Secondary treatment in sewage treatment plant aims to:

In secondary treatment, the primary effluent is passed into large aeration tanks where it is constantly agitated mechanically and air is pumped into it. This allowsvigorous growth of useful aerobic microbes into flocs (masses of bacteria associated with fungal filaments to form mesh like structures). While growing, these microbes consume the major part of the organic matter in the effluent. This significantly reduces the BOD (biochemical oxygen demand) of the effluent. The sewagewater is treated till the BOD is reduced.