California Association of Sanitation Agencies

By Angela Godwin - Water World

Some 16,500 municipal wastewater treatment plants across the United States produce a staggering eight million dry tons of biosolids every year. Traditionally, the options for managing that waste have been limited, centering primarily around disposal in the form of incineration, landfilling, or the production of fertilizer for land application.

In recent years, however, driven by more stringent federal and state regulations, landfill closures, and rising disposal costs, wastewater utilities have begun to diversify their biosolids management portfolios.

"The wastewater industry has really undergone a huge shift away from a treatment-and-disposal approach toward one of recovering resources," said Caroline Quinn, Director of Engineering at Delta Diablo Sanitation District in Antioch, CA.

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