Only In Los Osos

Yes, this is strange, but not for Los Osos. How many other towns would commemorate their sewer project with a bar of soap? 

Only Los Osos would let something as creative as this emerge from a sewer project. Talk about making lemonade from lemons, here is—the Big Dig Soap! Yes, there are other commemorative bars; Ivory Soap did a 100-year special retro wrapper for its 100 year anniversary in 1979; there was John F. Kennedy Honey Fitz presidential yacht commemorative soaps; and a boxed set by Anona of King George V and Queen Mary circa 1935. None are remotely as cool as this one though!

Think about it though, "sewer" soap makes such good sense! We were all grimy from the months of trench digging and we NEEDED that soap!

I just learned about this from a friend who said that it was available at Volumes of Pleasure Book Shoppe in Los Osos. In fact, the soap was made especially for them. I do not know how long this soap has been available as I normally just stick with the books when I am in there. As of Saturday there were only two bars left! I do hope that more will be more forthcoming, as it is handmade, smells really delicious, comes in a very sweet and clever wrapper, and of course makes the most unique gift for those in the know. And it is a unconventional conversation starter for those who aren't. 

Please call (805) 528-5565 to check for availability! (I would tell you about how foamy it is on the skin, but I can't bear to use it in case there are no more for sale!)

Sewer Science For the New Year Holiday!

I ran across this article on sewer sociology tonight and had to share! The link will download a pdf and it is a fun read on sewer use for the New Year holiday! Who knew that there was such a thing as sewer sociology?

Sewer Sociology - Water Environment Federation

We had a great year of sewer milestones in our little corner of the planet, Los Osos. May next year hold as many, as it brings us closer to our own hook-ups to this town's big step into the sanitary 21st century.

Happy New Year in 2015 and Happy Flushing too (sustainably, of course, considering the drought....)!!

Do NOT Try This at Home!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IukS5pU8X7A

Use "Time Dust" and you could wind up in a different time zone. Not necessarily one of your own choosing. You could even wind up at the beginning of the sewer wars here in Los Osos! 

"Time Dust" a green, granular substance much like bubble bath crystals, and it uses a watery vortex as a time portal. I don't know if it works equally as well in a 1.6 , 1.28  gallon or lower water volume flushes.

But maybe it is worth a try. Could we learn from our mistakes and get it right back in the 80s if we had it to do over? Think about it!

(Full confession, my dear friend's son Avi Wilk plays the character, "Bobby Jones.")

Twisted Sister

A long time ago I worked at a place that put people into business for themselves. You'd buy a membership and then got access to a bunch of business plans and a ton of products to sell at below wholesale costs.

Said "Sister" of the heavy metal band in the title above, ran the Coaching and Sales Department for the company where I worked, but in another state. I guess the band thing didn't work out (there were a lot of ex's from that group for some reason).

I know you are thinking, why do I bring up this non-sewer story, THIS is a sewer blog! Well, there is a strange parallel going on in this county right now of a former "band" member going on to another job, only strangely looking just like how they did on the original stage, doing the same stuff but with a twist. And it is very, very sewer related. Please be patient, the twist will unfold.

I guess I should add that this ex-band member of Twisted Sister still looked the heavy metal dude when he'd bop over to California to check in with the mothership where I worked. He still looked like the guy on stage, just older and doing a slightly different job. When you are on stage, you are promoting yourself, in his case it was heavy metal music, and concert and CD sales for Twisted Sister. In Coaching and Sales, he was brandishing his heavy metal chops to rev up the troops to sell, sell, sell, both the business that we all worked for, and of course, more products.

In this parallel and far more gripping sewer story is an ex-Director of the LOCSD, and the spate of her performances in other towns to rev up the troops to sell, sell, sell you on HER ideas of "the facts." Another "twisted sister" as it were, and the facts are screwy. 

You might know to whom I refer. She's be hard to miss as visible at meetings around the County as she is, etc.. She is also a regular contributor at a SLO County online "news" venue.

The latest "twist" she promotes is the alleged removal of records from the offices of the South San Luis Obispo County Sanitation District (SSLOCSD). And she wants an audit of the Sanitation District's reserves, they have gone missing! Could there have been wrong doing, she asks?! She is upset that District files were kept at a contractor's office, they are property of the District and should have been stored there! Engineers and staff charged $42 to $108 an hour for basically filing! The invoices totaled $15,000!

Unbelievable, especially if you know what happened when she was a director at the LOCSD during its "sewer days." How can these amounts from another District, not her own, matter so much when money evaporated from the LOCSD on her watch? If she lived elsewhere and was looking in at Los Osos would she have noticed it then? Twisty!

Let's start with the idea that $15,000 is an outrageous amount of money. According to the Sun Bulletin in an article dated  I-18-06 by Abraham Hyatt titled, OSOS CSD BILLS PILE UP, WITH MORE TO COME: 

The most expensive invoice came from the law firm Van Blarcom, Leibold, McClendon, and Mann.  

It shows the district owes more than $57,000 for work mostly done by John McClendon, the district's interim legal counsel, from Sept. 30 through Oct. 31. 

Another law firm, Burke, Williams, and Sorensen -- which the district hired Nov. 23 -- charged more than $22,000 for one week's worth of work at the end of that month. 

The district's own financial records show that a third law firm, Shipsey and Seitz, which the district had used before the election, had been paid nearly $37,000 between November and December as well. 

