Beneficial options.

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Author: Unknown

Colorado Springs, Colorado

The Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) received statements of qualifications and responses from firms interested in financing, developing and operating a composting facility. Materials proposed to be composted include biosolids, fly ash, water treatment solids, wood and yard trimmings. CSU owns 5,900 acres of land called the Hanna Ranch. A parcel on the site may be made available for composting.

Current biosolids management involves piping material 18 miles from the wastewater treatment plant to the Hanna Ranch, where it is anaerobically digested for 20 days and pumped into storage basins. Every year, two basins are emptied and material is land applied during March through December using soil injection vehicles. There is no dewatering, and daily quantities of 200,000 gallons, ranging from six to eight percent solids, are land applied. Fly ash, produced at two coal-fired power plants, is landfilled, as are water treatment solids. Wood and yard trimmings, generated by the city Park and Recreation and Electrical departments, are turned into mulch and used in parks or given to the public. The primary reason for the proposed change in management is to move toward beneficial use of all these materials, according to the CSU.