Otero County to grow cattails in wastewater effluent for use as biofuel

The Otero County Commission voted on July 16, 2009, to provide $20,000 to a feasibility study on using cattails for biofuel. As part of the study, Sustainable Technology Systems, Inc., will grow test beds of cattails near the Alamagordo and Tularosa wastewater treatment facilities. According to the company's proposal, the feasibility study objectives are to:

• Confirm remediation of effluent in the growing beds through water testing samples
• Evaluate water and soil levels for optimum stalk growth
• Evaluate water and soil levels for optimum rhizome growth
• Confirm remediation of effluent in the growing tanks through water testing samples
• Standardize a data collection protocol for evaluating remediation

For more details on this project to use wastewater for energy crop development, see the article Cattails to fuel? in the Alamogordo Daily News, or the Otero County Commission's July 16th Agenda.