Posted by John McAllister on Mon, May 14, 2012 @ 01:15 PM
The Massachusetts Water Infrastructure Finance Commission just released a report that the State is facing a $21 billion funding gap for water and wastewater infrastructure over the next 20 years.
Former Norfolk Ram employee and co-chair of the commission Carolyn Dykema stated: “Water is one of our most basic needs, yet we often take the infrastructure that delivers it to our homes and businesses for granted. By making investment in our water system a priority, we are also prioritizing economic growth, job creation, and the sustainability of our communities. This report highlights the work we need to do to fund and maintain this important public asset and lays out a road map for creating a 21st-century water infrastructure system to meet the needs of our Commonwealth.”
Water Infrastructure Committee Chairs -Sen. Jaime Eldridge and Rep. Carolyn Dykema.
The Commission's report determined that a significant increase in spending and funding will be needed to address this funding gap and they have laid out several strategies to do this, including:
- Sustaining current Revolving Fund investments
- Establishing a trust fund
- Promoting BMPs to reduce costs and find efficiencies
- Promoting environmental sustainability and innovation
as well as several other strategies.
For more on the Water Infrastructure Commission's report, please see the release from Representative Dykema's website .
Posted by John McAllister on Wed, May 02, 2012 @ 09:49 AM
We read a very interesting article recently in the April 2012 edition of Civil Engineering. The article by Jay Landers discusses a pilot study being done in San Lius Obispo's Water Reclamation facility. The study is designed to test using solar energy and photosynthetic algae to treat wastewater, and then possibly using the algae to generate biofuel. The goal is to develop an inexpensive method of treatment that will reduce nutrient levels and have a valuable byproduct (fertilizer, biofuels). This treatment process could result in a more sustainable and cost effective approach when compared with conventional manners.
As part of the project, the facility uses raceway style algae ponds. The raceway style ponds produce algae at a much higher rate than conventional ponds, and can accelerate photosythetic oxygen production and nutrient assimilation by the algal cells. Algae uses significantly les energy and lower volumes of chemicals than conventional approaches do, as it relies mainly on solar power. It is a more sustainable process, using much less energy than an activated sludge process.
One problem facing the systems is that solar energy requires a large amount of flat land, which may not always be available near a wastewater treatment plant facility.
If the pilot study is successful, the algae will be generated efficiently, and the removed without coagulants, hopefully by settling out to allow for harvesting. The harvested algae can be dewatered for use as fertilizer or biofuel production.
This pilot study is set to run through April 2013. We'll be very interested to see how the study works out. If you have questions about wastewater treatment processes or innovative approaches to wastewater treatment, please contact Kevin P. Klein, P.E. at (508) 747-7900 extension 130.
Information for this blog post taken from article entitled "Pilot Plant Used to Evaluation Algae for Wastewater Treatment and Biofuel Production" p40-41, Civil Engineering, April 2012, by Jay Landers.