Turning Problems Into Profit: WWTP Creatively Solves Phosphorus Challenge
A Chicago-area wastewater reclamation plant has found an innovative solution for their phosphorus problem. They’re going to turn it into fertilizer, stopping regulatory issues before they start, and eventually making a profit in the process.
The Stickney Water Reclamation Plant, which serves 2.3 million people in Chicago and the Cook County suburbs, is the biggest single source of phosphorus in the entire region, a problem that is contributing heavily to toxic algae in the Mississippi River that is killing fish, reports the Chicago Tribune.
The WWTP faces court challenges from environmental groups that want more stringent legal limits on the district's phosphorus releases into local waterways. No legal action has been taken, but the plant decided to solve the problem preemptively.
"Usually utilities don't do anything until the courts or the permit writers tell us what to do," said David St. Pierre, the district's executive director, according to the Tribune. "I don't think legal battles should paralyze us or prevent us from continuing to improve."
Working with a private company, the WWTP has taken steps to begin to recover phosphorus from effluent and transform it into slow-release fertilizer.
The project, which will cost approximately $31 million, diverts wastewater through three reactors that use catalysts to form tiny, nutrient-rich "pearls" for the fertilizer industry. The district estimates the equipment will produce up to 10,000 tons a year, reduce the plant's phosphorus discharges by about 30 percent and eventually generate $2 million annually for the city, reports the Tribune.
Local officials and environmental activists alike agree that this method is a model for other communities in the region.
"I've sat across from plant operators many times telling them they need to do more to reduce pollution," said Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nephew of former president John F. Kennedy, and the president of the nonprofit Waterkeeper Alliance, reports the Tribune. Kennedy has been involved in multiple lawsuits against sewage treatment operators for pollution-based offenses." This is a better way to achieve those goals."
Phosphorus pollution is a large issue in Illinois, which by many estimates is the largest contributor of phosphorus and nitrogen pollution to the Gulf of Mexico.
A state task force concluded that sewage treatment plants are responsible for about half of the phosphorus pollution in rivers that drain into the Mississippi.
WWTPs have been doing their part to combat the issue.
In 2013, the water reclamation district volunteered to limit its discharges to a monthly average of 1 milligram per liter. District officials say the Stickney plant often releases concentrations about half that amount.