Rerouted wastewater could rejuvenate some of Louisiana’s wetlands. As part of the Wetland Assimilation Project at the South Terrebonne Wastewater Treatment Plant, some 4 mgd of treated wastewater would provide nitrogen, ammonia and phosphates to wetland plants while preventing saltwater from entering Lake Boudreaux. Wastewater is currently sent into the Houma Navigation Canal where it is flushed toward the Gulf of Mexico.

The Terrebonne project will use a horizontally drilled 24-inch distribution pipe to discharge treated wastewater into the 450-acre wetlands just south of the plant. The area around Lake Boudreaux has experienced significant degradation in recent years, and it is projected to lose 163 acres of wetlands in the next 50 years, partially from the elimination of riverine inflow and a change in historic salinity.

“It is very expensive to remove that nitrogen through a traditional treatment plant,” says Kerry St. Pe, Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary program director. “The idea of passing it through wetlands is a very good idea because you are removing the nutrients. It is fertilizer, and the water quality benefits.”

Source: Houma Today

Money-Saving Plant Upgrade Recognized by City
The City of Marysville, Wash., could realize $60,000 in energy savings per year, thanks to efforts from Jeff Cobb, the city’s wastewater plant lead. Cobb, who headed a project to install dissolved oxygen probes at the plant, earned the city’s Dare to Soar Award for his innovative and cost-saving idea. The probes increase aerobic processes and decrease energy needs at the plant.

 “This type of innovative thinking and ingenuity deserves recognition due to the significance of the cost savings realized by the city,” says Mayor Jon Nehring.

Marysville officials created the Dare to Soar Award after the 2008 economic recession as a way to encourage employees to reduce costs.

Source: North Country Outlook

Recreational Fields to Benefit from Water Reuse Program
Drip irrigation could be the key to wastewater woes in Hammonton, N.J. Under a proposed plan, the municipal utility would send up to 875,000 gpd of treated effluent through a drip irrigation system to 26.5 acres of woodland and at least 7.5 acres of playing fields in a recreation area. Currently, the treated wastewater is sent into Hammonton Creek, a practice that has come under criticism from the New Jersey Pinelands Commission because of increased nutrient levels downstream from the plant. In New Jersey, 23 utilities and businesses have received approval to reuse wastewater.

Source: Press of Atlantic City

Anaergia Chosen to Build Biogas Upgrading Facility
Taking a lead in resource recovery, the Pima County Regional Wastewater Reclamation Department (Ariz.) will work with Anaergia and its project partner Grannus to build a large-scale biogas upgrading facility. The department operates nine wastewater treatment plants in Pima County, which send biosolids to a centralized facility at the Tres Rios Water Reclamation Facility. Anaerobic digesters process the biosolids and create a continuous supply of digester gas, which is currently flared.

“Flaring the biogas is not the best use of this resource from an environmental or ratepayer perspective,” says Jackson Jenkins, PCRWRD director. “This project will leverage innovative technologies and practices in the private sector to help us accomplish the mandate set out in our systemwide Biosolids and Biogas Utilization Master Plan.”

Anaergia/Grannus will market and sell the commercial biomethane product, allowing PCRWRD to focus on its core business of wastewater treatment.

Source: Energy Business Review