Staging Area - Forlorn!

It looks so empty now. The staging area, once filled with piles of green pipes and tons of equipment is scraped and barren.

Lazy Sewer Reporting

Yes, this should have been posted last Friday. Oh well. Here it is now:

I attended LOCAC on Thursday, July 24, 2014. Sewer stuff was discussed when questions were asked of our District 2 Supervisor, Bruce Gibson. (Q and As below are paraphrased.)

Question: Has there been any movement on converting our septics to cisterns for rain water?

Supe BG: It is a permitting issue. County Planner Kerry Brown may work on consolidating the permitting process to one permit and one inspection. The County will try to make it as low cost as possible, maybe even free. Planning and Public Works are in discussion on this right now.

Question: Some people have already put in their laterals but they are not connected. What happens next?

Supe BG: It will need to be videoed. We are discouraging the "over achievers" on doing this now. There will be a massive outreach and a place to drop in to talk about what to do, or you can come to South Bay Community Center weekly or bi-weekly.

Part of Mr. Gibson's report to LOCAC was that ARB has substantially completed their part of the trenching. Their punch list is now under 50. Public Works, in addition to finalizing the remedial treatment for the battered streets, says the actual work will wait until the warranty period on the trench work has expired. That way, if any problems with the trench work arise, they will be under ARB's warranty and ARB will need to fix those problems. The treatment plant is under construction and no issues have arisen there (according to John Waddell, Project Manager).

Also mentioned was financing for laterals. It will likely be a low-interest loan or grants. There are three or four different programs being looked at for an income-tested basis. This might start mid-2015.

There was an interesting discussion on pot-growing here in Los Osos, but that was not sewer-related, so won't be reported here. (You should have been there!)

The Streets of Los Osos

I attended Bruce Gibson's office hours today at Sea Pines and the topic of street restoration came up. Yes, restoration is upcoming early next year! All of the streets are being evaluated now as to what type of restoration they will get, slurry seal all the way to a new lift of asphalt, and that assessment will be finished later this year. The County's road fund and the project will both contribute funds to this project.

Yayyyy-y-y-y-y!!!

San Francisco's Sewage

What is a trip to San Francisco without wastewater reporting when you have a sewer blog? I kept hoping for at least a manhole cover to show you as I was walking along the streets downtown. But all I saw without getting run over in traffic was PG & E manhole covers. Most disappointing.

I had better luck on the sewer front as we were driving out of town to go home. On the Great Highway, there are two sewage-related buildings. First I saw a Pump Station—the Westside Pump Station. Here is a shot of it by Ben Niehaus. I was driving, bummer, no shot for me! His has better weather than mine would have had however.

Next, just beyond this, was the Oceanside Treatment Plant! What a bonanza, yet I had to drive right past them both! Bummer!

So I googled them when I got home. Here is a great article by Mark Lukach, “Poop Parade: Behind the Scenes of the Oceanside Treatment Plant.”

http://oceanbeachbulletin.com/2011/07/11/the-poop-parade-behind-the-scenes-of-the-oceanside-treatment-plant/

You might want to get an overview of San Francisco’s entire sewage picture, so I have provided some fun links.

San Francisco Sewer System Master Plan as of 2010:

http://www.sfwater.org/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=723

Appendix H of said plan (CSD stands for “Combined Sewer Discharge - sewer and storm waters):

http://sfwater.org/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=664

Appendix I of that plan - S.F. Pump stations:

http://sfwater.org/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=661

Westside Pump Station map:

http://wikimapia.org/4124921/Westside-Pump-Station

Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant map:

http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=37.747440&lon=-122.499619&z=14&m=b&show=/1771029/Oceanside-Water-Pollution-Control-Plant

But even cooler is this map, that shows both plants, plus a whole lot more:

http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=37.734807&lon=-122.506485&z=19&m=b

Art, apparently at the Westside Pump Station!

http://www.artandarchitecture-sf.com/earth-air-sea.html

Coolest of all are the TOURS!!! Access the information off this link:

http://sfwater.org/index.aspx?page=95

I will try to better coordinate my next trip north.

