New water authority readies sludge drying facility

A new $143-million facility that turns poop into fertilizer is expected to be running by April, a technological advance that could eventually eliminate the need to incinerate sludge in Detroit.

"It's cost-effective. It's environmentally sound, proven technology," said Sue McCormick, CEO of the new Great Lakes Water Authority. "We're very excited about it coming online."

The biosolid drying facility, as it's known in utility parlance, is one of the top priorities for the new water authority, which took over management of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department on Jan. 1.

The authority, a byproduct of Detroit's bankruptcy, will pay Detroit $50 million annually in lease payments. It also gives the suburbs, where 75% of the customers now live, more say in the management of the department they've criticized for years.

Supporters say it marks a new beginning for the region, though critics, especially unions representing water department workers, call it a takeover of a Detroit asset that's bad for them and for the city.

Other priorities of the new authority include:

The launch of the authority is good for Detroit and the region, said Gary Brown, Mayor Mike Duggan's pick to run the city's portion of the system.

"We're finally going to have $50 million a year to do deferred maintenance that has been put off for years," Brown said. "Because of the Great Lakes Water Authority, we're going to have the dollars to do improvements."

Brown also noted that the deal that created the authority includes $4.5 million annually to help poor residents across the region pay their water bills. He said the water authority follows a regional approach to running Cobo Center, the Detroit Zoo and the Detroit Institute of Arts and offers a blueprint for a regional approach to public transportation.

The authority board includes two representatives from Detroit. Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties have one each and the governor appoints a sixth member to represent customers who live in Genesee, Monroe, St. Clair and Washtenaw counties.

"It's a great time to be working regionally because regional is the scale of issues that need to be addressed," said Kathleen Lomako, executive director of the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments.

But not everyone is convinced.

"We fought for 20 years against the takeover of Detroit assets including the water department," said Michael Mulholland, a longtime water department employee and official with the department's largest union, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 207. "Normally they would have to get the people of Detroit to vote for it. They used bankruptcy to rape and pillage the city."

Mulholland said the cost-cutting of recent years has left the system understaffed, and the focus on finances leaves the system vulnerable to problems such as those in Flint, where lead leached into the water system and ultimately into the blood of children.

"There's a skeleton crew in there," Mulholland said. "It's the next Flint waiting to happen."

The department has gone from 2,200 employees to 1,150 before the launch of the new authority.

Officials insist the cost-cutting plan is working.

The leaner operation has allowed the authority to improve its bond rating, and the cost-cutting ultimately will lead to lower interest rates, said Deputy Oakland County Executive Robert Daddow, who chairs the authority board.

Daddow also said that because last summer was hotter and drier than previous years, the department brought in more money by selling more water. That could help slow the growth of rates, which are based in part on how much water the department sold in recent years.

The drying facility set to come online in April is across the street from the Wastewater Treatment Plant on Jefferson in southwest Detroit. Detroit will own it, but it will be operated by a private company, NEFCO.

Sludge is first pumped into large centrifuges, which spin most of the water out of it. From there, it's put into huge driers, known as trains, which burn natural gas to evaporate the remaining moisture.

What's left are tiny pellets that are sold as fertilizer. It's built to handle 316 tons of dry solids a day, and McCormick said it could save the department as much as $14 million a year over trucking the sludge to landfills or farms.

"The benefit of the biosolids drier is that it's a fertilizer product," McCormick said. "It's very marketable, which is why they are able to give us the cost advantage."

Contact John Wisely: 313-222-6825 or [email protected].