Bonita utility hosts open house at new facility

Bonita Springs Utilities new wastewater plant Bonita Springs Utilities Inc. is holding an open house for member-customers and friends at its award-winning East Water Reclamation Facility Saturday, Jan. 10 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.

Trolley tours of the utility campus will be conducted by BSU employees, who will explain how the facility converts wastewater into irrigation water and fertilizer pellets. Visitors also can tour the utility's newly completed Operations Service Center, which serves as the headquarters for BSU's field staff. To reach the facility site from East Terry Street, travel north one mile on Morton Avenue, and turn left. The facility is on the left, three quarter miles after the road curves.

The East Water Reclamation Facility was honored twice in 2008. The American Society of Civil Engineers Florida Section named it the 2008 Florida Project of the Year, and the Design-Build Institute of America recognized it with a National Design-Build Award.

"Wastewater professionals from across the country have visited the facility to learn about its state-of-the-art technology, and we want our member- customers to have the same opportunity," said BSU Executive Director Fred Partin. "We think people will enjoy learning what happens to the wastewater that disappears down their drains and toilets. It is a service that is used every day, but one that is unfamiliar to most people."

The facility uses a membrane bioreactor system to reclaim water from sewage and wastewater. The reclaimed water is used for irrigation, helping to relieve seasonal water shortages and protecting the community's surfacewater system from nutrient-rich water discharges. The facility was designed to eliminate the need for sludge hauling by producing biosolids that are sold as fertilizer. The facility site, along Interstate 75 north of Terry Street, includes a 10-acre wading bird habitat surrounding a nine-acre pond.

The East Water Reclamation Facility has the capacity to treat four million gallons of wastewater per day and works with BSU's original wastewatertreatment facility to process the wastewater produced by more than 30,000 homes and businesses in its 60-squaremile service area. The facility can be expanded to a capacity of 16 million gallons per day, enough to serve the needs of the Bonita Springs area in the future.

To learn more about Bonita Springs Utilities, visit www.BSU.us.