BELOIT, Wis. — The City of Beloit is taking its first steps toward developing a Climate Action Plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and combat global warming. The goal is to be carbon neutral by 2040.
A climate action plan is a roadmap outlining strategies and actions city government, local businesses and residents can take to mitigate the impacts of climate change.
One of Beloit’s current projects fits under the Climate Action Plan. Recently installed turbo blowers at the city’s wastewater treatment center help make sure the micro-organisms at the treatment plant are getting the right amount of dissolved oxygen.
“If we are getting too much below that, then the organisms aren’t going to be as healthy,” said Bill Frisbee, Beloit’s Public Works director. “They are not going to be as efficient at removing the wastewater, so we are going to get a lower quality treatment.”
The wastewater facility is also in the process of getting a biosolids dryer, a machine that removes moisture from sludge. Frisbee said it will allow Beloit to make a similar product to the popular fertilizer Milorganite and sell it to farmers.
“We have a great product that has a huge beneficial reuse, and we wanted to use it for that,” he said.
A climate action plan can include many different things. City leaders are asking anyone who lives and works in Beloit to complete an online survey. It asks a variety of questions, like if they’ve experienced flooding or noticed any weather or air quality changes, and how serious they believe the issue of climate change is.
Brenda Plakans, the executive director of Welty Environmental Center in Beloit, said this is an important step to get more people invested in protecting our natural resources.
“You need to know about something if you are going to care about it, and if you start to care about it, then you want to protect it,” said Plakans.
Frisbee said making environmental improvements can have benefits beyond health and wellness.
“A high-quality wastewater treatment allows for economic growth within the community, which helps grow the tax base, helps provide better services to the community, and really helps attract employers,” he said.
City leaders said they hope to use the Climate Action Plan to map out continued improvements in order to make Beloit more environmentally resilient and sustainable.