Major Metropolitan Street Potty

San Francisco! Wish I'd had the time to go in to see what it was like!

The Art of........

What was Rodin thinking? 

Art, especially GREAT art, is subject to interpretation. 

Click image for larger size.

Electric Trench

Today, on Paso Robles, between 17th and 18th Streets, a trench was dug for an electrical connection for the pump station.

Above is the trench, below is the West Paso Pump Station on the Walker property, Walker Ditch being off to the left, past the "No Idling" sign.

If you want to know more about pump stations, check out the links below!

http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/Assets/PW/Design+Division/300448.08.01.PS.2A.pdf

http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/Assets/PW/Design+Division/300448.08.01.PS.1A.pdf

http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/PW/LOWWP/DOCS/Current_Documents/300448_08_01_PS.htm

Stuck in Denver

The next 8 hours will be spent here in Denver. At the airport. So instead of whining about the missed flight, I may as well make lemonade out of lemons. Or clean water out of sewage, a better analogy for this blog. 

Denver sewage appears to be so complicated that it is opaque. Not much info on the main sewage collection area. However, the Metro Area Water Reclamation District is building a new facility and they had a web page with the public meeting materials. I thought - hey, let's see how many hundreds of links there would be for that sewer! Here is the link so you can see too:

http://www.metrowastewater.com/know/NTP/Pages/communitymeeting.aspx

Three. They have three. And the sewer will be built in 2016! What's wrong with these people!!!!! Don't they know that they can delay these things for decades and pay millions more? They should hire someone from Los Osos to show them how this is REALLY done.

Anyway, if you want to see the Denver page for what looks to be the main city and county stuff, here it is:

www.denvergov.org/Default.aspx?alias=www.denvergov.org/wastewatermanagement

So little drama, such a pity.

Omaha Sewer Facts!

Omaha has a sewer service population of 600,000 and has a sewer system that handles raw sewage, a combo of sewage and storm water, and one for storm water alone, the last of which does not concern us here! Apparently that combo sewer can cause problems, so those combo sewer lines are getting scheduled to be replaced by two separate pipes, one for sewage and one for storm water.

Oddly, I ran into an example of that at the Lauritzen Gardens, the city's botanical garden. Read the text on the signs below this group picture (click image for the large size). Combo sewer really are on their way out. 

I suspect these green pipes are sewer-related air intakes for the sewer piping below in the street in downtown Omaha, but could not find confirmation anywhere.

Now, of much more interest is this place, the Harney Street Force Main Building:

It is right on the banks of the Missouri River. Just stumbled on it by accident because since I was in Omaha, I had to see the Missouri River. And there this sewage-related thing was. It took forever to find anything online on this place. But I did find this document (I was too stingy to pay for anything but the cheapo hotel internet connection, so maybe your download to view won't be as awful as mine was):

http://bidding.oscarrenda.com/misc.%20projects/Omaha,%20NE/South%20Interceptor/Supplemental/2008%2008%2015%20-%20Emergency%20Response%20Plan%20To%20Address%20a%20Failure%20of%20the%20South%20Interceptor%20Force%20Main.pdf

Sewage spill possibilities and remedies are outlined. This is a city that has flooded before. It is next to a major river. The photos of pump stations and levees are at the end.

There just doesn't seem to be that much on Omaha's sanitation system, a large old city. It has less historical sewer stuff than Los Osos by far. Here is what I found more generally:

http://www.cityofomaha.org/pw/index.php/residents2/sewer/sewer-system

http://omahacso.com/files/4013/6604/9848/OmahaLTCP_Executive_Summary.pdf

And there are these three plants:

Missouri River Wastewater Treatment Plant:

http://www.cityofomaha.org/pw/index.php/residents2/sewer/missouri-river-wastewater-treatment-plant

http://omahacso.com/projects/moriverwwtp

http://www.cityofomaha.org/pw/index.php/residents2/sewer/sewer-insepections-and-studies

http://www.omaha.com/news/a-less-smelly-south-omaha-new-system-is-aimed-at/article_b9b55e16-009c-565f-af6a-552a6344fa02.html

Papillion Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant:

http://www.cityofomaha.org/pw/index.php/residents2/sewer/papillion-creek-wastewater-treatment-plant

Elkhorn Wastewater Treatment Plant: - couldn't find zip on it, maybe this is why:

http://dataomaha.com/salaries/omaha/plant-ops-elkhorn

Too dinky.

