Tamaqua and Clamtown Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts recently toured the Tamaqua waste water treatment plant.

The plant, operating since 1963, receives waste water and sewage from over 51 miles of sewer line in Tamaqua, Hometown and parts of South Tamaqua."The plant is mostly gravity fed and treats about 1,000 gallons a minute," said tour guide and superintendent Rick Baddick, who's worked 32 years with the Tamaqua Borough. "That averages about 1.5 million gallons a day."He added that the plant, designed for 2.63 million gallons a day, uses a natural process involving microscopic organisms to create activated sludge to treat the water. The only chemical they use is chlorine, which is only used to disinfect.The clean treated water then exits into the Little Schuylkill River.