The traditional way of restoring capacity has been to build a second facility. This is a costly and unnecessary waste. In addition, every industry that uses water in its process uses some of that water to wash sediment off the material they are processing. Most factories, industries, utilities and domestic wastewater treatment plants have ponds lined with synthetic clay or concrete. Sediment enters these ponds and settles to the bottom.
Typical facilities are a series of ponds, with most of the sediment settling in the first pond.
The water then flows over a break wall into succeeding ponds where more sediment settles. By the time it leaves the final pond, the water entering into a lake, river or stream is supposed to be free of sediment. The sediment retained in these ponds must be removed. Presently, facilities must be shut down for a week or in some instances, weeks. They drain these ponds and send people in with wheel barrows, shovels and brooms to manually remove the unwanted material.