Region wins award for “leading-edge” wastewater treatment technology1 min read

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The Region of Waterloo recently installed new technology to capture and reuse methane gas that would otherwise have been released as air pollution. The award-winning upgrades are reducing both our community’s greenhouse gas emissions and the Region’s utility costs.

“We’re leading edge,” said Jeff Medd, a project manager for the Region. “We’ve already heard from other municipalities and consulting firms who want to come see what we’ve done.”

The Region’s new cogeneration technology captures 100 per cent of methane gas produced from treating sewage at its three wastewater treatemt plants. Part of the wastewater cleaning process uses microorganisms to “eat” organic matter. The resulting biogas used to be released into the environment, contributing to climate change. Now, that gas is used to produce heat and electricity.

The new process reduces 1,900 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year, the equivalent of taking more than 400 cars off the road. It also saves the Region $1.5 million yearly in utility costs.

Cogeneration is not new, but only recently became reliable and cost effective.

The Region of Waterloo was recognized for this project with an Award of Excellence at the 2022 Canadian Consulting Engineering Awards.