District interim general manager Dan Bleskey and his company Willdan have also submitted a bill for about $58,000 worth of work for an unknown period of time. 

The district's general manager, Bruce Buel, is on paid administrative leave and continues to collect a $94,000-a-year paycheck.

Below is an excerpt from the Tribune published 3-10-06 from an article by Abraham Hyatt titled, LOS OSOS EXPECTS TO SPEND MOST OF STATE LOAN:

For instance, Bleskey testified that the district's three legal firms have billed $110,000, $97,000, and $50,000 respectively for a recent one-month period. It's unclear what month the bills encompassed, or which firms filed which amounts.

Read more here: http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=1104AC754F7DCA30&p_docnum=4&s_orderid=NB0114121709421801597&s_dlid=DL0114121709435002785&s_ecproduct=DOC&s_ecprodtype=NORENEW&s_trackval=&s_siteloc=SO&s_referrer=&s_username=sewercrazed&s_accountid=AC0109090823263613430&s_upgradeable=no#storylink=cpy

And on the topic of missing reserves, well, the bankruptcy of the LOCSD proved that there was noting left, but here is a jpg of page 10 out of the 2005-2006 audit (click for larger image). Look at the expenditures vs. the revenues:

Where was her concern when the monies she and her board had control over vanished? Were these numbers just too large to contemplate, so they didn't register?

As for boxes disappearing, boxes of LOCSD documents disappeared into the trunks of cars on or about October 4, 2005 according to eye witnesses (landing in Gail Mc Pherson's living room it was later revealed). How's that for keeping watch over your own District's files?

Because you have done the things that you accuse others of doing, do you feel that lends credibility to your claims? If so, that is really, really twisted.

Only In Los Osos

Really, you must take a look! Photo credit: Ann Calhoun!

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis9KwjafRJNjeqGSdUZfDvhjYaxXY9-ISLMj85E9SnKu6fAljiJ6W5mkq-S_SxvLyVJanN76uHoOVo4IB-Tz_N0woWjnNZBBukIJ-zNJ2LJDAKOWzr1cvc1HVmfo9P70TYhbuVcA/s1600-h/019%25255B3%25255D.jpg

Off her blog:
http://calhounscannon.blogspot.com/2014/12/reason-29482023094891-why-i-love-los.html

County's LOWWP Update - October 2014

Newly posted, the latest Los Osos sewer update!! Take a look!! Particularly look at the photo called, "Rebar and forms for oxidation ditch walls." Could be a set from a sci-fi movie!! It's just awesome!!!

http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/Assets/PW/LOWWP/PM+Monthly+Update+Oct+2014.pdf

German Toilets!

I was in Germany this past summer, but being mostly on a cruise ship on the Danube with normal plumbing to my American eyes, and only using a small sampling of German (and Hungarian, Austrian, Czech Republic, British) relief facilities on shore excursions to notable venues (not all of them touristy), or at airports, I never encountered this!

http://www.asecular.com/~scott/misc/toilet.htm

http://studioq.com/blog/tag/german-oddities

Go figure.......

The Power Of Poo!!

Relatives were recently in Newcastle, England and posted a photo that they took at a science museum there. When I saw the phrase on a sign on the wall, "Power of Poo," I had to look this up! Here are some links to what I found on that topic:

http://fuelcellsworks.com/news/2013/09/13/newcastle-university-announces-first-trial-of-a-hydrogen-microbial-electrolysis-cell-mec/

http://inhabitat.com/scientists-use-microbes-to-turn-poo-into-hydrogen/

http://inhabitat.com/poop-fueled-batteries-may-be-available-for-home-use-in-5-years/

http://www.thejournal.co.uk/business/business-news/bright-sparks-northumbrian-water-using-4399410

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2004-07-15/poo-power-offers-museum-solid-return/2009774

Now, it probably isn't at all cost effective to rig something like this up for our up-and-coming sewage facility, and it would take an institution of higher learning to instigate this process as a project for students. I'm not sure Cal Poly would be interested, although with all the excrement created by the ag area's critters, it might make for a useful experiment! Los Osos has after all, been the subject of projects by students (and this is just a sampling):

http://www.planning.calpoly.edu/sites/planning.wcms.calpoly.edu/files/images/Los%20Osos%20Strategic%20Design%20Plan%202012.pdf

http://mustangnews.net/studentsdiscoverartifactsinarcheologicaldiginlososos/

Read this one for sure, third paragraph down:
http://www.calstate.edu/cce/annualreport/2012/san-luis-obispo.shtml

Product That Defies Everything Your Mother Taught You To NOT Talk About!

OK, I usually, no never really, push a product on this blog. You can see that I have no advertisers over on the sides. I won't even mention the product.......HOWEVER, I have seen the YouTube videos below and just can't help but share! Why do we need sewers or septic tanks, or composting toilets—well, you KNOW the answer to that! This product could be helpful with the...product. Anyway, check out the videos below (perhaps you have seen one of these two versions—?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaQ1CdISw8o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LemT0NnUmc0

—but have you seen the blooper reel??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9LrUEK97AA

Even MORE HILARIOUS!! 

Anyway, it's Black Friday, time for the faithful to go shopping, and if you needed a sewer-ish gift.......well, here you go!! (No, I did not mean...that.) But to get into the spirit, you might like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9TTz3R5SmI

A Happy Sewer Ending!

