The city of Topeka is working to make the Oakland Wastewater Treatment Plant more environmentally friendly, and doing so could be fiscally beneficial as well. Material at waste facilities, which can include waste from flushing toilets, breaks down and creates biogas, said Braxton Copley, deputy director of the city’s Utility Department. That gas can be captured and sold, but Topeka is flaring off the gas until the project is completed. Copley said Topeka partnered with Bluesource to market the gas. He estimated biogas can bring in about $1.7 million in the first year. With the total cost of the project about $27.2 million, he hopes the pipeline can pay for itself in 16 years. About 10% of that revenue is generated from the gas while the rest is from tax credits, which are obtained in an “extremely complicatedprocess,” Hadfield said.
Source: CJonline.com.
