Bonita Springs Utilities Inc. (BSU) recently celebrated the opening of its new East Water Reclamation Facility.

The facility, which began operation earlier in the year, works with BSU’s original wastewater-treatment facility to process the wastewater produced by more than 30,000 homes and businesses in BSU’s 60-square-mile service area.

The new facility uses art membrane-bioreactor technology to reclaim wastewater and produce effluent that is used for outdoor irrigation. A system of centrifuges and dryers converts biosolids from both facilities into pellets, which are sold for fertilizer. The production of the biosolids pellets ends an era of hauling sewer sludge for BSU.

“The facility was built with equipment that pulls virtually all the moisture from the wastewater, resulting in a dry product that is not only less costly to haul, but also can generate income for the utility,” said Mike Liggins, director of engineering for BSU. “This is a huge step forward for BSU, a progressive way to make our wastewater-treatment system more efficient, and a great example of recycling.”

The utility has contracted with Nutri-Source, an Orlando firm that will purchase and haul the nutrient-rich, organic pellets, and market them as fertilizer for the citrus, sod and vegetable growing industries. BSU estimates that 1,600 tons of pellets will be produced each year.

The East Water Reclamation Facility, located on 165 acres along the east side of I-75 north of Terry Street, has the capacity to treat 4 million gallons of wastewater per day. It is designed to be expanded to a capacity of 16 million gallons per day.