Author: ayres

Sewage Plant’s Struvite Problem Turned Into Useful Fertilizer

The process of harvesting struvite (magnesium ammonium phosphate) to remove excess phosphorus from the anaerobic digestion process at wastewater treatment plants is simultaneously reducing operations/maintenance costs and creating small, round struvite particles suitable for reuse as a bagged fertilizer for gardens and indoor plants. An award-winning technical paper whose abstract is available here has called… Read More »

To Dam It Or Not To Dam It

By Pete Haug, PE As a water resources engineer who’s inspected hundreds of river structures and dams over the past 15 years, I’ve seen dams at their best and worst. You have those fully functional dams dutifully retaining water, maintaining flood control, assisting with irrigation, controlling sedimentation, and supplying hydropower. And you have those that… Read More »

Building Bridges to Better Infrastructure

This week is National Infrastructure Week. The origins of the week date back to 2013, when the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) famously graded America’s infrastructure at a D+. Following that disappointing report card, a nonpartisan coalition of businesses, labor organizations, and policymakers started Infrastructure Week to raise awareness of the dangerous conditions and… Read More »