Nitrogen-reducing wastewater treatment system

A method of treating wastewater:

• providing a pretreatment tank having an inlet and an outlet, said inlet receiving wastewater influent from a wastewater source;
• providing an aeration tank having an inlet and an outlet, said inlet of said aeration tank in fluid communication with said outlet of said pretreatment tank and receiving said wastewater from said pretreatment tank;
• aerating a portion of said aeration tank to provide aerobic conditions that induce nitrification;
• providing a sensor to measure suspended solids in said aeration tank;
• providing a recirculating pump to pump a portion of said wastewater in said aeration tank to said pretreatment tank in pulses;
• maintaining suspended solids in said aeration tank at a predetermined level by pulsing said recirculating pump when said suspended solids in said aeration tank exceed said predetermined level;
• discharging said recirculated wastewater from outlets adjacent a floor in said pretreatment tank, said outlets being pointed in opposite directions to impart rotational stirring of said wastewater in said pretreatment tank;
• maintaining anoxic conditions in said pretreatment tank to preferentially select for facultative bacteria to populate both said aeration tank and said pretreatment tank.