Virtual Resources

Wastewater is water that goes down the drain (toilets, sinks, showers, etc.). Wastewater from 14 towns in Atlantic County travels through pipes from homes and businesses to ACUA’s Treatment Facility in Atlantic City, NJ.  Here, an energy intensive process treats the contaminants found in the wastewater. The remaining, disinfected water is returned to the Atlantic Ocean.  The entire treatment process takes about 8 hours and is closely monitored by staff around the clock.  

Take a virtual tour to learn how the process works:

  
 

LEFT: The sample on the left shows what the watewater looks like entering the plant, and the sample on the right shows the treated water before it goes out to the ocean. RIGHT: Sewer infrastructure is one of the most crucial pieces to public health. Help us keep it working properly by only flushing #1, #2, and toilet paper down the toilet! Here are real examples of items we’ve removed. 

Additional Resources and Activities:

• Drain Do's and Don'ts
• Stormwater Activity Sheets
• Water Use it Wisely - 100 Ways to conserve water  
• Wastewater Education for Kids – resource list  
• Printable Coloring Pages

In Atlantic County, approximately 125 tons of single stream recycling are processed by our partner company, Mazza Recycling Services, each day. To help keep recycling strong, it is essential that our community recycles the right way. Below are resources that explain how the recycling process works, and what items we do and do not accept.

Additional Resources and Activities:

• Create Custom Posters - Save items commonly used in the classroom, cafeteria or at home to create custom posters that illustrate what can and cannot be recycled in those locations. 

  

• Atlantic County Recycling Guidelines
• Mazza Recycling
• ACUA's Pinterest Page 
• The Story of Stuff  
• Green Planet 4 Kids 

The average American makes about 4 lbs. of trash every day, which may sound like a small number, but it adds up! Trash generated in Atlantic County is brought to ACUA's Environmental Park in Egg Harbor Township. 

First, the trash is weighed at the scalehouse. Then, it's brought to the Transfer Station, an indoor building that stores the trash throughout the day. Since ACUA's landfill is located close to the Atlantic City Airport, it can only bury trash at night to keep birds away from the area. 

ACUA's sanitary lined landfill is split into cells (or compartments). Each cell has a heavy-duty lining at the bottom that protects the ground from the buried trash. When it rains, rainwater drains to the bottom of the cell and is pumped to ACUA's Wastewater Treatment Facility to be cleaned. As trash breaks down in the landfill, it creates gas. ACUA collects this gas and send its to a special generator that turns it into electricity to power the entire Environmental Park facility!

Additional Resources and Activities:

• Elementary age activities  
• How to do a Waste Audit   
• Build your own landfill!  

ACUA’s Environmental Park is home to a large-scale composting facility that turns yard waste into our 100% recycled compost product, EcoSoil. The process produces approximately 20,600 tons of soil each year. Yard waste that is brought to our facility, gets ground into fine pieces, and spread into large windrows (large, long piles).  The windrows are periodically turned over, and the material breaks down over several months. Once fully composted, the material is screened for any remaining debris and turned into EcoSoil that is ready to be used in gardens throughout the area.

Additional Resources and Activities:

• Composting at Home
• Worm Composting
• Rutgers Composting Fact Sheets
• Soda Bottle Composting for Kids

ACUA is proud to be a leader in using alternative energy and fuels to power our facilities and services. Our projects include a 5 megawatt Jersey-Atlantic Wind Farm, a 500 kilowatt solar project, a renewable energy storage battery, a green vehicle wash, Compressed Natural Gas fueling station and collection fleet, electric and hybrid vehicle charging stations and fleet, a geo-thermal administrative building, and green landscaping. 
 

  

Additional Resources:

• EPA’s Environmental lesson plans 
• ​New Jersey AmeriCorps NJ Watershed Ambassador’s Environmental Education List