However, if in need, Omaha can give you some sewer back-up help:

Backwater Prevention Assistance Program 

The City of Omaha Backwater Prevention Assistance Program is one of the City of Omaha's solutions to minimize sewer backups in homes and businesses situated in combined sewer neighborhoods that are not immediately scheduled for a sewer separation under the City of Omaha CSO Control Program. If eligible, a "Backwater Valve" will be installed by a licensed plumber in the home/business to prevent future wet-weather related basement back-ups. For more information, call (402) 444-5332 and indicate that you are inquiring about the City of Omaha's Backwater Prevention Assistance Program.

Amazing how much sewage-related stuff one can find roaming around a city without even looking for it!

Candy Gone So Very, Very Wrong,

Toilet plunger sour apple candy. Eeeeuuuuuuu-u-uu-u-u-u-u-u!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdogWWkL6tI

Toilet candy....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKbldTkeLsE

Flush & Forget at 39,000 Feet!

It was a lovely day up in the air. And I was sitting there looking at clouds. I would show you on this post, but the file is too large to embed here on blogger, so here is the link to myYouTube video.:

http://youtu.be/_8VQmGS07Iw

Then I had the idea to video a different sort of flush-and-forget—not the kind we will have in out own abodes in 2016, but a more fluid and vacuumy one, one that is alive and in action during the time and space continuum of flight! Plus, there is a really unnatural blue hue involved in the water doing the flushing; toilet bowl cleaner on steroids, more or less. I will not describe the aroma of that here.

The toilet seemed to take an awfully long time to flush too. Not water wise, but non-discriminatory, given that it didn't know the content. Maybe these toilets will eventually evolve into the dual flush model found in politically correct airports in drought areas.

http://youtu.be/ZAHxOy5-mpk

Fortunately, most of the time none of this stuff exits the plane while in the air. However, I have been on a plane when there was just one flush too many, and that little room was tagged with an off limits sign.

You can visit this page below to get a good description as to where the outgo goes, and where it sometimes goes accidentally, plus some other airborne sewage history! Note the words "blue ice."

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2012/02/long_island_couple_pelted_with_poo_where_do_airplanes_dump_their_waste_.html

More fun facts too off of this link!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_lavatory

Sewer Opposites Battle on Tribune

The County's sewer project is humming right along, but as with anything sewer in Los Osos, or in this case, tangentially sewer, the dissing by the project's detractors never ends. I always try to correct sewer mis-information wherever I find it. See the link below:

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2014/07/07/3142907/slo-mulls-rules-for-well-on-prado.html?fb_comment_id=fbc_689822584426292_689964614412089_689964614412089#f1f12101d

The Honeymooners

Most of you are too young to know about a TV show that played last century in the mid-50s. Sad to say, I recall this show well and not from Hulu or something. 

I was there sitting cross-legged in T-shirt, shrug and my pedal-pushers in front of that large wooden box standing on legs with a curved glass screen set in the front of it that only displayed a sometimes fuzzy black and white image, depending on the weather.  A 1/2" wide flat, brown cable snaked out from the back of the set through a hole in the exterior wall up to the antenna anchored to the roof. This is what brought the picture into the house from the TV waves zipping through the L.A. smog. 

The Honeymooners was one of many great shows in semi-early TV and Ed Norton was ranked number 20 on a list of 50 of all time best TV characters by TV Guide in 1999.

