Transforming a Liability into an Asset: How the Gloversville-Johnstown Joint Wastewater Treatment Facility Redefined Its Future.

The story begins like that of so many other communities throughout much of the United States. The industries upon which the communities were founded closed their doors leaving behind an oversized wastewater treatment plant and a largely residential user base that struggled to pay the high costs of operation and existing debt service. But, here’s where the story of the Gloversville-Johnstown Joint Wastewater Treatment Facility (GJJWTF) changes course. The Manager of Wastewater Programs and the Joint Sewer Board have worked tirelessly over the last decade to improve their operating efficiency and to market this tremendous asset – their wastewater treatment plant – to create a new generation of diversified industrial users to support and grow the local economy.Through these efforts, the GJJWTF, transformed itself from a utility on the brink of financial failure to a financially strong net zero energy facility with an operating culture that is pushed to continuously challenge the status quo and look for ways to improve the services it provides to its users while maintaining or reducing user rates. As this abstract is being written, area manufacturers continue to expand their operations and the GJJWTF is in the design or bidding phase of projects to further enhance their capacity to efficiently treat medium and high-strength wastes and to expand their digester gas-fired cogeneration facility to become a net exporter of electricity.No single event made this happen. A combination of creativity, hard work, long-sightedness and a little luck was needed. But, only because there was always a clear objective in mind, a strong commitment to success and a big-picture view of what it would take to be successful did it actually occur.This paper will walk attendees through the journey, highlighting the key administrative and legal actions, organizational and operational changes, capital investments, and strategic partnerships that were needed for GJJWTF to be successful and will provide attendees with insight and experience that can be drawn upon to support their own efforts.