High levels of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous can damage estuaries and the surrounding ecosystems by causing excessive algae growth, leading to the subsequent depletion of dissolved oxygen and eventual fish kill.
 

Bob Fairweather, vice president at Sherwood-Logan and Associates, ITT's distributor, said: “Little Patuxent Water Reclamation Plant has always relied on the Sanitaire diffusers and Flygt mixers and propeller pumps as the heart of the nutrient removal system to meet its permit. Given the new permit standards, I felt confident in recommending ITT's filters.”
 

In the aeration portion of the plant, ITT added over 7,000 new Sanitaire ceramic disc diffusers, nine Flygt mixers, and a Flygt propeller pump. For the filtration segment, ITT provided seven deep bed mono-media Leopold elimi-NITE filters as well as Leopold control panels and ancillary equipment. For the disinfection phase, ITT provided its WEDECO TAK 55 system which utilizes more than four hundred UV lamps to disinfect harmful bacteria before returning the water to the environment.