Digester to clean dairy wastewater

LOS LUNAS, N.M., Aug. 7 (UPI) -- A waste digester that can separate water from cow manure on a farm in New Mexico is believed to be the first of its kind aimed at restoring clean water.

The Raymond L. Jarrett farm, which has 400 cows in Los Lunas, has been awarded $64,686 to treat the cows’ wastewater and reuse it to irrigate fields and recharge aquifers, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported Tuesday.

The digester is one eight projects sharing $274,000 in grants from the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service. The other projects include a portable windmill and wireless moisture monitoring system for farmland.

Digesters, which use anaerobic bacteria, are used in other states to breakdown manure to create biogas for generating electricity. The Jarrett farm is believed to be the first to use the technolgy to improve waste water, the New Mexican reported.

“We think we can get the nitrogen levels below 10 parts per million, which means it can be reinjected into the aquifer,” said Raymond Jarrett.