KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – Kalamazoo’s wastewater plant has a plan to start cooking their biosolids, to make them cheaper to haul away.
Biosolids are the sludge that’s left over after the sewage is processed. Right now they are trucking it to landfills, a costly and smelly process because it comes out soggy.
City utility director Jim Baker after careful study the best practice is to heat the sludge to remove the water and the odor.
The process then recycles the heat to save energy, but it’s not cheap.
Baker revealed for the first time, the total estimated cost of the project.
Commissioners approved spending over $12 million last night just to do the engineering and design work and to begin looking at funding options.
Baker says depending on costs, they are estimating the new system could pay off in about a decade with the savings, when it goes online in 2030 or 2031.
He says if all goes as planned, they would then declare a rate hike holiday for that year.
Baker says they are planning a public forum on the whole project to discuss it with the public in March. By then he hopes to have more precise numbers.
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