Transforming Municipal Wastewater Facilities into Sustainability Hubs: The Ecofactory Approach

Canada has to replace, refurbish or build a sizable proportion of its vital municipal environmental infrastructure to accommodate demands for new housing and meet its climate change commitments. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) has estimated that one housing unit will require an average investment of $107,000 in municipal capital assets. Over 50% of that cost would be for water and wastewater infrastructure alone. Canada's accelerated population growth and demands for affordable housing are exacerbating the situation.

If Canada is to address its housing challenges while rebuilding or refurbishing its wastewater processing capacity, municipalities will have to consider new ways to support the development of critical environmental infrastructure. 

Luckily we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. A number of communities throughout the world have transformed conventional wastewater facilities into resilient, productive local sustainability hubs we call “Ecofactories.”

Ecofactories generate renewable energy, recover and reuse resources, and foster inclusive economic growth. They also boost the life cycle of critical assets, increase a community’s environmental efficiency and resilience, and create new green jobs, while playing a significant role in building resilient and adaptive wastewater infrastructure. For example:

1. Green energy and efficiency: Ecofactories produce on-site biogas from anaerobic digestion (a process that transforms organic waste into biomethane), and sometimes draw from other sources of green energy, such as solar PV, waste heat recovery and geothermal energy. They also optimize their treatment processes and sewershed maintenance practices to minimize energy and fuel consumption using digital solutions and smart technologies.
2. Resource recovery: These facilities are designed to promote industrial symbiosis, where the waste or by-products of one industry become the raw materials for another. This can include the co-digestion of food waste which leads to conversion of biosolids to fertilizer, offsetting synthetically manufactured fertilizers.
3. Water reuse and recycling: Ecofactories often incorporate advanced wastewater treatment technologies that can effectively treat and recycle wastewater generated within the industrial park. This not only reduces the pumping of freshwater resources but also promotes water conservation and reuse, which is critical in regions facing water scarcity.
4. Decarbonization: Energy, water and waste circular initiatives automatically lower an Ecofactory’s carbon footprint as well as other scope 3 value chain greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Additionally, the Ecofactory actively minimizes its fugitive GHG emissions and can pursue other decarbonization technologies such as carbon capture.
5. Community & environmental stewardship: Fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing among industries, researchers, policymakers and even ratepayers is an important attribute of these facilities. This can lead to the development and adoption of innovative wastewater treatment technologies, best practices and policies that support biodiversity, climate resilience and adaptive wastewater infrastructure.

In addition, Ecofactories often employ decentralized wastewater and stormwater management systems that can be more resilient to disruptions and better adapted to local conditions. These systems can include constructed wetlands or other nature-based solutions designed to handle fluctuations in wastewater flow and composition. By promoting resource efficiency, industrial symbiosis and recovery for beneficial reuse, Ecofactories contribute to building wastewater infrastructure that is more resilient to environmental and economic challenges while also supporting water conservation and environmental protection.

This exact strategy has already been put to use in communities around the globe, including by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD), which partnered with Veolia to operate and manage its longtime water reclamation system.

Pioneers in treating wastewater as a resource, MMSD has been producing Milorganite fertilizer since 1926.  This initiative has diverted more than five million tons of waste from landfills and  thus prevented thousands of tons of fugitive landfill methane that would have been produced, all while offsetting the production of energy and carbon-intensive synthetic fertilizers.

MMSD also generates its own power and heat from biogenic anaerobic digester gas and from landfill gas, while co-digesting other high-strength wastes diverted from landfills in a visionary progression toward full energy independence. Additionally, the District is deploying solar PV, and considering other measures such as battery storage and waste heat recovery systems to achieve its goal of 100 percent renewable energy, a 90 percent reduction in its carbon footprint by 2035. MMSD also reuses its treated clean effluent for onsite cooling water and cleaning purposes, avoiding the associated energy consumption and GHG emissions normally produced by the District to treat and distribute that volume of drinking water. Already, 27% of MMSD’s energy consumption comes from renewable resources, and they have reduced their GHG emissions by 18% since 2005.

MMSD has also established partnerships to restore local wetlands and natural habitats and to reforest and clean up the Greater Milwaukee River waterways. The District’s stormwater management and green infrastructure practices have mitigated over 145 billion gallons of combined sewer pollution from Lake Michigan, and the District plans to acquire thousands of acres of land and to plant thousands of trees as part of further environmental stewardship.

Canadian municipalities can certainly replicate this approach to solve their infrastructure problem. To maximize the likelihood of success, a combination of several measures is required if they mean to put up a first Ecofactory in the country:

• Policy and regulatory support: Provincial and municipal governments can develop specific policies, regulations and zoning laws that encourage and incentivize ecological development in municipalities. The streamlining of permitting processes is another area that can provide regulatory flexibility for eco-industrial projects.
• Financial and infrastructure support: To encourage and incentivize development, municipalities can consider offering tax incentives, subsidies or grants. These incentives can also be made available from external associations and government agencies such as the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Green Fund. Municipalities also need to address project delivery models to ensure that innovative technologies and digital and AI systems are incorporated into projects and not inadvertently dropped in lowest bid proposals.
• Technical assistance and capacity building: Establishing resource centres or advisory services will provide municipalities with technical expertise and guidance on industrial symbiosis and closed-loop systems. One example is facilitating knowledge sharing and collaboration between academia, research institutions and industry. Stakeholders can also build knowledge and skills through organized training programs and workshops.
• Stakeholder engagement and collaboration: Municipalities can facilitate dialogue and partnership formation by bringing together potential participants (industries, businesses, community groups). As a result, they can establish a dedicated eco-industrial park management entity through which activities are coordinated, conflicts are resolved and information sharing and trust-building are encouraged.
• Pilot projects and phased implementation: A key strategy to overcoming and preventing potential issues when developing an Ecofactory is beginning with a smaller-scale pilot project or incremental improvements to existing operations to demonstrate the feasibility and benefits of eco-industrial parks, thus easing the expansion of the park over time. Adopting a phased approach and gradually expanding the eco-industrial park can help with public buy-in and support.
• Monitoring and evaluation: In the final ongoing phase, municipalities should establish monitoring systems to evaluate the environmental, economic and social impacts of Ecofactories, using performance data to continuously improve the park models. 

The vast majority of wastewater treatment facilities in Canada are not being used to their full potential. Local communities are potentially missing out on major opportunities for economic development and revenue generation through clean energy and resource circularity, which can deliver green jobs, digital innovation, enhanced biodiversity and climate resilience. The Ecofactory solution provides Canada's municipalities the opportunity to leverage infrastructure budgets to not only build resilient and adaptive wastewater infrastructure but also address the needs for new housing while meeting their climate change commitments. 

This article was originally published in Environmental Journal.