Microbe Detectives announced recently that it has officially contracted with the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) to provide state-of-the-art DNA analysis services to detect nearly all microorganisms present within mixed liquor samples from the South Shore Wastewater Reclamation Facility and provide MMSD with a comprehensive monthly report of the findings. Microbe Detectives will also provide a comprehensive analysis report after completing twelve-months of weekly sampling and analysis.
“These powerful analytics will help MMSD better understand its conventional activated sludge process at SSWRF and give insight on nitrification, phosphorus removal, biological nutrient removal potential (including presence of Phosphorus-Accumulating Organisms and Glycogen-Accumulating Organisms), foaming, filaments, bulking, poor settling, and positive coliform identification in its process,” said Matt Magruder, Environmental Research Manager at MMSD.
“Developing a business relationship with MMSD is an important milestone in the evolution of Microbe Detectives,” said John Tillotson CEO of Microbe Detectives. “It speaks to our commercial success in optimizing renewable resource recovery systems for municipal and industrial wastewater facilities. We are honored to have this opportunity in our home town of Milwaukee where Microbe Detectives was born through the Water Council’s BREW Accelerator in 2014.”
The program is scheduled to commence immediately with plans to expand into anaerobic digestion and other MMSD systems.