A sewer Thanksgiving for one woman and her accidentally flushed heirloom ring! Thanks to persistent sewer workers for recovering the ring!

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/nov/25/heirloom-ring-flushed-sewer-workers-retrieve-it/

Happy Thanksgiving to all Los Osos Sewer Saga blog readers! American readers, keep that turkey grease out of your drains! Your waste treatment, whatever the type, will THANK YOU!

Parallel Sewer Universe in Massachusetts, Almost

I wondered if Los Osos was the only small town with a split personality about views on types of sewer systems, you know, Gravity or Step/Steg. So I went on a hunt to see what else was out there. I was surprised to find a sandy seaside East Coast town with some similarities to Los Osos called "Orleans" in Massachusetts. They also needed to clean up the water due to septic tank contamination. It is very interesting as to what they did. But first a little background on the similarities. For one, we both have had estuaries to worry about!

The Massachusetts area called Orleans was first settled in 1693 by Pilgrims from the Plymouth colony. Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo first encountered the Chumash Indians living in the Los Osos area in 1542. But Los Osos was not on a real map until 1769 when Gaspar de Portolà led a Spanish group of explorers and found bears and named the  area Los Osos. But that both settlements are pretty old, is the point. Different Native Americans were decimated by white guys, Wampanoag for Orleans and Chumash for Los Osos. The Wampanoag were famous in white history for bring food for the settlers on the first Thanksgiving, but things went downhill after that. The Spaniards wiped out the bears, one source of food for the Chumash, so maybe I am thinking there is conflict in the very air of these towns. But the level of conflict doesn't belong on the same scale. Different they are by leagues altogether!

For similarities: In 1898, the French cable company brought a 3200 mile long transatlantic cable to Orleans. Los Osos has the Los Osos Cable Landing Station with three major lines coming in that cover Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and Guam and the first one landed in 1995 with upgrades since. Lynn, Massachusetts seems to be the new spot for cable landings of the modern sort, but you get the similarity drift, good cable landing points!

Famous people lived in these two towns as well, Victor A. Vyssotsky, mathematician and computer scientist for Orleans, and Gumby creator Art Clokey for Los Osos. (Hmmmm, the suspicious might already see a portend as to how town problems might be tackled. But that would not be me, I'm just the reporter here.)

There are some differences of course. In 2010, Orleans had only 5,890 year around residents while Los Osos had 14,276. There is a summer seasonal population in Orleans estimated to be 20,000+ however. Orleans has a total area of 22.7 square miles, of which 14.1 square miles is land and 8.5 square miles or 37.59%, is water. Los Osos has 12.8 square miles, 99.84% of it land, and 0.16% of it water. Orleans median income of $42,594. Los Osos has a median income of $57,683.

One huge difference though, was not having a Regional Quality Water Board demanding water clean-up on a schedule. Bigger still, they figured this out by themselves, that they HAD to clean up the water! And another difference, a very telling one as to meeting demeanor, at their sewer meetings, the sheriff did not have to be called.... Here is a news article on a sewer meeting held in 2012: http://www.wickedlocal.com/x928642180/New-path-for-Orleans-wastewater/?Start=1 Of course there was some dissension, and it sounds suspiciously plucked out of the Los Osos playbook, you can read about it here: http://www.orleanswateralliance.org/planning/. But again, no sheriff had to be called. Is it simply the cultural differences between the two states that dictates the tenor of the meetings? A sense of entitlement that Californians might have to yell their opinions over and over and over? Or does California just house more sewer nuts with bad manners?

OK, now for the real sewery part! They have done a side-by-side technology study for their sewer issues and the whole report seems to have been done without thousands of pages of "citizen input!" Unimaginable in Los Osos! The side-by-side study can be found here: http://www.town.orleans.ma.us/sites/orleansma/files/file/file/selectmenpp-6-20-12.pdf Unlike the Step/Steg on-lot costs NOT outlined in the Los Osos' commissioned Ripley Report, Dana Ripley being the Step/Steg "guru"according to the Recall Board, the on-lot costs have been painted in realistic numbers and it is not a pretty picture.

Here is a quote from a respected journal,

WEF Manual of Practice No. FD-12 (1)

The use of existing septic tanks has seldom been successful. Because of age, poor construction, poor installation, or homeowner abuse, existing septic tanks have proven to be one of the most significant sources of infiltration and inflow in effluent sewer systems. Unless a particular tank is known to be well-designed and manufactured, installed by a reputable installer, and effectively tested for water-tightness, it is better to replace the tank than risk it becoming a significant source of infiltration and inflow. 

(1) Source: Water Environment Federation, Alternative Sewer Systems, 2nd Edition, 2008 

This is what was missing from our Step/Steg report. The expected life of a Step tank is 25 years, making almost all of the tanks in Los Osos in need of replacement. The last 1100 homes in the Prohibition Zone were built before 1987, so only tanks that had been replaced recently were likely to pass an inspection. And the homeowner, NOT the project, would pay the on-lot costs! That is how the community was fooled into thinking that Step/Steg was cheaper. Orleans has no such deception, so they are seeing what really is cost effective for their town. Of course, the County gave us costs for Step/Steg, but they were not believed by Step/Steg supporters. 

(If you want to read the 30-year history of Orleans water issues up to 2012, click here. They had municipal water problems starting in the 60s due to pollution, ours got recognized in the 70s when we could no longer use the upper aquifer for drinking water anymore, due to nitrate contamination.) 

