Tetra Tech helped the City of Laramie reduce wastewater treatment plant energy consumption by 64 percent through innovative process optimization, advanced aeration technologies, and energy-efficient facility upgrades.
Challenge
The City of Laramie sought to modernize its 6-million-gallon-per-day (MGD) wastewater treatment plant by replacing aging equipment while significantly reducing energy consumption. The City’s goal was to lower plant power usage by at least 20 percent without compromising treatment performance or operational reliability. Aging blowers, inefficient aeration controls, deteriorated air piping, and redundant biosolids handling systems created excessive energy demands, particularly during daily flow fluctuations. The City needed a practical, cost-effective solution that would improve operational efficiency while extending the life of existing infrastructure.
Solution
Using our Leading with Science® approach, Tetra Tech evaluated the plant’s operations to identify opportunities where process optimization could deliver greater value than equipment replacement alone. Rather than simply replacing existing systems, our team redesigned the entire aeration strategy to better match airflow with treatment demand. These upgrades included replacing antiquated oxidation ditch blowers with modern high-speed turbo blowers, installing smaller jockey blowers for low-air demand conditions, implementing dissolved oxygen and oxidation-reduction potential instruments for automated process control, and providing a full-plant backup generator capable of supporting peak-demand management.
Tetra Tech also provided construction administration, field engineering, startup, and commissioning services to successfully transition the facility to its new operating strategy. The integrated improvements dramatically exceeded the City of Laramie’s original energy savings goal, reducing plant power consumption by 64 percent while improving operational flexibility, reliability, and long-term sustainability. The project earned the 2025 Rocky Mountain Water Environment Association Sustainability Award (RMWEA), and the City received $352,200 through Rocky Mountain Power’s Wattsmart® program—the largest energy-efficiency incentive ever awarded to a Wyoming customer. The project now serves as a replicable model for small wastewater treatment facilities seeking practical, high-impact energy improvements that can be implemented alongside other necessary capital improvements projects.
Benefits
- Reduced plant energy consumption by 64 percent
- Lowered operating costs by approximately $15,000 per month
- Received $352,200 in utility energy-efficiency incentives
- Improved process control and operational reliability
- Earned the 2025 RMWEA Sustainability Award
The project reduced plant energy consumption by 64 percent—more than triple the City’s original energy savings goal.
