Thanks for your comments, Frank. We’re glad you like the film!

One of the reasons we made it was to start a conversation about the issues, and the one you raise about biofuels is worthy of further exploration.

Folks, please comment on this issue if you know more about this.

Here is a summary of some solutions wastewater plants are using: knowyourh2o.blogspot.com/2010/04/another-kind-of-recycling.html

Regarding the comments on "BioGas" above... especially the comment that "BioGas is 'dirtier' than any fossil fuel." That is flatly incorrect. But, I guess it depends on how you define "dirty"! Gasoline is pretty "dirty" when it starts out as "crude oil." It's why we need "refineries" to turn fossil fuels into something that will burn in internal combustion engines. We have 100 years of refinery experience in our techno/economy... and we needed to invent the US Environmental Protection Agency to protect us and the environment from refinery waste and pollution, among other major industrial and consumer pollution sources. Not to mention the periodic oil spills(!), and the fact that gasoline doesn't burn anywhere near as clean as biogas, i.e. methane!

The biogas produced from anaerobic digestion from wastewater treatment plants will never be a total source of energy. (There just isn't enough energy in our fecal material to run our high energy economy, of course!). But bioenergy (all forms) are already half of the renewable energy (about 3.5% of our total ~100 quadriallion Btus/year in the U.S.) ... mostly biomass combustion. That is expected to quintuple to between 15-20 quads by 2022. In the next 100 or so years, I expect renewable energy to replace ~75% fossil fuels (except some coal, and some natural gas). That will require some intensive bioenergy investment, growing and refining (but it's doable with sustainable forestry and agriculture, and energy farm practices). Wastewater energy recovery is just that, recovering, but not replacing, even all the energy it takes to run a wastewater facility. Some wastewater treatment plants are now being assisted by solar (see one progressive water/wastewater utility's renewable energy program in, IEUA in San Bernardino & Riverside ieua.org/facilities/renewable.html)

Yes, biogas (methane), must be cleaned up prior to use, just like fossil fuel sourced natural gas and crude oil ... but not nearly as much! The CO2 is definitely there, but it comes from the short carbon cycle (a few years out of, and back into, the atmosphere), not the long, geologic, carbon cycle (millions of years), as is the case with fossil fuels.

If you want to follow this more closely, I highly recommend checking into the California Biomass Collaborative, at biomass.ucdavis.edu. And following the growth of all biomass fuel products and markets in California. Biosolids from wastewater treatment plants will always be a small, but an environmentally important contribution, IMO.

If you want to see two good plants locally, check out Miramar (were all our biosolids from Point Loma are anaerobically digested, and methane is a by-product produced in the digesters at the Metro Biosolids Center; converted to electricity that is purchased by SDG&E. Then it is dewatered and sent to Otay Landfill! (Rather than going back into the soil). Or Encinas Wastewater Treatment plant in Carlsbad, where the energy is produced and used onsite to run the treatment plant, and the biosolids are pelletized and used as a very much sought after, high quality fertilizer!

We all have a lot more to learn, invent and invest to create a truly clean, green economy! Thanks to Surfrider for helping us to continue to promote, learn and invest our way to an ever-more renewable society and economy!

Dan Noble, Executive Director,
Association of Compost Producers
healthysoil.org
Managing Director, The Sustainable Organization™
inquiryinternational.com/services/the-sustainable-organization

Thanks for this great reply, Dan.

Teachers, there is a nice summary video of some of the process at Encinas here:

preview.tinyurl.com/25hf5f5

Of course, we would prefer they re-use that clean water rather than sending it out to sea, but their process for utilizing the solid waste for biofuel is great.

That's great, Tricia. No, you don't need anything for further licensing. Just play as much as possible.

Thank you!

Belinda

Can you tell us what browser and OS you are using?

Oh, to answer your first question - Just download and show!

Thanks, Miguel. We would love this too! If anyone could help us get this done, please drop us a line at water AT surfridersd.org

Hi Shannon! Yes, it's not supposed to be literal - more just to illustrate how folks in the mid west care about water quality issues too.

Hi Lisa! Make sure you place your cursor over the link which is on the right-hand side, under "about this video".

Hi Barbara,
Its on the right-hand side, in the center of the page. (When we wrote the instructions, we didn't have so many comments!)
Scroll up, and look for the black bar that says, "About this video".

By the way, we love, love, love all the great work your organization is doing!

thanks Belinda, I ended up buying the dvd because we screened the film on June 29; we had a discussion following the film about how we could heal our local water cycle. Joe Geever came up from Long Beach and shared about his involvement in making the film. We are really enjoying our partnership with Surfrider Foundation. Paul Herzog of Ocean Friendly Gardens was at our Co-op's first workshop in the Santa Barbara area. thanks for all that all of you do.