If you like Dillo Dirt, that repurposed sewer sludge used to condition soil, have we got news for you. The Austin Water utility says it will soon be able to create twice as much Dillo Dirt as before.
Austin Water says it completed a new 15-acre compost pad six months ahead of schedule and $6 million under budget. That will allow it to ramp up Dillo Dirt production from 40,000 to 80,000 cubic feet per year.
The larger compost pad is among several federally funded green infrastructure improvements planned at the Hornsby Bend Biosolids Management Plant.
Others include a new biogas generator that will produce about 4.4 million kilowatts of energy a year, enough to power 370 homes.Most of that electricity, however, will be used to power a water treatment plant.
