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PROJECT SUMMARY
Owner: Granville Township, Mifflin County
Project: Large scale vermiculture of wastewater
biosolids
About Granville Township:
Granville Township is a Second Class Township in
a rural setting, providing service to a population of 4,895.
The Township has two wastewater treatment
facilities, which also service neighboring municipalities of Oliver
Township and Juniata Terrace Borough, thereby serving three
individual communities. There are 30 miles of sewers and seven
pumping stations.
As little as twenty years ago, Granville had no
sewerage or treatment at all. The Supervisors and management of the
Township are proud of their record and commitment to stewardship and
protection of the environment.
This progress has been made despite the Township
having many homeowners who are on fixed income. The Per Capita
income for residents in Granville Township base on 2000 census is
$16,807, which is $4,073 below the state average.
Characteristics of the Project:
Biosolids are the solids by-product of wastewater
treatment. They are widely accepted as offering a valuable potential
source of all natural nutrient and soil building properties, although
much of this material is also disposed of to landfill.
Traditionally, Granville has sent its wastewater
biosolids to the landfill. Up to 25% of Pennsylvania’s biosolids are
disposed of in this way. This is a waste of potential valuable
resource.
When it was announced in 2000 that the Mifflin
County landfill was closing, Granville looked around for a new
solution that would enable the biosolids to be recycled for
beneficial use.
The Township researched a number of options
(including trucking to a distant landfill) and decided to pursue an
option involving large-scale vermiculture.
This innovative technology, in which the waste is
fed to earthworms housed in large beds, is new to biosolids
treatment in the USA and offered the best mix of environmental,
recycling and financial outcomes for the Township.
Objectives of the Project
The objectives of the project were:
To find a recycling alternative that
could make use of this potential resource instead of using
it to fill up landfills.
To recycle local waste streams for local
benefit by transforming waste into a "value-added",
attractive end product that can be used to improve soil,
turf and crops for local farms and businesses.
To use a technology that operates with a
low environmental impact and does not expend natural
resources and make noise or dust or odor
To be first in the USA with an innovative
technology that will one day be commonplace across the
country
To benefit the education and co-operation
of the Community by having a facility that can be visited by
schoolchildren and college students wishing to learn about
environmental recycling
To foster unity among a number of
government agencies (such as DEP, who played a major role),
politicians, legislators, private companies and members of
the community united in a common goal to try and make a real
difference to the environment
To seek a cost effective solution that
would offer the chance to sell the end product. Since there
is no such thing as "green charity", the project would have
to make economic sense in its own right.
Benefits and Outstanding Attributes
The facility, which will treat all of the
Township’s biosolids will convert the biosolids into environmentally
safe and aesthetically pleasing end product which the Township is
selling for up to $100 per ton. The facility met the requirements
for permitting as producing an Exceptional Quality (Class A)
biosolids product under DEP regulation permit issues February 23rd
2005. To date approximately 20 tons were produced and sold to
commercial establishment as soil amendment to poor or none
productive soils.
Financially, the facility is comparable in direct
costs with other technology options. Taking the long-term view, the
Township is fully expecting that the treatment costs will be offset
by the sale of end product, potentially capping and minimizing
biosolids management costs on a permanent basis. It will also create
employment opportunities for present and future generations.
The environmental benefits are as follows
The process accepts 100% of the Township
biosolids, eliminating the possibility of it from ever
causing pollution elsewhere.
Since the worms require no energy to do
their work, the process reduces energy consumption over
other methods by up to 80%.
University research has shown the process
reduces greenhouse gas emissions by up to 45% over
landfill practices.
The facility produces absolutely minimal
odor, dust, noise or leachate.
The process reduces the volume of
material by 40% from input to outputs.
Public Interest
Up to 25% of biosolids in the State are sent to
landfill where they occupy space and add to greenhouse gas
emissions.
Waste streams are generated at a local level. In
transporting to a landfill, the waste is carried over long
distances, increasing traffic on the roads, using fuel, energy and
creating an unsafe environmental condition.
At the same time, modern farming techniques put
increasing pressure on the land and soil health. Inorganic
fertilizers add little back to the soil in terms of soil vitality
and beneficial microbes and their long-term use has had negative
effects on groundwater quality.
