The New England Water Environment Association (NEWEA) Young Professional (YP) committee held another successful Poo and Brew at the Greater Lawrence Sanitary District (GLSD) wastewater treatment facility in North Andover, MA. The Massachusetts Water Pollution Control Association (MWPCA) YP committee also co-sponsored this event.
Over 35 water professionals from across New England toured the GLSD facility which is currently undergoing significant energy upgrades. Cheri Cousens, GLSD Executive Director, and Richard Weare, GLSD Capital Projects Manager, kicked off the tour with introductions of all their staff members and an overview of GLSD. Richard continued with an overview of the normal plant operations and various processes at the facility and the road they have traveled to get to where they are for their current energy upgrades project. Richard also shared a video from Methuen
Construction via drone which put into perspective the magnitude of the ongoing project. GLSD is currently the 2nd largest wastewater treatment plant in Massachusetts with secondary capacity of 52 MGD, serving the communities of Lawrence, Methuen, Andover, North Andover, Dracut, and Salem, NH as well as receiving septage from local haulers. When the current energy project is completed GLSD anticipates to become Massachusetts’s first “net-positive” wastewater treatment plant, producing 103% of their energy needs on site. As part of the CHP energy project GLSD will be receiving Organic Food Waste to blend in with their municipal sludge and feed into their digesters. The blended organic waste will produce somewhere between 3 and 4 times the methane gas volume that traditional municipal sludge would can produce. Following the overview the group broke up into 3 different tour groups and traversed the expansive facility from headworks, to the biosolids and digesters facility, and back to the control room for the facility. While there has been significant construction at GLSD they have maintained their operations throughout the process and are looking forward to bringing a large portion of the energy upgrades on line within the next year.
Following the conclusion of the tour, attendees ventured to Oak and Iron Brewing Co in Andover to enjoy craft beer with a great atmosphere. Over 50 attendees made it to the brewery portion of the event. The NEWEA YP committee would like to extend a sincere thank you to the staff at GLSD for welcoming us to their facility during the very busy on-going energy upgrades.
Article Courtesy of Amanda Lade, Vice Chair of the Young Professionals Committee
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