The Facts
Opened: 1944 - 60 MGD Primary Treatment.
Upgrades/Additions: 1951 - Step Aeration, 1976 - 85 MGD.
Design Capacity: 85 MGD.
Drainage Area: 5,907 acres, eastern section of Brooklyn, near Jamaica Bay.
Receiving Waterbody: Jamaica Bay.
Population Served: 283,428 (est.)
Pumping Stations: 1 Storm.
Dewatering: on-site central dewatering facility. Digested sludge from the Coney Island, Owls Head and Rockaway Plants dewatered here.
The Plant
The plant serves a tributary area of 5,907 acres in the eastern section of Brooklyn near Jamaica Bay.
The first treatment facilities at the 26th Ward site were constructed in the 1890's. These facilities were designed for a flow of 3 MGD. Because of rapid population growth, they were overloaded before they even opened. The period from 1910 to 1918 was one of intensive process experimentation at 26th Ward beginning with the first experiments on sewage aeration. Design of an activated sludge plant was completed and construction started just prior to the start of the Second World War. Construction was interrupted by the war, but work was sufficiently far along to permit limited treatment starting in 1944. The original activated sludge plant was designed to treat sewage from a population of 480,000 contributing an average flow of 60 MGD. In 1970, the design for the expansion and modernization of the original plant was completed. The expanded plant was designed for the expected year 2015 population of 500,000 contributing an average flow of 85 MGD. The plant currently provides primary treatment for two times the average flow, 170 MGD, and secondary treatment for 1.5 times the average flow, 127.5 MGD. Future upgrade to bilogical nutrient reduction systems are planned.