Patent ID: 7871527

Claim:
A method of treating water or wastewater in a filtration basin using at least one filter plate comprising the steps of providing an influent flow of water or wastewater to be treated to an influent channel which receives the influent flow, introducing said influent flow from said channel to the bottom of the filtration basin and uniformly distributing said influent flow along the length and width of the bottom of the filtration basin using an influent plenum having metering slots, said influent plenum being at the bottom of the filtration basin; filtering said influent flow with said at least one filter plate supporting a cloth filter media said at least one said filter plate having a hollow interior; discharging the filtered effluent with a relatively constant flow velocity and reduced head loss through at least one effluent plenum sealed from unfiltered influent, said at least one effluent plenum being in fluid communication with said hollow interior of said at least one filter plate, the filtered effluent being discharged from the filter basin through said at least one effluent plenum; and periodically cleaning the cloth filter media supported by the at least one filter plate with suction.