May 2024 Tour of MWRA Nut Island Headworks Facility

The Wastewater Advisory Committee and friends on tour of the MWRA Nut Island Headworks Facility

Charlie Ryan, MWRA's Director of Wastewater Operations & Maintenance, giving information about Nut Island's upgrades.

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May 2018 Tour of Greater Lawrence Sanitary District (GLSD) Organics to Energy Project

The Wastewater Advisory Committee and friends tour the Greater Lawrence Sanitary District Co-Digestion Project.

Food slurry is loaded into the tank, GLSD

Digesters at GLSD are squat and round--they have four.
All four can take food waste slurry along with sludge.

Gas from the digesters is cleaned of Siloxane and Hydrogen Sulfide before being burned.
The tanks here contain wood chips treated with iron oxide and carbon to remove each of these compounds.

GLSD Capital Projects Manager Richard Weare and
Advisory Board Chair Lou Taverna check out the intake for the food slurry tank.

GLSD Manager Weare shows off the new engines at the combined heat and power plant.
GLSD could produce 100% of its own energy at 92,000 gallons/day of food waste slurry.

WAC members inspect the engines.

May 2017, Tour of MWRA's Deer Island Treatment Plant

Checking out the new valves at the Winthrop Terminal Pump Station

North Main Pump Station: Checking out work on the valve replacement--looking down four stories!

Mind the gap! The disconnected pipe awaiting a new valve.

Boston from the top of the digesters

Windmill and Boston Harbor Islands (video)

View of the plant from the digesters

A falcon on a digester

Trickling filter in action

 

The bubble aerator

 

 

The sludge press

 

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May 2014, Cambridge Constructed Wetland Tour

WAC tours the Cambridge Constructed Wetland, May 2014

Catherine Woodbury, Cambridge engineering project coordinator,and Duke Bitsko, director of interdisciplinary design at Bioengineering Group explain the functions of the wetland.

Wayne Chouinard, town engineer of Arlington and WAC member, explores the wetland.

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May 3, 2013, Pellet Plant Tour with Carl Pawlowski, MWRA

On May 3, 2013, WAC toured MWRA's Residuals to Fertilizer Plant in Quincy, Massachusetts. The "pellet plant" manufactures Bay State Fertilizer from the residual solids from wastewater.

Harbor view from the second floor conference room

MWRA Residuals Manager Carl Pawlowski leads the tour

Digested sludge comes in

Residual water returned to Deer Island

Heating for dryer

Red dryers spinning (QuickTime video)

The NEFCO stack

Surplus augers, pipes at harbor side

WAC on tour

A wooden box, center top, was put there to give some resident Peregrine falcons a place to nest. They haven't returned this year.

Updated May 5, 2015