In with the New A Look at the Metro Wastewater Reclamation District's (MWRD) GIS Biosolids Land Application Operation

The Metro Wastewater Reclamation District (District) in Denver, Colorado is the largest wastewater treatment facility between the Mississippi river and the west coast. The District treats approximately 130 million gallons of wastewater and produces an average of 80 dry tons of Class B biosolids per day. On an annual average basis, 88 percent of the biosolids are transported from the Robert W. Hite Treatment Facility (RWHTF) and applied to approximately 11,000 acres of District, and privately owned agricultural land each year. The District's land application operation for beneficial use of biosolids started in the early 1980's and continues to grow and change due to regulation, public perception, management practices and technology. Historically the District has managed its biosolids transport, land application, monitoring and reporting using standalone, manual and desktop systems. Bringing the District's land application operation into the new technological age by utilizing geographic information system (GIS) components has allowed improved data analysis and management. Information from multiple sources and databases are now merged together for visual display of each individual land application site. Data trends are quickly revealed and other site issues are easily identified. This paper will describe a brief history of management practices of the District's biosolids land application sites then will move into describing the current GIS land application program using the Viper and Titan operating system, which runs Farm Works software on both the side discharge spreader units and handheld devices. A discussion of the system setup, management, benefits, costs, data acquirements, drawbacks and the future direction/modification of the program is included.