Municipal Water & Waste Water Facilities

Water and wastewater treatment facilities in New York State consume more than 3 billion kWh of electricity per year. Through a variety of cost-sharing research, demonstration, and business development programs, NYSERDA encourages New York's municipal water, wastewater, and solid waste facilities to adopt innovative technology that is more energy efficient and economical, while preserving environmental standards.

Priority areas include:

• Working closely with the consulting engineering firms to promote innovative and energy-efficient technologies in New York
• Helping municipalities address regulatory pressures to decrease nutrients in wastewater
• Developing innovative ways to disinfect water
• Optimizing performance to improve efficiency and increase water and wastewater treatment capacity

With rising infrastructure demands and decreasing resources, municipalities are looking for cost-saving measures, particularly with respect to operating costs. Many of the water and wastewater treatment plants in New York State may be experiencing unnecessarily high operating costs due to overloading, failing equipment, lack of process-control instrumentation, and operating problems. These conditions often result in excessive energy use.

Save Money … Save Energy … Save the Environment

To help solve these problems, NYSERDA offers programs designed to assist the municipality in making sound energy decisions about processes and equipment cost-sharing opportunities. Choices can include energy studies, capital incentives for the installation of energy-efficient equipment and processes, and development and demonstration programs for innovative technologies. These opportunities are designed to assist the municipality in making sound energy decisions about processes and equipment, thereby reducing their utility bills. NYSERDA offers financial assistance to municipalities to identify opportunities and install new equipment for energy-efficiency upgrades in their water and wastewater treatment facilities.

Focus on Municipal Water and Wastewater Facilities

The current confluence of higher energy prices, more stringent environmental regulations, and aging infrastructure are creating a "perfect storm" for improving energy efficiency in the water and wastewater sector. Great gains can be achieved by raising municipal awareness of NYSERDA programs, increasing the sector's interest in energy-efficient processes and products and implementing a collaborative approach to improve the delivery of technical assistance as the sector moves toward improved energy efficiency across New York State.

NYSERDA contracted with Malcolm Pirnie, the Water Division of ARCADIS, to develop and implement the FOCUS on Municipal Water and Wastewater Facility Energy Efficiency program. This program is providing water and wastewater operators and elected officials with the knowledge and resources necessary to successfully identify and implement energy efficiency improvement projects.