Metro Water Recovery outlines heat-recovery, phosphorus-removal and PFAS concerns to Arvada council

Mitch Conway, CEO of Metro Water Recovery, told the Arvada City Council on Sept. 9 that the regional wastewater agency treats wastewater from roughly 2.2 million people across about 850 square miles and that it operates two large treatment plants and about 200 miles of interceptor pipe. He described current resource-recovery work — converting solids to methane for electricity, piloting phosphorus-precipitation called MagPrex to produce a fertilizer, and testing heat-recovery to serve district heating and cooling — as ways to reduce operating costs and create new revenue streams.

Conway said Metro treats about 140 million gallons of wastewater per day at plants in Commerce City and Brighton, and that its staff of about 500 aim to protect public health and the environment. On the solids side he said the agency produces just under 100 tons of biosolids daily, dewaters that material and applies it to farmland, including a roughly 50,000-acre farm near Deer Trail. He said captured methane currently offsets about 40% of the agency’s electrical load.

Conway described two innovations Metro is pursuing:…