Water · WastewaterOperatorCertPrep

Exam math · Treatment math

Removal efficiency

How much of a pollutant a process removes, as a percentage of what came in.

The formula

Efficiency = (in minus out) over in, times 100.

The unit trap

Read which stage the question brackets. Whole-plant efficiency uses raw influent and final effluent; single-process efficiency uses that process's own in and out. Grabbing the wrong pair is the miss.

Worked practice example

Practice influent at 200 units and effluent at 20: (200 - 20) / 200 = 0.90, so 90 percent removal. (Invented numbers.)

On exam day

A formula and conversion table is provided with the standardized exam; the official version is published by the exam provider at gowpi.org. These pages teach the concepts in our own words so the sheet on the desk reads as a reminder, not a puzzle.

The rest of the math

The operator math sheet

One printable page: the exam format, the formula-first drill method, and the unit-conversion discipline that decides the math questions. Free.

No spam. One useful sheet and occasional notes.