Phase 2 Lateral Workshop!

Off of the County's website:

"June 6, 2016: A sewer lateral connection workshop for property owners in the Phase 2 connection area will be held on June 6, 2016 at the South Bay Community Center.  There will be 2 sessions held: 4:30 pm and 6:00 pm."

Monarch Grove Sewer News At The Coastal Commission

Have a look - this was on the Wednesday May 11 agenda:

http://documents.coastal.ca.gov/reports/2016/5/w19a-5-2016.pdf

You can find a video of the meeting here:

http://www.cal-span.org/media.php?folder[]=CCC

Los Osos Growth (Sewer Related)

Off the Board of Supervisors Agenda for May 17, 2016:

Hearings:

21. Hearing to consider an amendment to the Growth Management Ordinance, Title 26 of the County Code, to update the fiscal year references for the maximum number of new dwelling units allowed for the Nipomo Mesa area for FY 2016-17 and extension of the allocation waiting list for Los Osos; exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Districts 2 and 4. 

The relevant documents are off of this link:
http://agenda.slocounty.ca.gov/agenda/sanluisobispo/Proposal.html?select=5953

The relevant wordage for us in Los Osos is this:

"Section 26.01.070, k. (1) (c) - On May 21, 2013 (Ordinance No. 3241) the Board of Supervisors adopted the current text regarding the Los Osos allocation waiting list. At that time 2016 was an estimated completion date for the community sewer system. The proposed text changes state 'All deferred allocations will be retained on the waiting list for Los Osos through June 30, 20169, at which time all unused allocations will be considered expired.'

"Why the above text is proposed for change: The Los Osos Wastewater project cannot serve vacant parcels until the County amends the Estero Area Plan – Los Osos Urban Area (now referred to as the Los Osos Community Plan) to incorporate the following: a sustainable buildout target that indicates that there is water available to support such development (buildout) without impacts to wetlands and habitats; and a Community-wide Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) for the long-term preservation of sensitive habitats. The County is currently working on the Los Osos Community Plan and the Community-wide HCP. The Los Osos Groundwater Basin Management Plan (BMP) was approved on October 14, 2015. The BMP still needs to be funded and implemented. Although the County is working on the Los Osos Community Plan and the HCP, until the BMP is funded and implemented, new development will not be able to occur. Therefore, a revised date of June 30, 2019 is proposed which extends the Los Osos allocation waiting list beyond June 30, 2016 and provides additional time for completion of the Los Osos Community Plan, the Community-wide HCP, as well as a funded and implemented BMP. "

Sewer Tours!!

May 5, 2016: The Los Osos Water Recycling Facility is now open for tours every Wednesday at 10:00AM! Individuals or groups are welcome. Please RSVP and find additional information here. 

(Which reminds me, I have not done part II of my sewer tour post! [Tomorrow!])

Wrong Stuff Down The Wrong Pipe!

Neil Farrel of the Tolosa Press explains:

http://tolosapressnews.com/first-hiccups-community-sewer/

It is really bad and costing the project money. If you see any contractor doing this, write down the name and contact the County at this E-mail address:

lowwp@co.slo.ca.us

Deluxe Sewer Tour, Part 1

The sewer tour was fascinating! 

Wednesday, April 27, 2016, I signed up to take a tour of our rather gorgeous new sewer. I know that sounds...off. But it is not! Everthing is super, super clean and sparkly, and if you are any sort of a gear head, or someone into biological processes, or have an appreciation of modern farm architecture, this is the tour for you! You do have to make an appointment, which you can do by calling Danielle at 528-3030. Tours are, at the moment, being scheduled for Wednesdays and will probably be in the moring to avoid the afternoon wind. The group is kept small - there were as I recall, seven of us. It is so much better for hearing all that our tour guide told us and to be able to ask questions. It lasted about an hour, and wear layers, and of course comfy shoes, although not that much walking was involved. They do need a minumum amount of people to do the tour however.

Park on the property, right near the Administration Building, which was the first stop. No need to park at the cemetery! (As always, click on the images to see the larger versions.)

Trevor was our tour guide (standing, on the left.) We are in the conference room. 

Below is the hallway in the building, the clerestory windows are beautiful.

The plant operators are working on getting the biology right. There is not enough water there to get the cleaned up water to tertiary quality yet; they had 28,000 gallons swirling around in the oxidation ditch last Wednesday, and the week before it was 15,000; it will be more still when you read this - and this place is at work 24/7/365 - no time off. 

Where did all that water come from as hook-ups can only go so fast and we area all taking shorter showers? The Pismo Beach Wastewater Treatment Facility! Multiple truckloads of "stuff" was brought up here and either dumped in the oxidation ditch, or maybe it went throught the headworks first, I forgot to ask.

 Let's visit the lab. Down the hallway and on the left.

There was a nifty chart showing the kinds of bugs found in sludge and wastewater.

We got to see some larger biological units swimming around in a sample of well water near Baywood. I'm so glad I am not getting water from this well. Copepods. You really don't want moving chunks in your drinking water.

They were swimming like mad in the beaker, not very water ballet-like, but more like free verse poetry, kind of all over the place. And nothing smelled bad. Wish now that I had shot a video. Copepod images.

Not exactly related, but the team was happy about Daisy Hill getting hooked up as the bigger flows helps. That day they were waiting for the spike to indicate that Bayridge had hooked up, Now when this plant is up and runnng, 33 acre feet a year will be returned to Bayridge to be disbursed at two different places. I'm not sure if that is what is coming out of there though, and to break down what that means as input on a daily basis, is beyond my math capabilities at 1:19 a.m., or at any time at this point in my life. Were I high school aged, I could have told you. Maybe this has happened to you too.

We then looked into a microscope at even tinier bugs which eat the even tinier bugs which is the process for cleaning the water up of the bad stuff. I will have to provide a sketch.

These guys were from the "mixed liquor." Not exactly a Tequila Sunrise however.  No way to photograph him, and he was transparent. Winsome, I'd say; would make a cute stuffed animal. And yes, they do make stuffed animals of cells like this. These are the indicator organisms that lets you know nitrification and denitrification is happening. The microscope was not a 20,000x or whatever, to show those really teensy ones.

Next, on to the Maintenance Building. This is where if it breaks, it gets fixed.

Next stop, Headworks.

I have no idea what this is below. But it looks good in a sci-fi sort of way.

The headworks remove  the rags and spoons and wood and whatever else does not squish from the flushed stuff. These items are washed, the bacteria saved, the stuff compacted and sent to the landfill. This is not a formal source for biology however.

OK, end of Part I. As soon as I can, I will finish the tour. There are many fun steps ahead!