Wastewater in Cheery Colors

This doesn't quite look right.......it can't be from humans.....

Septic Hell

Well! An article coming in from a news feed, which in the avalanche of E-mail I get, I oddly chanced to open on my phone days ago (most of these go unopened, depending on the stuff-to-do load), the link to which I almost lost six times, has turned into a delightful discovery! Someone as sewer crazed as I, but unfortunately trapped in that special hell of septic tanks run amok, has written about it, and in a most entertaining way! This person lives in Stinson Beach.

Stinson Beach, a pricy, swanky community north of San Francisco, actually isn't so different from Los Osos. Tidal flats, off the beaten path, some parts beautifully fixed up, others not so much....I just took a Google Earth drive through it. It is greener. But not more beautiful. They built on their sandpit and ours is pristine. And Montaña de Oro is so breathtaking.... I could go on, but all two of you readers already know about that I'd bet.

Take a look at these blog quotes about Stinson Beach and see if you see any similarities to Los Osos:

“……a deliberate decision by the community of Stinson Beach to control population growth by declining to modernise their system of waste disposal.” 

“The simple answer is that through the process of community meetings and a bond vote in a special election, the residents of Stinson Beach rejected over 10 different sewer plans and chose the alternative of onsite systems.” 

"… which also happens to be a place where the sandy soil makes for an operating environment not ideal for septic systems – and increases the likelihood that they will fail?" *** (I know, I know, WE have MAGIC sand, not that ordinary kind! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!!)

http://californiacoastdweller.com/a-new-page-that-does-not-move/ 

Do have a look at these particularly entertaining posts!

http://californiacoastdweller.com/2015/04/30/1668/

http://californiacoastdweller.com/2015/03/30/1596/

Catch them all here:

http://californiacoastdweller.com/tag/stinson-beach-septic-problems/

Recent improvements to the public beach part of Stinson are described here:

http://www.ptreyeslight.com/article/golden-gate-hears-concerns-over-stinson-beach-septic-overhaul

A Stanford Study can be found here:

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2010/may/septic-wastewater-sea-052010.html

The colossal question is—why is their Regional Water Quality Control Board AND the Coastal Commission not all over them they way that they were with us? Maybe because they are only polluting the ocean, and we.....wee wee right into our water supply which sits below our septic tanks? But then, they have a population of a mere 632....and we a robust 14,200.

I checked out their water supply and I found that their situation is quite a bit different from ours:

The Stinson Beach water supply is provided by two types of sources: surface water and ground water. Surface water is supplied by the Fitzhenry, Black Rock, and Stinson Gulch Creeks. Ground water is supplied by Steep Ravine, Alder Grove, Ranch, and Highlands Wells, which operate intermittently. The collected raw water is piped to the Laurel Treatment Facility. The water is then processed by our New Pall Membrane Filters which consist of two parallel units, each rated at 100 gallons per minute. Sodium hypochlorite (chlorine) is added after filtration for disinfection purposes.

http://stinson-beach-cwd.dst.ca.us/quality.html 

Happy Reading!!

Sex Changing Fish - Old Wastewater Worry - New Solution

Here is a fun topic to mull over - sex changing fish! Anyway, there is a newly proposed antidote - removing the hormonal contaminants in recycled wastewater. You can read about it here:

http://www.wateronline.com/doc/sex-changing-fish-inspire-new-method-of-wastewater-treatment-0001?sectionCode=NewsFeaturedItem&templateCode=Single&user=2124006&source=nl:43369&utm_source=et_10759433&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=WOL_2015-07-07&utm_term=8B6151B5-326C-4D25-A47F-7FA24BE85D17&utm_content=Sex-Changing%2bFish%2bInspire%2bNew%2bMethod%2bOf%2bWastewater%2bTreatment

Tribune Article on LWV's Civility Mission

I was pleasantly surprised to see the Trib reporting on the issue of civility brought forth by the SLO County League of Women Voters!  (Go Marilee Hyman! Someone who always had good observations to offer when she was on the WRAC - Water Resources Advisory Committee.) The article was front page, above the fold in the paper issue, appropriate for a pre-July 4 comment on democracy. I'm very glad to see the LWV bring this issue to the forefront and the Trib's respect for this topic; it is much needed. Hopefully, if successful at the highest level, the BOS's chambers, it will filter down to the smaller government venues as well. 

While the high dudgeon days of the anti-sewer nuts are mostly over, the residual stench of poor manners in public will still raise its hideous head, just vocalizing now on other issues. This much anger might be a mental issue, but it is also just a case of these people's feelings of "personal exceptionalism" and entitlement, coupled with rotten manners, that causes the problems, not the ideas put forth. They have shot themselves in the foot more than once, but the lesson seems not to have left the foot to travel to the brain. Yes, altering bad behavior is difficult, but not unheard of or impossible to achieve.

The Trib reporters have been in the Board of Supe's chambers often enough to see how certain members of the public seem to want to obstruct civil discourse when things are not going their way by shouting out from the back of the room or using foul words or topics at the podium. I hope when this happens, that they will report the conditions in the room, not just the general issues spoken about, sweeping the actual dirt under the front row seats and out of sight. That dirt needs exposure for actual cleansing.

The TV audience never quite gets to see or really hear what caused the chairperson to gavel down the unseen, unheard ruckus, often assuming it is some egomaniacal whim of the chairperson to stop proceedings, thereby igniting the assumption that free speech is being thwarted and threatened, when in fact, stopping bad behavior is necessary to allow free speech for everyone, not just those who yell the loudest, and who are intimidating those fearful of being yelled at for speaking up on their ideas. Discourse should not be attenuated by fear; that is the opposite of free speech. Democracy demands free speech.

So, while slightly off the sewer issue, this topic seemed worthy of a posting, especially since the sewer is not yet operational until 2016, and there are unassigned recycled wastewater amounts still to be allotted somewhere. Not to mention the crabbing on the money not yet spent on conservation which still bring out the angry words. There will be fighting over water to come; let's make it a fair and civil fight.

(I wanted to get whisky in the paragraph above, as we are in the middle of an awful drought and the old saw about water's for fightin' and all, but without ice—which IS water, just immobilized—I can't. Happy July 4—plus beer is a better beverage for this occasion anyway.)

Read the Trib article here:
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2015/07/02/3706421_league-of-women-voters-civil-discourse.html?rh=1