Giant Poop Creatures (And More)!

New find on the internet!

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2533074/russian-artist-sinks-to-new-low-by-making-sculptures-out-of-poo-to-celebrate-the-year-of-the-rooster/

New Times Article - Sewer Discount 4 Low Income

This will be a bonus for some - read the New Times article off this link:
https://www.newtimesslo.com/sanluisobispo/county-opens-los-osos-sewer-service-discount-program/Content?oid=4010093

Cuban Sewers

Where do I go when I want to find out some info quickly? Wikipedia!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_supply_and_sanitation_in_Cuba#Wastewater_treatment

Wastewater treatment

According to a 2006 report by the “Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba” to the US President, there are only five wastewater treatment plants in Cuba, and all of them are “inoperative”. They provide “some degree of treatment” to only four percent of collected wastewater, the remainder being discharged without treatment.

I was in Cuba recently, but only spent time in Havana or on a bus, (or in the Cienfuegos Bay, which is another story, although I did also visit the Bay of Pigs), so the manhole cover images I bring you below are all from Havana. Click the link to a map of Havana. I wish I could ID where each cover came from, but I can only generally say that they came from old town Havana. I did not know exactly where I was most of the time. Also, I did not see or smell anything untoward, so maybe it was the right season (no rain) or things have been upgraded:

https://moon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/01_01_Havana.jpg

The link directly below is a sewer disaster for your reading—well, not "pleasure," that's for sure. Hold your nose. I wasn't in Los Osos during the floods in 1995-96 where sewage emerged from the flooded underground and septic tanks popped up out of the ground, but this sounds baaaaaaddddd:
http://ens-newswire.com/2012/10/03/sewage-troubles-in-havana/

Perhaps it is understandable that the sewers are a bit balky, considering they were commissioned to be built around 1908 (actually built in 1915). Sources:

The Organic Municipal Law Of Cuba. You can get the free E-book off of this link: https://books.google.com/books?id=AoUVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA76&lpg=PA76&dq=sewers+in+cuba&source=bl&ots=t7mRwIc6gI&sig=8BTfGgUVEvg2gR1tZ97pGVFMWsA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjfwLrBsbjXAhUE5GMKHcUVDlwQ6AEIYTAL#v=onepage&q=sewers%20in%20cuba&f=false

http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/cuba/pollution.htm

Here is an interesting article on recent sewage problems:
https://translatingcuba.com/the-sewer-waters-phantom-truck-gladys-linares-hemosoido/

Well, happy reading on all of that!

On the ground—literally—in Havana, are my manhole captures. I can't be certain they are all for sewers, but the ones labeled "alcantarilla" most likely are. (If you click on each image, you can enlarge it, BTW.)

For the curious, I did take photos of things other than manhole covers, and I thought I might include a typical view from a street, but I guess I have maxed out my upload capabilities for a Blogspot post, I can't get anymore photos to upload.

Tame Sewer-Related YouTube Episodes

I was randomly watching TV tonight and happened upon the Mythbusters show. I thought I had recalled one of their programs from years past dealing with a sewer. What I found looking online to try to refresh my memory brought up the first two videos below. 

But this is not at all what I remembered! Then I realized the show was called "Dirty Jobs" and found you have to pay Amazon to watch it. Oh well, watching the two parts to blasting manhole covers in the air for free is OK, and I did find the cool videos of unclogging sewer lines in: Denton, Texas; Edina, Minnesota; Los Angeles, California.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DokeJj0pxPw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JrCYYLHQPY

Denton, Texas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xdoqcSOixs

Edina, Minnesota.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUyYd8T5jy4

Los Angeles, California.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fewPbl0k9VA

New Funds For Hook-Ups Up Hinge On Checkbook

UPDATE! Great news! The LOCSD passed the resolution tonight - those in need will get their lateral money. I don't know how long it takes to set up the account though, and real contractor bids will be needed by the applicants, so call the District office 805 528-9370 for more information. Penalties for not hooking up are apparently around the corner, so this really is here in the nick of time! There is around $139,000 left, so if you want to be part of figuring out ways to help people out with the rest of it, attend the Finance Committee meetings. Info for date and time will be posted on the LOCSD website.) 

