OTTUMWA, IOWA, OCTOBER 12, 2016 -- Like many municipalities, the city of Ottumwa, Iowa, faced growing demand on its wastewater treatment facilities -- and the possibility of having to spend millions of dollars to expand its existing infrastructure. Meanwhile, Dr Pepper Snapple Group (DPS), which has a large production facility, wanted to lower its wastewater discharge to manage operating costs and reduce its environmental footprint.
By collaborating with Baswood Corporation, a global leader in innovative wastewater solutions, the city of Ottumwa and DPS were able to forge a unique partnership that benefits the city, the beverage producer, and the environment. Dr Pepper Snapple Group committed to installing its own upstream secondary wastewater treatment system to reduce the demand on the city’s facilities. In return, the city agreed to a long-term commitment with DPS to lock in reduced wastewater surcharges.
In February 2016, Baswood installed an EQ tank and three BioViper™ pretreatment reactors at the DPS facility in Ottumwa. The stable, fixed-film biological system was originally designed to treat up to 165,000 gallons per day (gpd) but has since demonstrated the capacity to handle more than 200,000 gpd. The Baswood system reduced the plant’s hydraulic load by up to 120,000 gallons per day. Even more significantly, the overall BOD (biochemical oxygen demand) levels in the effluent discharged to the City of Ottumwa have been reduced by an average of up to 91 percent.
Altogether, the new system gives the city of Ottumwa the capacity to service more than 7,000 additional residential homes without having to modify its existing facilities. Because the Baswood solution uses significantly less energy, has a smaller physical footprint, and provides superior biosolids reduction compared to traditional wastewater systems, DPS was able to reduce its overall operating costs as well as its environmental footprint.
Dan Johnson, principal engineer at Dr Pepper Snapple Group, said, “We continue to look at ways to reduce the impact of our business on natural and municipal resources while improving our operating efficiency. One area of focus has been wastewater discharge from our manufacturing facilities. Baswood’s unique solution at the Ottumwa plant supports those efforts.”
Michael Walker, CEO of Baswood, stated, “Baswood is very proud to be part of this unique private-public collaboration. The City of Ottumwa and DPS boldly pursued a more cutting edge solution, and because of their leadership, Baswood has gotten to show how our game-changing technology can deliver much higher quality treatment of water while achieving a huge reduction in energy use and substantially lower operating costs.”
Actor and sustainability advocate Edward Norton is the Chairman of the Board of Baswood and also serves as the United Nations Ambassador for Biodiversity. Norton added, “This really has to be the new paradigm for the water constrained era we’re entering: treating, recycling and reusing this increasingly finite resource to a higher treatment standard while at the same time creating less greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency. We have to flip the narrative and turn the problem of wastewater into an equation that delivers long-lasting environmental and economic benefits for communities and industries across the globe. That’s what Baswood is all about.”
About Baswood
Founded in 2004, Baswood delivers innovative, technology-based solutions that provide effective BOD (biological oxygen demand) removal, biosolids reduction, and water reuse for a wide range of industrial, municipal, and commercial applications. Baswood’s products have been successfully installed in the U.S., Mexico, and Malaysia and deliver significant energy savings and cost advantage over traditional wastewater treatment systems. To learn more, visit www.baswood.com.
