In the news: Flathead Electric helps modernize sewage treatment plant

What happens when you flush the potty? At the Whitefish wastewater treatment plant in Montana, sewage is treated with a new state-of-the-art process that involves ultraviolet light, digital controls and anaerobic digesters – microorganisms that break down organic materials in an oxygen-free environment. 

To help make the treatment plant’s upgrade possible, Flathead Electric Cooperative tapped into incentive funding from BPA’s Energy Smart Industrial Program, which offers power cost rebates for energy efficiency projects that reduce load on its grid. The program produced about $400 million in energy savings across its eight-state operational region in the past 10 years. 

The Whitefish treatment plant is now one of four in the U.S. now using granulated microbe technology, producing a cleaner product while reducing electricity use by an estimated 570,000 kilowatt-hours – that comes to about $34,000 in power cost savings for the facility each year. 

To learn more, read the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s article, “Montana’s Flathead Electric Cooperative Helps Modernize Sewage Treatment Plant.”