A high-tech sludge solution will still cost Hamilton tens of millions of dollars even after a $23-million grant from the federal government.

The grant, announced Wednesday by local Conservative MP David Sweet, hinges on the city finding a private builder and operator for a modern biosolids-busting technology at the Woodward treatment plant. The options range from incineration to drying the sludge for use as fertilizer.

But the cash may not be enough to convince councillors to abandon a decade of cheap-but-controversial sludge spreading on farm fields.

Councillor Sam Merulla said he doesn't want to "flush taxpayer money down the drain" on what could be a $110-million project when provincial regulations support safe and affordable land application of about 36,000 tonnes of sludge a year.

Mayor Bob Bratina, on the other hand, said the city should explore all of the latest technologies. "What we have now is recognition we can't do business as usual with sludge," he said. "We need to go forward."

Right now, the city pays about $3 million a year to a contractor to take the sludgy leftovers from sewage treatment and spread them on farm fields. The practice is common, but criticized because of the potential for water pollution and much-debated fears about growing food in recycled human waste.

"We'll obviously look at the numbers, but if we do go ahead (with a sludge facility) I would expect it to be cheaper and also a very different experience than we've had in the past with incinerators," said Councillor Chad Collins, whose Ward 5 once hosted SWARU, an infamously polluting garbage incinerator.

The city was also lobbied for years — unsuccessfully — by California-based Liberty Energy to build a large sludge incinerator on Strathearne Avenue.

If the city puts out a request for proposals, the company will take another look, said CEO Wilson Nolan.

"We were the ones that pitched the public-private partnership in the first place," he said by phone from California. "This would be in a different location, obviously, but it could still be feasible."

While the company's previous plan was to import sludge from other cities, Hamilton's business case focuses on homegrown biosolids. That wouldn't necessarily deter a Liberty bid, Nolan said.

The public-private partnership model would see a private company design, build and operate the sludge facility for 30 years, said water director Dan McKinnon. The company would also be expected to help finance the project.

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But the city will have to put up some serious cash to evaluate the possible technologies and partnerships out there. McKinnon estimated putting out a request for proposals on the ambitious 30-year partnership could cost up to $2 million.

Council will get a detailed report on a possible RFP in February.