The city of Surprise was recently honored with the Arizona Forward Environmental Excellence Award in the category of Technology Innovation for its solar biosolid dryer project.

This prestigious honor was presented by Arizona Forward in partnership with SRP in front of more than 500 business leaders, community leaders, elected officials and guests.

The solar biosolid dryer project takes about five tons of watery sludge collected during the wastewater process and removes more than 85% of the water, allowing for far fewer leftover materials to be taken to the landfill. This project has reduced trips to the landfill equal to removing 84 vehicles from the roads and has saved the city annually in landfill costs and fees related to the disposal of these biosolids.

In 2015, the City’s Water Resource Management Department partnered with design consultants Brown & Caldwell for the pilot of this project. After finding initial success, the city moved into Phase I of the project, which has led to the automation of the process and allows for only one ton of biosolids to be taken to the landfill for every five tons collected.

The project is now ready to move into Phase II, allowing for additional solar-based drying ability and higher production, up to 15 tons. The department has also been partnering with Ottawa University to pursue uses for the biosolids rather than disposal.

Since biosolids include organic materials like hair, inorganic materials like metal and essential nutrients like nitrogen, calcium and potassium, they can be used as a fuel source or fertilizer, which could go towards more savings for the city.