Wastewater treatment plants turn waste into energy

When you flush your toilet, the water goes down the drain. But before it can be safely discharged back into rivers, lakes, or other waterways, that water must be treated.

A modern wastewater treatment plant with ponds that recycle sewage water.

The process takes a lot of energy. In most places, that energy is costly and creates a lot of carbon pollution.

But that’s changing in Santiago, Chile. There, utility group Suez is working to make its wastewater treatment plants generate as much power as they use.

Giros: “By reducing our energy consumption, being more efficient, this is really fighting against the climate change.”

Read the story from Yale Climate Connections  - “Wastewater treatment plants turn waste into energy.”