New ideas for a greener future along the river

Green ideas presented at conference might help Florida water, land
Research proposals were presented at a water conference

By Steve Patterson
For the Florida Times-Union/Jacksonville.com
Thursday, October 15, 2009
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ORLANDO - Plans for cleaning sewer wastewater in New Orleans could end up helping Jacksonville's St. Johns River.

A Central Florida project to make new fertilizers from sludge could cut the algae-feeding nitrogen running off farmland and into rivers across the state.

And a system to capture heat from sewer water and warm athlete housing at next year's winter Olympics could represent a new low-energy way of heating and cooling buildings.

Those promises of green possibilities ran through a national water industry conference this week alongside worries about hazards ranging from droughts to bacteria pollution.

"There is a huge opportunity," said Erik Lindquist, an engineer who helped design a wastewater-based heating and cooling system for 600 homes in Whistler, a Canadian resort where part of the Vancouver Olympics will be held. "I don't think you'll find a cheaper source of heat for your community."

Earth-friendly ideas were sprinkled among more than 500 presentations at the Water Environment Federation's 82nd annual technical conference.

In part, they're a reaction to pressure that cities and utilities have faced to meet federal clean-water rules. It's also about the money to be made from good green ideas.

David Weber, an engineer and company executive from St. Petersburg, spoke about his company's plan for selling a new fertilizer made from the solids left after sewage treatment. A competitor with a similar product talked just before him.

Utilities will pay to get rid of their sludge, Weber said, and farmers will buy the fertilizer because it's designed to hold nitrogen on farm fields longer and has less metal contamination. Rainwater flowing off farmlands is part of a set of problems that Weber said wastes up to 75 percent of the nitrogen in common fertilizers.

"The farmer has paid for that fertilizer, and he has lost three-quarters of it," he said. "If he buys four bags, he only ends up with one bag in the roots."

The five-day conference was also a way to circulate research that could affect many communities.

Brady Skaggs, a Tulane University doctoral student originally from Jacksonville, talked about his research on using a kind of iron called ferrate to kill bacteria in wastewater at a New Orleans sewage treatment plant.

That same approach could be important in controlling bacteria in other places, he said. Skaggs' work is part of a long-term proposal to use the fresh wastewater to restore wetlands, where cypress trees that could be a buffer against storm surges have been killed by rising levels of saltwater.

It would also mean the treatment plant wouldn't have to use chlorine-based disinfectants suspected of causing male fish to develop female characteristics.

steve.patterson@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4263

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2009-10-15/story/green_ideas_presented_at_conference_might_help_florida_water_land