How Do We Make Wastewater Treatment Plants the Sustainable Solution They Were Supposed to Be?

Wastewater treatment plants made national news this month after the mayor of Danbury, CT (the city where Ethan was born) responded to a joke on “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” by naming Danbury’s sewer plant the “John Oliver Memorial Sewer Plant.” But in addition to being the ~butt~ of a joke, wastewater treatment plants have been responsible for some environmental issues. Today, we discuss a few of those issues from overflows to energy to microplastic contamination to antimicrobial resistance, what threats they pose to the economy and public health, and how we can improve wastewater treatment to make it the sustainable water sanitation solution it was designed to be. With special guest Dr. Patricia Keen: Visiting Assistant Professor of Energy Management at the New York Institute of Technology, Vancouver Campus.