DC Water Trying to Lower Bills by Marketing Inventions

DC Water is trying to find ways to lower customers' bills by getting into the invention business.

What do an average looking water fountain, a giant hole in the ground, and a truck full of what used to be poop all have in common?

DC Water is hoping they'll put more money in your pocket.

Source: DC Water

"What we are doing at DC Water is very aggressive," touts outgoing General Manager George Hawkins.

DC Water is trying to find ways to lower customers' bills by getting into the invention business.

A team of researchers find ways to solve problems and create new ideas to test and use. The utility is now taking the extra step to try to market and sell those technologies and services to other water systems, and eventually private customers.

"It hasn't generated much revenue yet, but the potential future is pretty significant and very unusual for a public agency," said Hawkins.

One of the products DC Water is now selling is something it would have to get rid of anyway, by the truckload. The utility developed a steam treatment system to turn human waste solids into a high-quality soil called Bloom.

"People don't stop going to the bathroom- not even on holidays, even on the weekends," said Innovation Program Manager Saul Kinter.

With more than 400 tons per day to dispose of, Kinter says it was innovative for DC Water to find a way to make it into something buyers will pay for.

"Everybody raves about the overall quality and what it's done for their for their crops or their garden," said Kinter

And the process to create it involves a technological advancement that was the first of its kind in North America.

Read full article: NBC Washington

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