In the fictional Northbank waterworks, turbid water enters a two-stage settling chamber through a baffled inlet, which spreads the stream across the first compartment. Because the wider compartment reduces horizontal flow speed, mineral grains whose settling velocity exceeds the upward component of the current move toward the sloped floor, while lighter particles remain suspended. The water then passes beneath a low divider into the second compartment; the longer path gives remaining grains more time to descend before clarified water rises to the outlet. Operators call the gradual reduction in usable settling area "surface loss," although this passage does not define how that term is measured.
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