KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — It is Kalamazoo’s end product, and it’s going to cost a lot more to get rid of it.
The City of Kalamazoo has just approved a $40-million dollar contract to have Bio-solids from its wastewater treatment plant hauled off to landfills near Detroit and north of Grand Rapids for the next three years. Utility Director James Baker says it will come at a cost four times more than what they paid before the pandemic hit.
He says the plant produces 220 tons of wet sludge every day, 365 days a year.
Baker goes onto say they are looking for alternative solutions, but it won’t be cheap.
He says stiffer environmental and PFAS requirements at the plant and at landfills along with the cost of fuel, salaries and inflation are all contributing to the additional costs. This Baker stressed is one of the reasons why water and wastewater bills for customers went up 20% this year.
He says however, some communities ship their sludge to farm fields for use as fertilizer, but feels this could become a major liability if something in the muck was found to be hazardous.
reporting from John McNeill