There were funds gathered years ago by friends of low-income folks to be administered by the LOCSD to help with the sewer costs for the plant that was to be built back in the early 2000s (and delayed numerous times by lawsuits). That sewer project was stopped in 2005 and in the fallout from that, these funds went into a back burner Community Foundation savings account. This money was safe from being raided by the board that bankrupted the LOCSD. This money was sort of left to languish until the LOCSD posted this on their website:

The link to the live page is here (I am reposting this from an earlier post).

Now these funds are in another position. They need an OK from the LOCSD board to acquire a bank account and checkbook to disburse them. As with anything in Los Osos sewer-land, I do not feel comfortable that there is only one side to this apparent no-brainer. Take a look at the agenda item about this from the meeting that will take place tomorrow - Thursday night:, 7:00 p.m. at the District Office (some history is included there):
https://www.losososcsd.org/files/99c2e8b69/Agenda+Item+12A+Adopt+Resolution+Establishing+Bank+Account+for+Low+Income+Assistance+Funds+and+Approve+Applications.pdf

I hope that those of you interested in helping out the remaining people who need assistance with the hook-ups will show up tomorrow night at the LOCSD meeting and will say so when public comment times comes for this item. Supporting keeping the money here in Los Osos, with our far cheaper way to disburse this money as opposed to the County doing it, is important. If you can't show up, please write a letter of support to the board to do so.

Contact the board at this address: board@losososcsd.org

From A Once Sewer Problem Spot - The Key West Sewer!

Yes, little, tiny 1 mile by 4 mile Key West has a sewer! And has had one a lot sooner than that certain central coast town that was referred to in this blog's name. But that sewer was not without its own horrid fight.

The article linked below says it all, and we might appreciate the scope and cost of their $1 billion sewer project. FYI, in 1889 Key West was the largest and wealthiest city in Florida (unlike Los Osos in California, which has not hit that mark and likely never will):
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/article1980193.html

Here is the official link to their current sewer page:
http://www.cityofkeywest-fl.gov/department/division.php?structureid=164

Happy expansion of your sewer education!

Hook-Up Enforcement Withdrawn!

The numbers have shrunk as to how many households are yet to hook up to our sewer. A huge delay was the sluggishness of getting the funding for those who qualified. They have been waiting patiently. There was actually supposed to be a Board of Supervisor's meeting about this on November 14, which is why I was looking tonight to see the agenda and support documents. But alas, I missed it by a week, it was to have been on the agenda November 7, and then, at the last minute it was pulled. You can see it in the original removal off of this link:
http://agenda.slocounty.ca.gov/agenda/sanluisobispo/934/QWdlbmRh/6/n/86079.doc

But I can show you a photo here below. If will try to be more on top of this. The sewage story around here is so quiet, I forget about it sometimes.......

(You can click on the image to see it larger.)

Decorate Your Bathroom For The Holidays!

And while you are doing that, you are helping to fund toilets for those lacking them!

See the video here:
http://www.whogivesacrap.org/indiegogo/

See what this is about here:
https://us.whogivesacrap.org/pages/about-us

And shop here:
https://us.whogivesacrap.org/

Community Funds Available For Sewer Hook-ups!

I attended the Los Osos CSD meeting tonight. General Manager Renee Osborn reported that there were funds from the Community Fund Low Income Assistance Program to help the approximately 245 residents that had not hooked up to do so (unless some in that number are making a political statement by not hooking upon course....).

Access the webpage that explains what this is with a link to the application:
https://www.losososcsd.org/los-osos-community-funds-now-available-for-low-income-residents

To read a bit more about it, read Ms. Osborn's report:
https://www.losososcsd.org/files/1f78e318a/Agenda+Item+9D+GM+Report+for+October+2017.pdf

More information will be forthcoming from the County and other agencies.

New County Webpage With Comprehensive Sewer Info!

I got an Email tonight with news from around the county, and on that page was a link to the County's new Los Osos sewer web page. 

This new LO sewer page has a TON of sewer tax info and there are a plethora of links to click find out all about your tax bill, what's on it, and how is it calculated, and MUCH more. So have a look and happy exploring. Even if the topic is taxes...you's rather know how stuff got there, right?

http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/Departments/Public-Works/Department-News/Los-Osos-Tax-Bills-Now-Include-Wastewater-Costs.aspx

Squatty Potty's Latest

I was scrolling through Facebook this AM and found in the ads on my feed—the latest offering from Squatty Potty!  https://www.squattypotty.com Yeah, I also got ads for hair dye and a cat shadow illusion lamp. Clearly FB knows who I am. I did what I have never done before, I clicked on the SP link, but that is OK for a person with a sewer blog, I think.

