(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Some of your favorite local craft brews may be helping clean up Chicago’s wastewater.
The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District has been working with breweries to utilize a byproduct of beer that can help treat sewage.
The agency is taking spent yeast used by Goose Island, Lagunitas, Revolution and Half Acre and repurposing it to reduce the amount of phosphorus in treated water. The partnership has been fermenting since 2017, says Supervising Environmental Specialist Michael Goldrich.
So far, he says, the partnership has reduced algae blooms and fish kills while saving the district about $1 million.
Of the seven reclamation plants the district uses to treat more than 1 billion gallons of water daily, he says the district uses the yeast at the Stickney and Calumet facilities.
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