Sacramento Area Sewer District outlines $450M biosolids program, warns of years of supplemental harvests

The Sacramento Area Sewer District on Sept. 10 presented a biosolids management plan that staff said will require major capital work and years of interim supplemental disposal to avoid violating the district’s discharge permit.

Sonny Lundy, director of ECHO Water Facility Operations, told the board the 2010 NPDES permit and subsequent ECHO Water program changed the character of solids processed at ECHO and that the district now needs roughly 40% more disposal capacity. "We were approximately, 3 weeks away from having to discharge some of those solids, to the unfortunately, to the river and violating our discharge permit, which is not a good thing. We avoided that," Lundy said.

District staff said the change in treatment — the Biological Nutrient Removal (BNR) and tertiary treatment upgrades commissioned between 2018 and 2023 — produced biosolids that settle poorly and are less biodegradable than prior material. A staff-led study and external technical advisory committee evaluated 16 alternatives and recommended a set of investments Lundy said offer the lowest life‑cycle cost and the strongest social, technical and environmental rankings.

The core recommendation is installation of primary…