Anyway, they are chugging along but not done yet, much like us. They are years behind where we are now, but somehow, reading about this town and how they operate, we might all be getting our sewers at the same time. I couldn't find a history of lawsuits for Orleans like the one that has caused our projects so much lost time and extra money and made our issues so painfully ugly. The environmental activists in the area have threatened lawsuits against the EPA for not protecting the environment which is 180º away from the Los Osos "environmental activist's" actual lawsuits, arguing that we aren't polluting. You can read about those here: 
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/18/us/18nitrogen.html
http://www.wickedlocal.com/article/20110128/News/301289384
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/11/26/pollution_in_cape_cod_waters_sparks_debate/

You can read about Orlean's latest meeting here: http://www.town.orleans.ma.us/sites/orleansma/files/wqap_10_22_draft_summary.pdf

Orleans may have been one of the Cape Cod towns that refused federal money to build a sewer in the 60s and 70s; many of them did, fearing growth. What they got was growth anyway, and we followed that same pathway to pollution. It is interesting to find a town much like ours, facing many of the water quality issues that we have. What's really interesting though, is their mild and civilized response to those issues, so different from the fireworks-spouting Los Osos. Why that is remains a mystery.

San Diego to Make Wastewater Into Drinking Water

I found this on a feed today and thought I'd pass it on to sewer readers here! Los Osos is so dinky compared to San Diego, and San Diego certainly isn't the first city or biggest water entity to do this, but it is a bit of education for all of us water watchers big and small to stick in our brain pans for future reference somewhere.



San Diego to Make Wastewater Into Drinking Water | La Jolla, CA Patch

Today Is World Toilet Day!

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

On the surface, it seems like a big whoop, some slapstick goof on the utilitarian porcelain fixture we use daily, (unless we happen to be roughing out in the sticks when a hole in the ground is the only option). It's a joke to finagle another day off of work! It's about toilet cleaning, a bane to housewives according to advertising, and it sounds like a way to sell more greeting cards, "Give Your Potty A Hug Today" on the cover, "It's your birthday Asshole!" on the inside. One of those quasi-affectionate "bro" type of cards that beer drinking buds might stick on a gag b-day gift 6-pack of laxatives.

But no, it is none of these. It is about sanitation, and 2.5 BILLION lack what we take for granted, clean and safe toilets.

http://www.unwater.org/worldtoiletday

http://worldtoilet.org

http://www.wateraid.org/us/get-involved/world-toilet-day

http://www.planusa.org/content2909175

We who have squabbled over having a sewer really ought to get our heads out of the muck and see what one third of the world has to deal with, daily; disease, rape and humiliation.

Read this page for some toilet facts:

http://globaldimension.org.uk/calendar/event/4572

Los Osos Items - BOS Tuesday, November 25

These items were posted today, Tuesday, November 18:

AGENDA                                BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Consent Agenda - Public Works Items:

1. 23. Submittal of a resolution authorizing execution of notice of completion and acceptance of construction for the 2013–14 Asphalt Overlay, South Bay Boulevard from Los Osos Valley Road to Santa Ysabel Avenue in Los Osos. District 2. 

http://agenda.slocounty.ca.gov/agenda/sanluisobispo/Proposal.html?select=4023

• Hearings: 
• 42. Hearing to consider an amendment to the Building and Construction Ordinance, Title 19 of the County Code, changing the requirements for retrofitting of plumbing fixtures in connection with additions, remodels, and new development of residential, commercial and other structures within the Los Osos Groundwater Basin. District 2. 

http://agenda.slocounty.ca.gov/agenda/sanluisobispo/Proposal.html?select=4024

• 43. Hearing for an amendment to the Health and Sanitation Ordinance, Title 8 of the County Code, changing the requirements for sellers of real property within the Los Osos Groundwater Basin to retrofit plumbing fixtures with water-efficient fixtures at time of sale. District 2.

http://agenda.slocounty.ca.gov/agenda/sanluisobispo/Proposal.html?select=4021

When the links to the support documents become available, I will post them.
Note: see links above, posted November 19, 2014.

ISJ - Water Board Conniption Correction

The Interlocutory Stipulated Judgement, or the “ISJ” as it is acronym-ed, is our Los Osos water basin’s long-awaited fate cradled in the protective and silent arms of the court. As with anything pertaining to water in Los Osos, its creation has been fraught with angst, speculation and criticism. The final document of this judgement, to be called The Basin Plan, is still only in draft form after this whole thing was launched by a lawsuit 2004. Updates have been given sporadically to the Los Osos public and various agencies over the years. Needless to say at this point, our to-be-cleaned-and-reused “sewer water” plays a large part in this watery vision that floats out somewhere after 2016 on into infinity.

Much was made about the update of the ISJ that the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board had requested for their September 25-26, 2014 meeting. The usual-suspects-in-the-sewer-complaint-department were out in full force, not only at that meeting, but to complain about what happened at the RWQCB meeting at the following Los Osos CSD meeting, the following LOCAC meeting, and of course, at the September 30 Board of Supervisors meeting. They were furious at the County for not attending the meeting, they were furious at our CSD for having no representative there to give an explanation of the ISJ, they were furious at our District 2 Supervisor for not being at that meeting as well! Just FURIOUS!

(I will confess, it was a relief to get a new topic for those perennial complainers to yammer about. I wish I could have been at the RWQCB meeting myself, but I was out of the country.)

