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Many utilities face a need for change – to do better – as never before. Change is easy to ask for but harder to deliver. Even with the lessons learned and successful formulas developed over the last 15 years, utility leaders still have simple questions that are no easier to answer: How can a utility be more agile? How do we energize our people, and focus that energy? How do we develop...

 

Resource management strategies that support the water-energy-nutrient nexus are pivotal components of the Utility of the Future initiative. In this paper, we present information generated as part of a Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) study that focuses on closing the gap between innovation and practice thereby accelerating wider adoption of extractive nutrient recovery. Extractive...

This document examines the prospects that exist and are emerging for the organics, energy, and nutrients in biosolids. Lessons learned and documented experiences have also been captured in this publication as part of an effort to provide practical guidance for utilities embarking on the road to resource recovery. Recognizing the economic and environmental value of biogas as a source of renewable energy, this report additionally provides an update on findings from WEF’s national biogas data collection efforts.

Today, the opportunities for biosolids resource recovery are unprecedented – and growing – fueled by continued technical innovation and a global focus on sustainability. These opportunities, and the drivers behind them, are fully explored the 2017 Water Environment Federation (WEF) report Accelerating Resource Recovery: Biosolids Innovations and Opportunities. The new report...

The Joint Meeting of Essex & Union Counties (JMEUC), a Wastewater Treatment Facility located in Elizabeth, New Jersey, owns, operates, and maintains approximately 43-miles of gravity sanitary sewer trunk lines constructed of various materials ranging in size from 10-inch to 81-inches in diameter. Approximately 14 miles of the trunk sewer is vitrified clay pipe, originally constructed between...

The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago's (MWRD) Stickney Water Reclamation Plant is a 1200 MGD (4.54×106m3/d) secondary treatment plant serving a mostly combined sewer area of 260 square miles (4.11×105ha) with a population equivalent of 5.5 million persons. The facility produces approximately 140,000 dry tons (127×106kg) of biosolids per year; the...

The consensus in the scientific community, as noted in the recently published National Climate Assessment, points to an escalation in the frequency and intensity of severe weather events due to climate change. Natural disasters can cause serious disruptions to water and wastewater utility operations, as well as destruction and risk to human health. Fortunately, these negative impacts can be...

Aerobic granular sludge (AGS) is a potentially transformative technology based on fast-settling bioparticles that allow for greater hydraulic and mass loading capacities when compared with conventional activated sludge. Under the proper conditions, the technology can support a single sludge capable of nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon removal. AGS research and full-scale installations employ the...

The City of Wilmington's James A. Loughlin Wastewater Treatment Plant liquid and solids treatment trains are currently being designed for upgrade and expansion to 16-mgd capacity. Class A residuals management alternatives were investigated as a part of the preliminary engineering phase due to concerns over the long-term viability, risks and economics of the current Class B land application...

Port Huron, Michigan began implementation of its CSO control program in 1997. As of 2012, the City had completed over 95% of the total program, with 32 of 33 projects completed or under construction, and with $171 million in expenditures. After considering both end of pipe controls and sewer separation, the City opted for separation. This decision was based on both the lower cost of the separation...

The City of Omaha is in the process of addressing combined sewer overflows (CSOs), as required by the Clean Water Act, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) CSO Control Policy of 1994, and the City’s Administrative Consent Order with the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ), to improve water quality in the Missouri River and Papillion Creek. One of the projects outlined...