Automated systems and methods for treating wastewater or effluent are provided. In some embodiments, the methods include: using a set of sensors to measure one or more properties of untreated wastewater or effluent; performing at least one potential chemical treatment and at least one potential mechanical treatment on a sample of the untreated wastewater or effluent, wherein the potential chemical and mechanical treatments are selected based on the properties of the untreated wastewater or effluent; using a set of sensors to measure one or more properties of the treated sample; based at least in part on the data regarding the properties of the treated sample, using an information handling system to select at least one chemical treatment and at least one mechanical treatment; and using the information handling system to control one or more components of a chemical treatment subsystem and a mechanical treatment subsystem to perform the selected chemical and mechanical treatments on the untreated wastewater or effluent to produce treated water.