the heavy sewage sludge that remains in settling tanks
after chemical treatment was a costly exercise for the
Pennsylvania ARNG Training Center at Fort Indian-
town Gap. The training center’s Bureau of Environ-
mental Management was paying significant costs each
year to have a company remove the sludge, send it
to a dewatering facility nearly 20 miles away in Her-
shey, PA, and then transported to a landfill (PAARNG
2011).
With the investment of a sewage press, the Bureau
of Environmental Management found it can press the
water from its sludge reducing the material to a much
lighter substance, load it into a 24-cubic-foot roll-off
dumpster and transport it to a landfill as solid waste
using its own equipment and staff. The technology
is a much more efficient and sustainable way of han-
dling their waste stream and is expected to save this
important ARNG training site thousands of dollars
annually (PAARNG 2011).
Net Zero Energy and Water Initiatives in Oregon
On 19 April, 2011, the Army announced the loca-
tions identified to be pilot net zero installations as part
of the Army’s Net Zero Installation Strategy. Net zero
is further defined as the self-production of energy or
water for the installation with no requirement from
the local sources. The goal is for installations to be
‘net zero’, based on net zero energy, net zero water,
and net zero waste by 2020 (i.e., net zero installations
will consume only as much energy or water as they
produce and eliminate solid waste to landfills). The
Army has identified six net zero pilot installations in
each of the energy, water, and waste categories and
two integrated installations (net zero in all three cat-
egories) (DoD 2011).