Already, the facility has cut in half the amount of electricity it uses to run the blowers in its two aeration tanks.
But the facility is now looking at some additional innovations to save money by reducing energy costs, reducing waste disposal costs and process even more waste from customers.
The Asheboro Wastewater Treatment Plant was built in 1962, during a different era. The Cuban Missile Crisis was right around the corner and America had just launched a space race to put the first man on the moon.
At the time, if you had mentioned “Class A biosolids” or “thermophilic bacteria” to a manager or operator at the plant, chances are they would have looked at you as though you had just come from the moon.
But the Asheboro, N.C. plant — even with some infrastructure that dates back more than 50 years — is on the leading edge of wastewater treatment. And it is the plant’s operators and staff that now talk about biosolids, bacteria and other cutting edge practices.