West Yost completed a comprehensive Wastewater Treatment and Biosolids Facilities Master Plan that evaluated every aspect of the District’s wastewater treatment system and included a detailed capital improvement program to address key capacity and condition-related issues through 2035.
The Master Plan is a long-term strategic plan that anticipates nutrient removal requirements, increasing demands for the District’s recycled water (including interest in direct and/or indirect potable reuse options), increasing concerns with the current biosolids management practices, and expanding the District’s existing on-site energy generation potential (including opportunities for co-digestion of food waste).
The Master Plan recommended that the District implement a new key strategy addressing long-term biosolids disposal/reuse options in a step-wise function, thus allowing the District to continue to rely on existing infrastructure while starting the process of diversification. The analysis considered a wide range of biosolids processing.
The Master Plan also included an Energy Management Plan, which quantified the existing energy demands by process area and the amount of energy being generated on-site by three engines – two of which run on biogas generated by the wastewater treatment plant. The Energy Management Plan identified opportunities for energy efficiency and a strategy for achieving Net Zero Energy. The step-wise plan for increasing on-site generation focused first on the most viable strategies related to increased biogas production and identified planning needs, capital improvements, and implementation strategies for each step.