Imagine how fun it must have been to work on this ad!  Especially for the actor chomping down on the dragon poop! Be sure to visit the Fan Photos page! I have not personally used one of these things, I just appreciate their ads and completely understand why they do their advertising on FB and YouTube.

Fatberg Video!

To follow-up on a former post, here is a "Fatberg" video (see link below). It purports to show its removal.....well, I didn't see that, but it is fun to see the actual entity, which is far more photogenic than other Fatbergs I have seen (online, alas, not in person).

Here is the Baltimore video (look at the bottom):
https://www.ndtv.com/offbeat/watch-20-foot-fatberg-removed-from-baltimore-sewer-1764957

While you are at it - check out a London Fatberg:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH7IwiHFVMs

Baltimore looks better in my opinion.

Septic Tank "Basement"

An interesting story turned up while on the Open Studios Tour yesterday. You know how it is, you are looking at art, sculpture, jewelry, and the topic of the sewer comes up. You could be at the grocery store or at Sweet Springs and the topic of the sewer comes up. Not always of course, but what other town besides one beset with sewer woes for lo, these 40 years, and paying through the nose for those delays, and the topic of the full-on sewer tax hitting us now that everything is in, would the sewer topic have come up?

Well, I guess these days, Morro Bay.......... But it is not quite the same comparison, as they have had a sewer for many, many, many years. In contrast, we are in the almost finished process of saying goodbye to our septic tanks, except for those areas in town where they are not forbidden.

The (presumed) owners of one house either: Thought there would never be a sewer; they loved their septic tank so much they didn't want to part with it, so hid it; OR, did not know where it was when they built their living room on top of it. Or maybe they did not care, or thought they could just not bother with a permit? (Our personal wild-wild-west example: We found a whole room built inside of the garage when we bought the house - drywall and everything.)

So....when it was time to hook up, in order to pump the tank, they had to cut a hole in the living room floor. Maybe I am a clean freak, but the thought of the pulsing, stinky, waste evacuation hose snaking over ruined carpet, or maybe shattered tile, or ecologically friendly splintered bamboo flooring seemed kind of gross! I don't know what the requirements were to fill in the tank, cement or gravel, but for sure, it would not be re-used for rainwater catchment!

Fatbergs!

Well, it has been a while since I have posted anything on fatbergs, so it is time to get caught up. I found two articles recently in the New York Times. 

Happy reading, just don't be eating breakfast or something whilst reading these; the description in the lower article describes a fatberg as having "...a smell that mixes rotting meat and smelly toilet."

https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/09/26/us/ap-us-baltimore-fatberg.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/13/world/europe/uk-london-fatberg.html

(The lower link comes with a lovely color photo! The photo is from 2014 when another fat berg struck London. The current fatberg is called the "Whitechapel fatberg," and it is estimated to weigh 140 tons.)

Paean To Sewers!

I just now ran across this fun tribute to sewers and what they mean to us - have a read:
https://www.indivisible.us/i-love-my-sewer/

(Wish I had written it!)

Latest News From Our Sewer Laterals!

I attended the Basin Management Committee meeting on Wednesday, September 20. Mark Hutchinson, Deputy Director of the Resources Group in the county's Public Work's Department, filled in for Bruce Gibson on the committee, and gave a report on how our sewer lateral connections are going. Very well, as it turns out! 282 are all that are left to connect, and of that, about 85 are on a low income program that has not yet worked its way all the way through the federal agency that is funding them. So less than 200 are left to hook up! How to address this issue of the mystery non-hook-ups will be before the Board of Supes in the second week of November. That will be a meeting worth watching. I plan to tune in!

200+ Year Old Sewer Plant!

Have a look! https://www.dcwater.com/wastewater-collection-history

Check out the size of this thing! https://www.dcwater.com/projects

Awesome nitrogen removal via a new technique, the DEMON® process! https://www.dcwater.com/projects/filtrate-treatment-facilities

Combined sewage used to flow into the waterways during heavy rainstorms (as opposed to ours sinking into the ground atop our drinking water!) https://www.dcwater.com/projects/tunnel-dewatering-pump-station-and-enhanced-clarification-facility

Have a look at their gorgeous annual report! https://www.dcwater.com/sites/default/files/2016annual_1.24.17_lo.pdf

The scope of this thing is just amazing!! I am super happy at finding this website through a random tweet!

