Top: Anaerobic digesters at the San Luis Rey Wastewater Facility will be processing slurried food scraps. Photo courtesy City of Oceanside, CA

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation awarded the City of Oceanside, California $2 million for its Biogas Renewable Energy Capacity Expansion Project and Turf Replacement Rebate through its WaterSMART Water and Energy Efficiency Grant. The $2 million will be used to integrate wastewater, water conservation, food scraps to energy, and water reuse programs to achieve greater energy sustainability and drought resilience. This project is designed to increase capacity to produce renewable energy from biogas at the City’s wastewater treatment facility, divert food scraps from landfill, avoid releasing excess carbon dioxide, improve water quality and increase production of compost.

The WaterSMART funding will help Oceanside meet the city’s zero-waste goals and state-mandated SB 1383 diversion goals, as well as reduce water consumption through the expansion of existing turf removal programs. The city’s San Luis Rey Wastewater Facility will be upgraded to process slurried food scraps and convert them to energy. The additional local, clean, renewable energy produced through this “Food Scraps To Energy” project will power equipment used to run the City’s potable reuse, recycled water and wastewater treatment processes by offsetting grid-based electricity. “The City of Oceanside works diligently to improve water efficiency by providing conservation programming, rebates, automated metering and other efficiency programs,” noted Lindsay Leahy, Water Utilities Director. “Utilizing local biogas energy will reduce greenhouse gas generation and provide sustainable processes that will further Oceanside’s efforts to provide the most efficient use of resources.”

Oceanside also received $4.2 million in grant funds from CalRecycle for the Food Scraps to Energy project. The city’s franchised hauler, Waste Management, will collect food scraps and food-soiled paper from commercial and multifamily customers and deliver the organics to an offsite processing facility equipped with a depackager. The resulting slurry will be delivered to the San Luis Rey Water Reclamation Facility where it will be pumped into an existing digester.