Report
Poplar for wastewater and biosolids management: An environmental application of the biocycle farm
Technical Bulletin (Washington State University. Extension), 53E, Washington State University Extension
11/2018
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/13223
Abstract
Poplar trees are a highly effective wastewater management tool for biosolids application used by the Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission (MWMC) in Eugene/Springfield, Oregon. The MWMC distributes the bulk of its nutrient-rich biosolids to local grass-seed farmers but needed a beneficial way to manage excess biosolids. Based on published agronomic rates in the Willamette Valley, OR, the MWMC determined that rapidly-growing hybrid poplar trees have approximately twice the nitrogen uptake capacity per acre as grass crops—which means that the MWMC’s 400 acres of poplar groves (called the Biocycle Farm) is equivalent to 800 acres of grass-seed fields for biosolids management. This uptake capacity also gives the MWMC flexibility in operating its program to meet local farm fertilizer demands while ensuring beneficial use of 100 percent of its annual biosolids production. Additionally, the water uptake capacity of poplar trees means the farm doubles as a land base for irrigation using recycled water. Recycled water use may become an important tool to reduce the MWMC’s weekly discharge to the Willamette River during times of the year when reducing sources of heat to the river is needed to protect aquatic species. By growing the poplar trees, the MWMC avoids risks borne by other wastewater processors, such as over-accumulating biosolids in storage lagoons or the expense of trucking biosolids to a landfill or far-away farms for application to crops.
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Details
- Title
- Poplar for wastewater and biosolids management: An environmental application of the biocycle farm
- Creators
- Todd A. Miller (Author)Patricia A. Townsend (Author)Leslie A. Boby (Author)
- Academic Unit
- Publications, WSU Extension
- Series
- Technical Bulletin (Washington State University. Extension); 53E
- Publisher
- Washington State University Extension; Pullman, Washington
- Identifiers
- 99900502156201842
- Copyright
- Copyright Not Evaluated ; openAccess ; http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/ ; http://purl.org/eprint/accessRights/OpenAccess
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Report