Harrisburg Authority First To Advertise And Receive Bids For Nutrient Credits

On October 29 the Harrisburg Authority completed Pennsylvania’s first public bidding for the procurement of nutrient credits under the Department of Environmental Protection’s Compliance Plan for the Chesapeake Bay.

 

In addition to being the first such advertisement for procuring nutrient credits in the state, the purchase of credits is expected to save the authority significant sums of money that would have been spent to construct expensive facility upgrades necessary to meet Chesapeake Bay guidelines.

 

As part of a partnership with other states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Pennsylvania committed to reducing Total Nitrogen and Total Phosphorus discharges into the watershed in order improve water quality and to remove the Chesapeake Bay from the federal list of impaired waters.

 

Under Pennsylvania’s compliance plan, municipal dischargers can construct and operate additional wastewater treatment facilities to remove nitrogen and phosphorus from their discharge or purchase nutrient credits that reflect the reduction of nitrogen and phosphorus that has been achieved by others beyond their mandated limits.

 

An analysis conducted for the Authority in 2005 estimated that the cost of constructing the necessary upgrades would be more than $60 million and operating costs would exceed $5.5 million per year. When bids were opened, multiple bids were received in different size procurement packages.

 

The October 29 bids for total nitrogen credits ranged from $5.00 to $7.50, each beginning in 2011. Bids for total phosphorus credits ranged from $0.00 (if purchased in conjunction with total nitrogen credits) to a high of $5.00 each. The prices were bid net of all required reserve and transfer adjustments and reflect a new, lower than previously identified cost of credit purchase. An analysis will now be completed to determine the lowest combined cost of compliance, adding together the costs of building and operating some improvements and purchasing some credits.

 

“Environmental compliance while saving our customers money is our goal,” says Michele T. V. Torres, executive director of the Harrisburg Authority.

 

The engineering firm of Herbert, Rowland & Grubic, Inc. prepared the procurement contract for the authority after nine months of analyzing the various alternatives available for compliance; the contract documents provide for the purchase of as many as 1.9 million credits per year for five or ten years.

 

“Over a year ago, we predicted that the purchase of credits would result in a lower cost for our client, The Harrisburg Authority.,” says Chuck Wunz, P.E., BCEE, the principal-in-charge of HRG’s Water and Energy Group. “The receipt of bids now confirms that prediction, and the purchase of credits will allow us to implement the innovative concept of sidestream treatment for nutrient removal coupled with nutrient credit purchase. We will use the results of the bid opening to determine the lowest cost of compliance, and we will incorporate those results into a new wastewater management plan. The savings are very significant.”

 

This plan complements The Harrisburg Authority’s other forward-thinking projects such as electricity generation from water and steam, metals recovery and recycling, and wastewater effluent reuse.

 

The Harrisburg Authority seeks to bring the highest levels of green technology, sustainability, and professionalism to its operations. At the same time, it has worked to improve the quality of life for all its customers and to enhance and support economic growth.