I only bring all of this up because one of the characters,  Ed Norton (played by Art Carney) was a sewer worker (for 17 years) and he had some pretty memorable quotes, which can be found on this link.

http://www.sewerhistory.org/misc/honey.htm

The show ran from October 1, 1955 to September 22. 1956. Ed worked in the New York Sewer Department and said that he was, "Sub-supervisor in the sub-division of the department of sub-terranian sanitation, I just keep things moving along."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY_q_dlOCDU

Take a look. Ed gets fired from his sewer job!

In STEP With The Supremes!

No, STEP-ing with SCOTUS—not dancing with the musical group The Supremes, although that would be fun! Hey! Everyone has to deal with a sewer in their lives it appears, not just the residents of the Prohibition Zone in Los Osos!

Here is just the first page to the document found at the link below:

I was noodling around the Internet on my phone, bored, waiting for some appointment or other, and I found a case in 2012 that was a sewer question actually decided by the U.S. Supreme Court! Naturally, it was a sewer funding fight based on equal protections to taxpayers! On June 4, 2012, the Supremes ruled in favor of the city of Indianapolis and against 31 Northern Estates residents.

Indianapolis was requiring that the people in this neighborhood abandon their septic tanks and hook up to a sewer that had a line now going by their properties. There were two sorts of payment plans when the project began; you could pay the entire $9,278 up front or you could pay incremental amounts over 30, 20 years, or 10 years.

In any case, the city changed its method of funding (from the Barrett Law*) to one called STEP, the Septic Tank Elimination Program, which financed projects like this partially by selling bonds, which lowered the cost to the individual to hook up to the sewer. This also came with much less administrative work, where monthly payments as low as $25 would drag on for as long as 30 years. Those who paid the sewer assessment in full would not be getting a refund, as opposed to those who paid as little as $309.57, whose debt for the rest was forgiven. Unfair!

The city's argument of administrative convenience and cost, trumped the homeowner's claim of unfairness. The Supreme Court explained that there needed to only be a plausible policy reason to agree with the city.

Read further:

http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/news/20125832.htm

http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/11pdf/11-161.pdf

It would seem that the Supreme Court does not have the tools to get down into the weeds of local government. The city spent about $200,000 to defend itself (cheap by Los Osos lawsuit standards!) and I could not find how much the neighborhood spent in taking this to the Supremes. It was probably just a whole lot cheaper just to eat the $9, 278, instead of paying that amount, PLUS the legal costs. But logic does not apply to emotion-filled grievances here in Los Osos or, apparently, in Indianapolis either! And gambling seems to be an inborn response in hopes of better outcomes.

* Indiana's Barrett Law - the total cost of a project is divided up equally among those receiving the benefits.

Sewer Featured in Flick

Went to the Palm Theater in SLO last Sunday to see a special screening of a FILM (to be differentiated from a movie).

The Last Wave (Black Rain, U.S. title) was released in 1977 and was directed by Peter Weir. I won't spoil the plot if you haven't seen it (it IS well worth seeing, a short review can be found at this link). However, this being a sewer blog, this must be reported! A sewer in Sydney, Australia, gets featured as a gateway to a subterranean otherworldly place. The capture below simply does not do it justice, it's a pretty cool sewer. See it for yourself!

If you have Hulu Plus, you can watch it here:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/237124
Watch the trailer there, but a better version is here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004D4Q9CW/ref=atv_feed_catalog?tag=imdb-amazonvideo-20

May 2014 Project Update!

Here is a link to the latest project update! Great progress!! Click this LINK to read the report!

On 16th! Some Action!

Sewer-wise, it has been dullsville of late. Until it is time to hook-up to the pipes coming out of our houses to the pipes to the treatment plant out of town, there is not much to amuse or ponder. The pipes are in the street and the generator and pump station buildings are going up quietly. You can't see anything of the treatment plant from the road.

However, two days ago, a truck with three men rolled up to the manhole down the street. The cover was pried off, then the man in the white hazmat outfit reached down inside, smoothing some edges or other and adding some tape. They were all very nice and explained that they were sealing the manhole covers. I must say, the inside was as sparkly white as Jonah Hill's fake teeth in "Wolf of Wall Street!" That can't last, expect the Austin Powers look of ghastly dentition after a few seasons, but it is a nice way to start!