter the water and introduce oxygen to promote the microbial breakdown of organic matter. This membrane filtration technology eliminates more contaminants and produces a higher quality water than conventional wastewater treatment processes, according to the ODA. The resulting water is virtually free of solids and pathogens.

MBR was also used at the 2008 Beijing Olympics to recycle blackwater that was used to supply water features, landscaping and agriculture.

Finally, before the water is sent back to Olympic Park for reuse, the wastewater is filtered through carbon, which removes a wide variety of organic compounds and color by absorption, and chlorinated to disinfect the water and prevent future microbial growth.

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