By Valerie Breznicky
We’re all familiar with the nightly routine of shutting off the lights and locking the doors, but that doesn’t happen at wastewater and water treatment plants. Wastewater and water treatment is a 24/7 process and the amount of energy used for that treatment is huge. But more and more utilities are finding ways to hold down those electric costs – and it helps the environment, too.
Broken Straw Valley Area Authority, PA – One of the many parts of water treatment is aeration, where air is forced through water to transfer oxygen to it. This water authority identified that their aeration process was wasteful, and changed their computer program to aerate only when the treatment tank was completely filled. This reduced the aeration time significantly, changing the process from aeration on a continuous flow to aeration of batches. With this change, the Authority has seen an energy savings of about $10,000 a year.
Ridgeway Borough Wastewater Facility, PA – With the help of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Technical Assistance Team, the Borough changed the operation of the aeration system to run intermittently instead of continuously. Consider your shower. It wouldn’t make sense to keep the water running all day just so a few people could jump in and get clean. The Borough invested in a $500 timer to control the timing of the process and, in turn, saved $31,000 a year in energy and chemical costs, while improving the quality of its effluent.
Berlin Borough Wastewater Facility, PA – Like Ridgeway Borough, Berlin Borough changed the operation of the aeration system to run intermittently instead of continuously, installing a timer to control the process and, in turn, saved $28,000 a year in energy and chemical costs, while improving the quality of its effluent.
Improving energy efficiency is an ongoing challenge for drinking water and wastewater utilities. Facilities can make a number of small changes that add up to major energy and cost reductions.
About the Author: Valerie is an environmental scientist with the Environmental Protection Agency, and one of the Region III Sustainable Infrastructure Coordinators. She has more than 28 years of experience managing infrastructure grants and has spent 5 and one-half years as a Sustainable Infrastructure (SI) Coordinator, insuring the sustainability of our water and wastewater infrastructure through information sharing and the integration of SI principles in all State programs.