So, curious to know about what actually happened at that RWQCB meeting that I missed without the political spin, I have been looking daily for the minutes from that meeting. (This was at the same meeting where the CDOs were lifted from the 38 property owners.) Today I hit the jackpot!

Here is a photo of how the Water Board described that part of the meeting in their minutes:

See the minutes in person here:

http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/centralcoast/board_info/minutes/2014/sep_mins.pdf 

OR,

You can hear this part of the meeting for yourself off this link:

http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/centralcoast/board_info/agendas/2014/Sepember/item19/item19.mp3

You would never have known that it was a hair-on-fire moment from the politely cloaked froth and spittle soft-balled by the Usual Suspects at that meeting. The cloaking of course came off in the other meetings where the Usual Suspects felt more comfortable to project their true personas, finely crafted from years of rage and imagined authority. It was particularly hilarious to hear their supplications to the almighty Water Board for them step in and get this ISJ on track, helpfully offering up all sorts of regulatory sounding tools that the Water Board does not possess. These same persons cursed and vilified this very same Water Board over the Cease and Desist Orders they issued a few years back which they claimed were put in place to force residents to vote for an assessment to pay for a sewer! The overused but apt word “schizophrenic” comes to mind.

You’d have thought that the Water Board was either weeping profusely or sharpening hatchets for an attack on County offices from the Usual Suspects' interpretations on how the Water Board felt during the subsequent, other meetings. It did neither.

Water Board Section Manager Harvey Packard thought the reason given for the lack of response by the ISJ participants to the Water Board’s request for information, “confidentiality,” was a smoke screen. I have my own assessment: giving any free proprietary information in public to the Complaint Department would be tantamount to providing fire bombs for one’s own imminent destruction in a hideously painful and prolonged way.

We should have known if any update on the Los Osos basin situation was given at the Water Board's November 14-15 meeting as direction was given to staff to come back at that meeting with new information, and those audio recordings have already been posted, but I have found nothing. Nor were there any speakers at Public Comment.

Toilet to Tap for Now, Sort Of

Los Osos has been in the past, and will be again, in the who-knows-when distant future, dependent on virtually untreated, pristine groundwater that is neither over pumped nor contaminated, courtesy of our future sewer system: That is, the once-clean water we now send our nitrate-laden pee and a tincture of poop into, our Upper Aquifer water. Those constituents, and every other chemical that we put into that water by way of our septic tanks, be it of shampoo, residues of birth control pills or caffeine,* have contaminated the water, which, up until the 1970s, we used to be able to drink straight. We can’t just blow off this water source, we need to clean out the nitrates and dilute the lesser-volumed gunk, and use it again. The way this will happen is with our soon-to-be sewer plant stopping the inflow of said contaminants. Once our septic tanks are stopped, the water will slowly clear.

There are two ways that being able to use this Upper Aquifer water will occur:

Right now, the LOCSD Water Company is final testing a system that is denitrifying a portion of this upper aquifer water water and blending it with the pristine but diminishing-in-quantity of Lower Aquifer water, so that it meets all drinking water standards. I believe Golden State Water Company is either going to, or is already blending, upper aquifer water with Lower Aquifer water to stretch out the supply of the Lower Aquifer, just as the LOCSD is doing, the aquifer experiencing seawater intrusion. 

Many years from now, the lack of septic effluent going into that Upper Aquifer and the rainfall that penetrates to that level, will clean out the pollutants and that water can be used untreated, once again, for drinking.

Meanwhile, there are five key wells that are being used to test the Upper Aquifer water for its nitrate contamination factor. It is very important to test over time what is happening to the nitrate levels, in fact it is mandated in the current sewer project. 

The first testing was done in conjunctions with the Tri-W sewer project in 2002. That testing ended in 2006 when that sewer project was stopped and the CSD went bankrupt, and then the project was taken away from the CSD in 2007. So there is a gap in the record from 2007-2011 after which the County's wastewater project started up the testing again as ordered by the Regional Water Quality Control Board's Monitoring and Reporting Program, Order No. R3-2011-0001. They test more wells than the 5 used for this purpose. These five wells were chosen because they have the highest degree of sensitivity for nitrates. Any changes, up or down, will be most obvious here. A new 5-year drop of data will be available to show the nitrate trends by 2016, but they might be apparent even before then.

So for now, until we have a reliably clean water supply that will support our current population and the one at buildout if it should occur, we are going, in a somewhat circuitous way, the toilet to tap routine. Cheers!

*If in a mood to geek out, you might enjoy this report from 2006. If not, read page 20 (if opened in Acrobat) to cut to the chase:
http://www.losososcsd.org/Library/Document%20Library/UPPER%20AQUIFER%20CHARACTERIZATION.pdf

Pompeii's Sewers, Latrines, Cesspits......

Archeologists spend three days in Rome discussing Pompeii's sewer discoveries! Fishbones, goose egg shells, dates! 

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/weird-science/pompeii-sewers-reveal-how-romans-lived-dined-n248896

Then it has been recently discovered that Pompeii had upstairs toilets, just like modern homes do!

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/50459474/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/much-doo-doo-about-nothing-pompeii-had-upstairs-toilets#.VGcSTr7eYmU

There are way too many ads on this next link, but there is a brief history of toilets that are worth a click through, some types of which I have shown you in the past.

http://www.livescience.com/16710-years-gallery-world-toilets.html

I guess our old toilets will resurface someday in the dumps of the world and be a learning experience and a curiosity too, the way Pompeii's findings are for us today.  But our septic tanks will be pumped and cleaned before we either fill them with rocks or repurpose them prior to sewer hook-up. The future will be deprived of what I suspect would have been found (besides what you would expect, molded and petrified)—some plastic figurines that today's children sent on a watery voyage beneath the pee.

