Some think biodigester idea may be horse ‘pucky’
Feb. 28, 2013
Kit Stolz, OVN correspondent
By Kit Stolz
The results of a $100,000 study looking into the feasibility of constructing a biodigester to dispose of horse manure from Ojai area ranches was presented at the Chaparral school auditorium Wednesday.
The study was conducted by the engineering firm ACEOM on behalf of the Ventura County Watershed Protection District.
Launched in 2011, the study focused mostly on horse manure and bedding because nutrients from these sources are suspected of impacting water quality in the Ventura River, based on Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board (LARWQCB) findings.
Currently, most of the horse manure in the valley that is hauled is taken to Toland Road landfill east of Santa Paula, but much of it is used for agriculture or, in some cases, simply left on the ground.
Horse owners, who soon will face tighter restrictions on the storage and disposal of animal manure and bedding from the LARWQCB and possibly the Environmental Protection Agency, expressed mixed feelings. They showed interest in the biodigester concept, but several raised questions about the cost and practicality of the digester idea, estimated to cost $8.7 million.
“What the (LARWQCB) is pushing for is to have 99 percent of the manure removed, and to have it stored in concrete bunkers on the site. If that is all implemented, then yes, this would be a logical place to send the manure,” said Carolyn Ebken, who has worked with horses in the valley for many years. “It’s a good idea, but not if you have to pay $35 a ton to have the manure hauled there.”
Ryan Gallagher, from ACEOM, agreed that the cost of having the waste hauled was crucial to the financing of the biodigester plan.
“The project makes economic sense if it gets public financing for construction, and if the community can handle a tipping fee (charge for hauling) of $35 a ton, which is what they charge at Agromin right now,” he said.
Phil Sherman, one of the engineers who helped initiate the biodigester plan as part of the Waste-2-Energy team, has two horses of his own in the valley, and says he does nothing with the manure.
“A lot of it is just stacked on the ground,” he said. “My wife has a couple of horses, and we just leave it in a big pile, where anyone who wants can come and get it. But it’s not being taken away, and even if it’s not running directly into a stream, it’s leaching into the ground, and getting into the water table. It’s a waste. We could be using this to generate power.”
The study, which is available at the Watershed Protection District’s website, shows that the Ojai Valley generates about 50 tons of waste a day, enough to generate in the range of 2 million kilowatt hours of electricity a year. That could power about 200 homes.
Gallagher complimented Sherman and Bill O’Brien, and Ojai generally, for thinking ahead about the issue before the new nutrient load (called total maximum daily load) regulations have been issued, which is expected next month from the LARWQCB.
“What the community has come to is this digester,” Gallagher said. “It’s finding a solution before the problem has really landed. We saw something similar at the Calleguas (Municipal) Water District, which had to find a solution to their salinity problem. They came up with the salinity pipe, and took charge before the regulations were issued, so they had control of their destiny. I think this is an exciting project.”
Public comments will be incorporated into the final report of the study, to be released at the end of April. Contact Ryan.Gallagher@aecom.com to provide comments.
Horse manure compost is the best fertilizer, as long as they eat a healthy diet of mostly organically grown grasses, and not being fed GMO corn.
I’m hoping future manure management efforts will eliminate that horsey smell that starts to hang around during the summer, and the large curbside piles of manure. Also, a few of our local water districts rely solely on groundwater for our water supply. When it rains, I can’t help but notice the foamy runoff emanating from the horse boarding facility near the Ventura River trailhead off of Rice Rd. I’m not saying horses should walk around with diapers on; I’d like to see some stormwater best management practices. That foamy runoff flows down into the river bottom where a number of water supply wells extract from.
This feasibility study was funded to study one option: using a biodigester to process part of the Ojai Valley waste stream and particularly horse manure. The engineers were also careful to emphasize that this is a conservative estimate of the biodigester project. For them conservative means a careful ramping up to full production and adding in a lot of money for contingencies. Of the $8.7 million estimate, $1.3 million is a contingency for construction costs. $500K is allocated to buy two acres of land.
As they presented it, the sale of the electricity would about cover interest on the capital costs (Low because of the public financing option). The high tipping fee would cover operations and maintenance.
Maybe because they’re engineers, not businessmen, they didn’t include any revenue from possible sale of the treated manure as fertilizer. Nor did they mention carbon credits for the renewable energy.
The digester is a waste management solution, not a big energy play. If horse owners are required to store manure in concrete bunkers, per CalEPA, there will be even more of it that will have to be hauled. And the waste stream includes food waste and green waste that would otherwise end up in a landfill somewhere.
The Tech Memos #3 and #4 are at the Watershed Protection District’s website. Click on the “What’s New” tab and scroll down to the Biodigester information.
Yes, they are not business people. Otherwise they would know that principal is not being covered. Is this an interest only loan in perpetuity? Are grants intended to cover the capital cost? If so, this project has to address the best use of capital issues. A little common sense is much needed for this project.
Some think it’s “horse pucky” and many think or know that it’s a necessity, which is to say something must be done even if it is seemingly uncomfortable to horse owners. In the place of banning or restricting horses the powers that be are trying to come up with a viable solution which the powers that be will be held legally responsible for if they don’t do something which prevents nitrogen, etc. getting into the groundwater.