Metro Vancouver has opened the $9 million Annacis Wastewater Centre, offering a real-life lab for wastewater scientists and engineers, reports the New Westminster (B.C.) News Leader newspaper. The facility opened Oct. 21 at Metro’s largest wastewater treatment plant on Annacis Island.
This is the first in a series of sustainability academies where the regional district plans to partner with university researchers and private firms to find leading-edge solutions to regional problems, the newspaper reported.
“Sewage is a source of renewable energy and vital nutrients, and the work that will take place in the academy will allow us to find novel and innovative ways to extract these important resources,” board chair Lois Jackson told the paper.
One early project will be to explore how to best reclaim phosphorous from wastewater. Others may explore how to capture heat from hot water that goes down the sewers, how to reclaim greywater for irrigation or toilet flushing, and how to capture digester methane to feed the natural gas grid.
Planners hope fees paid by researchers and consultants who use the center will cover annual operating costs. They predict the capital investment will pay for itself by helping the region generate more revenue from resource recovery and cut the cost of future treatment plants, the paper reported.