Well, It Isn't Just Us After All.....

Let's hope they have a better outcome than we did with our 35-year delay! They are battling over a $7.59 million project that would clean up .6 to 2.7 million gallons a day (cheap, cheap, CHEAP!!!! compared to our $183 million project for 1.2 million gallons a day ). They had a recall election to stop the project. Sound familiar? Maybe this is just to painful to read:

http://www.elkharttruth.com/hometown/elkhart/2014/11/11/Controversial-sewer-plant-project-scrapped-by-new-Ontwa-Township-board.html

Nice to Know Where It Goes

When living in a different place for a while, this sewer blogger wants to know a bit about the local sewage treatment! I found several sanitation districts for Fort Collins, Colorado! Boxelder Sanitation District, Fort Collins, Fort Collins-Loveland District, South Fort Collins Sanitation District, Cherry Hills Sanitation District, Wellington and Windsor. Some had some nifty webpages and others did not.

http://www.fclwd.com

http://www.fcgov.com/utilities/what-we-do/wastewater/treating-wastewater

http://www.fcgov.com/utilities/img/site_specific/uploads/SewerServiceAreas.pdf

http://www.fcgov.com/utilities/what-we-do/wastewater/biosolids

http://www.fcgov.com/utilities/what-we-do/wastewater/industrial-pretreatment

This is a sanitation district with oxidation ditches! Just like we will have!

http://www.boxeldersanitation.org

http://www.boxeldersanitation.org/WWTP%20Upgrade%20final%20pics.htm

http://www.boxeldersanitation.org/oxidation_ditch_tech2.htm

Not to be too incredulous about anything, but just read page 2 off this link below, first paragraph, second to the last sentence. Guess no one from Los Osos was in attendance, or the treatment plant would still be in the "discovery phase" with warring factions of "citizen wastewater experts." If this was Los Osos, the groundwater would be going putrid, the grandkids will be grandparents by the time this was resolved. Yet, four years later in this town, the plant was finished. Wow.

http://www.boxeldersanitation.org/pdf_docs/Utility%20plan/Appendix%20O%20-%20Summary%20of%20Public%20Meetings%20and%20Hearings.PDF

Fun newsletters that will no doubt hair-on-fire some readers; deceit! social engineering! manipulation!!:

http://www.boxeldersanitation.org/pdf_docs/2010-08%20Newsletter.pdf

http://www.boxeldersanitation.org/pdf_docs/2012-09%20Newsletter.pdf

For sewer geeks, you can find all sorts of fun stuff off this page:

http://www.boxeldersanitation.org/eng&design.htm

And if you want to click on the link to the pdf off this page, I am presently in the Cherry Hills District:

http://citydocs.fcgov.com/?vid=51&cmd=search&scope=doctype&dt=SS-SANITARY+SEWER&dn=Engineering&q=cherry+hills+sanitation

While Los Osos Fiddled, Seawater Intruded

Yesterday the Los Osos CSD posted their next meeting's agenda and the long awaited Seawater Intrusion Monitoring Report for Zones D and E (the lower part of the aquifer) is on that agenda. The D and E zones of our 5-level aquifer mentioned in the report are where our main well for drinking water has been pumping.  Monitoring wells are placed along a specific route to be able to calculate the movement of Seawater Intrusion (SWI) toward this drinking water well and the news is not good.

http://www.losososcsd.org/Library/2014%20Agenda%20Packet/11.13.14%20Agenda%20Packet/Agenda%20Item%2012A%202014%20Seawater%20Intrusion%20Monitoring%20Report.pdf

Zone D: The old rate of seawater intrusion was estimated to be 60 feet/year between 1985-2005. Since 2005 to the present, the new estimate is 200-250 feet of advancement per year. In 5 years, that main well could become unusable, or only useable with very expensive equipment.

Zone E: In 2013 the Palisades well was modified to not draw any water from this depth, and the SWI is fortunately no longer showing there. However, the estimated increase between 1985 and 2004 was 54 feet a year and, from 2004 to the present, it jumped to 100-125 feet a year. Good thing we stopped.

Why am I writing about this water stuff here? How is this connected to a sewer, this is a sewer blog! Well, pun intended, all of the water we have to use for everything, drinking, washing, watering our yards AND flushing, is located beneath our feet in Los Osos. The quantity of water is affected by rain or drought of course, but the quality issues, in the form of nitrate contamination (a result of flushing), increased to such a point in the 1970s that we could no longer use the water from the upper aquifer, shallow wells as we once did.* We now must rely on the lower aquifer's wells. And the lower wells are being over-pumped, so they are sucking in saltwater from the ocean, thus contaminating the water for our purposes, or as they say in the water business, "beneficial use."

Toilet flushing is only the surface reason that I am writing here.

Many deniers of the nitrate problem in our groundwater, state "the Water Board got it all wrong, we really don't need a sewer, our septic tanks are NOT the problem, the problem is really seawater intrusion!" These people have failed to connect the dots or simply do not want to believe the results of the testing done. To pretend that the nitrates are from some underground, buried forest, or from cows out in valley ag area, is just twisting your head into the Los Osos sand. 

