Conejo Post

THOUSAND OAKS BIOSOLIDS WILL NOW BE TREATED IN COUNTY

An environmentally friendly facility to process biosolids goes online in Ventura County within the next few days.  It is located at the Toland Landfill, in the hills between Santa Paula and Fillmore, and is the creation of the Ventura Regional Sanitation District, or VRSD.

 

General Manager, Mark Lawler, says VRSD has contracts with the cities of Thousand Oaks, Oxnard and Ventura to treat their biosolids, or dewatered sewage sludge.  In a complex process, the sludge is cooked in dryers and turned into pellets that are then used as ground cover at the landfill.  The pellets are completely safe, because the high heat of the dryers destroys pathogens. 

 

In a presentation on Monday, 6-1, before the combined boards of Triunfo Sanitation District (TSD) and Las Virgenes Municipal Water District (LVMWD), Mark talked of the benefits of this method.  He listed improved air quality, because local cities will no longer be shipping sludge to Kern County, and safe, treated, recycled water from the process will be used for Toland dust control.  Also, landfill gas will be used for power, with no energy taken from the power grid.  In fact, Mark said that VRSD will actually be selling power to the electric company.

 

Isn’t it great to see leading edge, environmental technology in our own backyard?

 

Just to let you know, I am chair of the Triunfo Sanitation District (TSD) board, and also chair of the Joint Powers Authority consisting of the TSD and LVMWD boards.  And, TSD contracts with VRSD to supply administrative, technical, and maintenance services to the District.

 

Janna Orkney