So, by treating and re-using a local waste
stream, this facility presents, in its own right, an opportunity to
make a difference to the long-term public interest and to the
environment.
However, more importantly, this project will act
as an example of how local solutions can be created for local
problems.
Although industrialized, the process involves
worms which "mimic" what is happening everyday in nature, in the
forests and fields, as part of a natural cycle. These types of
natural, low-tech and low-impact solutions offer important long-term
options for the community.
More specifically, residents of Granville will
have their biosolids treated and recycled and the costs of doing so
will be partly offset by sales of end-product. The intention of this
facility is to reduce costs for the township permanently.
Community and Agency involvement
The project involved local businesses that were
involved in the financing, delivery, building and installation of
the facility. Although the process equipment was delivered from
Australia, local engineers designed the facility and local
contractors carried out most of the work. Employees of Granville
Township were essential to the specific layout and design of the
facility.
In order to keep costs down, all members of the
Township staff, from the office to road crew picked up a spanner and
joined in to help erect and install the equipment. Despite being
held up by a long winter, the equipment was installed in record time
and with no major hold ups. Since this was the first facility in the
USA, this was quite an achievement. The Township Supervisors thank
their team for their professionalism, strength and spirit.
The Township also enjoyed the support of DEP via
grant funding from the "Growing Greener" program. DEP staff has also
provided support and guidance for the Township in all parts of the
process. The facility is intended to achieve permitting for EQ
biosolids product in early 2005. This process is being conducted
through a constructive and co-operative relationship that has been
established with DEP officers.
As well as DEP, PennVest and other State agencies
have also been critical in getting the project up and running and
their support has been most valuable.
Community Education and support
The facility is currently in the final stages of
being commissioned. Already though, students and teachers from local
schools and college have taken keen interest, with their curriculum
calling for projects about recycling and large-scale vermiculture.
The process of education has begun…. Local organization has been
tours of the facility along with power point presentation. Local
schools requested the local government to attended classes with
power point presentation to future educate grades 3rd
thru 12 .
The Township has plans to offer educational
visits to the facility and has the intention to link up with
researchers and Penn State University to conduct further research to
explore the benefits of the end product for local soils.
During recent "Open House" days, more than 250
citizens and members of other local municipalities have attended to
see and hear about the innovative technology. Other visitors have
included the Secretary of DEP, Senators, Congressman and
Representatives.
Innovative Technology (please see attached
literature)
In building this facility, Granville Township
employed the services of Vermitech, an Australian company that has
several years experience in treating biosolids using large-scale
vermiculture.
Vermiculture is a natural and efficient method of
processing waste using earthworms and on a small scale is very
common in homes and schools. Large-scale vermiculture involves the
use of hundreds of thousands of earthworms to process very large
quantities of waste and convert it into high quality all natural soil
amendment.
Essentially, all natural waste is fed to the top of
the bed using a specialist piece of equipment, worms rise up to meet
the material and in doing so, eat the waste and imbue it with a vast
array of soil beneficial microbes and fungi. More material is
regularly added to the top of the bed and processed "harvest" is
taken from the bottom using another machine. The finished product is
dried and screened to the desired size and is then, subject to DEP
permitting, intended to be sold for high value into commercial turf
and horticulture applications.
The technology is innovative in that it is the
first of its type in the USA. Further, the technology uses very
little energy and reduces waste volumes in a low impact and natural
way. The process is robust and simple and in this regard it offers
an exciting and innovative way to deal with all natural waste streams
such as biosolids and manures.
Project Cost
Total project cost is estimated at around
$1,200,000, including $478,000 in Growing Greener grant funds, over
$100,000 in local funds and loan assistance from PennVest making up
the difference.
The total estimated dollar savings per wet ton is
approximately $35,000 annually, or approximately $16 per household
per year.
With the sale of end product to local outlets,
the Township expects to be able to permanently maintain low
biosolids management costs. The product has been sold to commercial
establishment such as golf courses, sod farmer, tree farmer and
grape vineyards.
Larry E. Craig
Granville Twp. Sewer Manager
** information provided by
Larry E. Craig, Granville Township Sewer & Water
Print additional
information about treating biosolids and organic waste with
earthworms.
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