Why are we so concerned about nitrates? If you can't use a HUGE supply of the water you have because of nitrate contamination, you are damaging another part of your supply because you are over pumping it.

So, what can fix our water problem? 

1. We are getting a sewer finally, that is one big, no HUGE, step to bringing down the nitrates. eventually. The reclaimed water going back in the ground at Broderson will take 20-30 years. The septics will be gone and no longer contaminating. Eventually, the water in the upper and lower aquifers will be fit and safe to use.

2. One idea has been importing water. But we don't want the expense of importing water, especially when drought winnows down the supply of water anywhere that we might get it. So forget that for now, hopefully forever.

3. At present, desalinating water from the ocean is hugely expensive and must go through a rigorous and time consuming permitting process from the California Coastal Commission.  So forget that for now too. Maybe someday.

The obvious answer then for now, not 30 years from now, is by using the water we do have in the most conserving and reusing ways possible. And why have we done so little about this?

There are of course no logical answers to that question. 

At least the remedies are obvious. Having the impetus to make water conservation rules, educating the public on how to abide by the rules (thereby saving water), retrofitting and replacing water wasting fixtures (saving water). The current and past sewer projects do/were going to do, this.

And how do you make this happen? MONEY!  And where have we found the money to do these projects, or tried to anyway? SEWER PROJECTS! Water conservation as well as clean-up have been the goals.

So this is where the infuriating illogic comes in. Addressing the water issues was paramount, but what happened to that sewer that could have helped?—a myriad lawsuits over the years, to the old County project, to the Tri-W project. This caused delay, delay, delay. The false reliance on Measure B, the recall, and then the bankruptcy. Delay, delay, delay. All of the endless TAC meetings and tinkering of the County's project at the Planning Commission and Coastal Commission. Delay, delay, delay. But then, for the Los Osos Sustainability Group, all of this STILL wasn't enough, a month before the County was to start digging in 2012, they wanted the project stopped, the permit pulled, until their pet water remedies were inserted into the project! What is even remotely water helpful about that, the months more tinkering that this would have taken, never mind the huge costs? Stopping a project at its start—again. Fortunately, the Coastal Commission wasn't fooled and the project started.

"We Delay, We Pay," was the old slogan to try to keep one of the sewer projects moving forward. Now it has an unhappy echo into the deep well of money that we will need for fixing the water problems we so cavalierly forgot in our rush to stop a sewer or make it "the perfect sewer." Well, for the record, we got neither. The longer we waited, the worse it all got, both the water problems and the sewer costs. In 1987 it was $48.9 million to build a sewer and is now $183 million. The water problem remedies:  $33,775,000 for no buildout, and $19,450,000 MORE for buildout, according to the Basin Plan which will be the water-fix blueprint next year.

So, be prepared to see water rate increases. Be prepared to float a bond. If the CSD and its district engineering firm is lucky and nimble on getting grants, hooray. But we have nothing but our own actions to ponder as to how we got into this precarious situation. Can we for once learn from these mistakes and move forward with our well-studied and clearly defined projects? Let's try. No, let's just DO IT.


* A nitrate removal system to make upper aquifer water useable has just been put into place and will soon begin operation. Read the LOCSD Staff report about this here:
http://www.losososcsd.org/Library/2014%20Agenda%20Packet/11.13.14%20Agenda%20Packet/Agenda%20Item%2011H%20Prop%2084%20Nitrate%20Removal%20Project.pdf

County LOWWP Update for September 2014

Read all about it! The photos are beautiful!

http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/Assets/PW/LOWWP/PM+Monthly+Update+Sept+2014.pdf

Here is a quote about the treatment plant:

After flows have increased sufficiently during the start-up phase to allow for commissioning and final testing, the contract substantial completion date is 10/27/16. 

Useful Sewer Rats

Alas, we won't have rats in the Los Osos sewer, useful or otherwise, and we possibly don't have any Kangaroo Rats left here anymore either, but it is an interesting rat story nonetheless off the link below. There is a pretty cute rat featured. Much smaller than what I saw in Brooklyn some years back. I think it is a rat model, not an actual sewer rat.

http://fbresearch.org/sewer-rats-helping-science/

Follow the link to the NY Times out of the above story for another winsome rat photo accompanying a very interesting story about deadly germs and viruses. A slightly more convincing rat photo, but I'm still not buying the photo was taken in New York, but maybe in a small town upstate? 

Scroll down on the link below to see a real looking New York rat. Or maybe don't if you are not fond of rather frightening wildlife....this one is NOT cute.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/city-vs-city/1016461-what-city-has-worst-rat-problems-2.html

Last Gasp of the CDO Issue? Nah....

Found on the Regional Water Quality Control Board's agenda for both of their November meetings, Thursday the 13 and Friday the 14:

Closed Session

5.    Ken Berry, et al. v. Central Coast Water Board, et al. (Sacramento Superior Court; CEQA Challenge to Los Osos CDOs)

http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/centralcoast/board_info/agendas/2014/nov/Agenda/agenda_nov.shtml

I suspect this is NOT the last gasp. Those angry over their CDOs should drop Mr. Berry a thank you note I suppose. You can read about CEQA here, all 425 pages of it (and this isn't even the "official" copy, but it is prettier):

http://resources.ca.gov/ceqa/docs/2014_CEQA_Statutes_and_Guidelines.pdf

Changes to Titles 19 and 8, Retrofit Ordinances on BOS Agenda 11/4/14

Items Set for Hearing

2. Introduction of an amendment to the Building and Construction Ordinance, Title 19 of the County Code, changing the requirements for retrofitting of plumbing fixtures in connection with additions, remodels and new development of residential, commercial and other structures within the Los Osos Groundwater Basin. Hearing date set for November 25, 2014. District 2.

http://agenda.slocounty.ca.gov/agenda/sanluisobispo/Proposal.html?select=3964

Of interest to certain vacant lot owners off the staff report found on the above link:

4. Allow a one-time transfer of previously-issued water conservation certificates from a vacant PZ lot to a vacant lot outside of the PZ. 

 Since the inception of the retrofit-to-build program in 2008, 10 of the 27 water conservation certificates have been issued to vacant properties in the PZ. Property owners stated that the primary reason for obtaining certificates was to ensure that they have water for their vacant lots at the time the wastewater project is completed. Some property owners have expressed concern that the certificates will not be valid in the future on PZ lots. Additionally, with the adoption of the Basin Management Plan, lots in the PZ will benefit from supplemental water through implementation of the Basin Management Plan and may not need a water conservation certificate. The proposed amendments give these property owners the option of a one-time transfer of a previously-issued water conservation certificate to a specific property or land use permit outside of the PZ until January 1, 2019. These certificates represent completed retrofit work that has saved water but has not yet been applied toward a new building permit. 

3. Introduction of an amendment to the Health and Sanitation Ordinance, Title 8 of the County Code, changing the requirements for sellers of real property within the Los Osos Groundwater Basin to retrofit plumbing fixtures with water-efficient fixtures at time of sale. Hearing date set for November 25, 2014. District 2. 

http://agenda.slocounty.ca.gov/agenda/sanluisobispo/Proposal.html?select=3961

Here is a  quote from both Items 2 and 3 that does not affect most homes:

Due to complaints, mainly health and safety related, that staff has received about waterless urinals, staff recommends requiring that urinals in commercial structures use no more than 1.0 gallons per flush instead of requiring waterless urinals. 

Who knew? Well, best to read the stuff off the links if you are a vacant lot owner who has obtained enough water credits to build once the PZ has been un-PZed and the Basin Plan finalized.

Sewage Politics

I won't pretend to not be concerned about the future of the LOCSD, my husband is a candidate this election cycle and I was one myself back in 2006. I have been blogging about things sewer and the LOCSD since 2006. But a FALSE narrative has been circulating in the community about a certain candidate's forum which was held October 10 at the South Bay Community Center. It was organized by Keith Swanson. 

I can't speak for any candidate, attendees or not, but I can speak on the topic of why the program has not aired on Channel 20. There are a lot of garbage-y reasons floating around regarding this this, slamming incumbent candidate directors and the LOCSD's General Manager. Pure political BUNK. There is a legal reason preventing airing the forum. You probably already know that the office of Director for LOCSD is non-partisan.

Last night at the Emergency Services Advisory Committee, Director Michael Wright gave the background on why it was not aired.

The gist was this: The proposal to air the show came into the LOCSD office to the General Manager Kathy Kivley. She has not been in the District long enough to go through an election cycle, but knew when you don't know something, you look up what the rules are. She found a rule on the District's books that the LOCSD itself can't be involved in sponsoring something that involves a political party. The Grass Roots Dems supplied a moderator, and they are registered as an actual political pac. Other forums have used the non-political League of Women Voters to moderate. Of course this decision was not made without consulting LOCSD legal counsel Mike Seitz.

The Board can agendize this issue, discuss it and even modify the rule, but as it stands now, it is up to the Directors to do something, NOT staff, and it needs to go onto a LOCSD meeting agenda. So, established legal principles and binding agreements were honored. As they should be.

Footnote: What inspired me in part to write this entry was an inaccurate and purely speculative letter in the Bay News, "Dirty Politics in Los Osos," by Keith Swanson's Campaign Treasurer, Jerri Walsh. 

Upon further digging on this topic, and remembering event organizer Mr. Swanson's E-mail early on to the candidates mentioning co-sponsorship by the Grass Roots Dems (and that was mentioned again at the Emergency Services Committee meeting on Wednesday night), it would seem that the FPPC deems that when a partisan group sponsors (co-sponsors, in this case) an event, unless the candidates themselves pay for this event (which they DID NOT), this constitutes a contribution to a candidate. The CSD is not a partisan entity and can't make contributions to partisan groups, which airing the event would be. Sorry Mr. Swanson, but those are the rules.

I wonder why the League of Women Voters was not contacted, or the Latino Outreach Council? Oh wait, Mr. Swanson mentioned it himself, those groups DON'T sponsor events like this—they only MODERATE them!

I guess getting this done was very important to Mr. Swanson and he should be glad anyone with a computer can access the event on YouTube, which actually reaches more households than cable TV service's Channel 20. But in getting so nasty as he did at the ESAC meeting and on his recent appearance on Dave Congalton's radio show, he erased any goodwill he may have garnered from his participation in the forum and by the ESAC meeting participants. He has unfortunately also pointed out how little he knows on FPPC rules which all candidates must abide by. If his unprofessional and rude treatment of staff now, in this case Ms. Kivley, who must thread the needle between rules and the instructions from the Board, is anything like his manner toward staff if elected, good luck to all in our CSD office.