Manhole Cover Marketing

Some enterprising Los Osian could follow the idea from the street artist collective in Berlin, named Raubdruckerin (translation: pirate printer). They are printing sewer covers (and other public metal fixtures) onto organic cotton T-shirts, using eco-friendly paint. if you wanted to buy one or some, they have been a little bit too successful; they are almost sold out as of this writing. More on the way however!

http://mentalfloss.com/article/84044/berlin-artists-create-graphic-designs-public-street-fixtures

https://craftingagreenworld.com/2016/08/01/raubdruckerin-prints-t-shirts-from-manhole-covers/

https://raubdruckerin.de/t-shirts

Seriously, this could mean money in someone's enterprising pocketbook. Plus an affirmation of our sewer reputation which like it or not, has not vanished into the poop pail of history, and maybe it shouldn't; you know the aphorism about "Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it".....However, if anyone tries this, please do not get squashed by a passing motorist!

Poop In Paso

The Tribune has posted a report about a private sewer line in Paso Robles that popped. Poop poured into the street and down into a storm drain. Enquiring minds want to know what caused the failure! 

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/article171245587.html

Nighttime, When Nature Calls While Camping

My teenage camping experiences, actually, my only camping experiences, involved backpacking in the Sierras. Once we even had the benefit of a burro to carry stuff. Tents - who needed those (!) - we had sleeping bags on a tarp, on top of some piney duff where we could find it! The bathroom was anyplace away from water sources and the trails, and required a small spade and a (by then, semi-squashed) roll of toilet paper.

Flash forward to 2017. I have not re-camped anyplace since those days. If I did, I would stay in a campground with a camper of some sort or type (I am just not up to sleeping on the ground at a place that took hours of an uphill climb to find anymore.) The stumbling block to even the campground however, has been where to potty in the middle of the night. Whaaat, I can hear you saying?

Imagine that you had a couple of beers around the campfire (if you had built one of those if it was even allowed, and marshmallows having been left behind as a far younger age-appropriate treat). Or how about a couple of beers (or a Martini?) at the rustic wooden picnic table where you are eating your pop-up food, expanded from tiny chunks in a foil package, add water and heat. You get sleepy and crawl into your sleeping bag in your camper. Two hours later, your bladder registers full. Really full. And you know you have to stumble a block or more to the potties. In the dark. Wild things rustling around (in black and white outfits perhaps, or with teeth in any color fur ensemble). You will never get back to sleep upon return from that fear-fraught trek.  The solution to this uncomfortable scenario is pictured below. A portable potty or to be fancy, pinky raised in the air, a Toilette Portative, with it's own little tent..........

.........with two zippered flaps for escaping fumes, one on top, and one in the back.

And the whole thing folds up into the little round bag! Impressionnant!!!!

He's Baaaaaack!! Tom Murphy Of Wrecklamator Fame!!

Normally, I would not send anyone over to CalCoastNews as they are an outfit that reports fake news and promotes extreme right-wing and Tea Party viewpoints (except for the few bare bones stories that they lift from other news sources that report fires, accidents, and such). They have harmed friends of mine with their lies and very one-sided reporting, over and over— for years.

However, this time, the guy that the Water Board warned us against (see below) is back, Dee Thomas Murphy, the Reclamator scam guy!

(Click the image to view a larger size.)

Now, take a look at the comment - wait!! The comment disappeared!! In the time it took me to write this and to go back to CCN to get you the link, the comment vanished from the CalCoastNews story! Maybe they have more sense than I thought, or perhaps they just followed their own guidelines which do not allow for long legal screeds, which is what Tom posted. 

Well, it is horrifying to know that Dee Thomas Murphy is still lurking locally in the background, and is STILL trying to scam Los Osos citizens into funding his bogus schemes. Since I captured the page as a pdf, I can give you a quote from Tom's post on CalCoastNews today (Tom now posting as "NSEA International"):

Do NOT fall for this scam if it appears elsewhere!

Tribune Reports On Delinquent Sewer Service Charges!

Have a look; and as of 10:57 a.m.Wednesday, July19, 2017, there were no comments in the common section.

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/article162293868.html

And, in an earlier article, the Tribune explains why:

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/article147477314.html

(On this article, the comments appear oddly truncated.)

There is another Tribune article on this topic, too. Get a cup of coffee (or tea or kombucha) and read them all!

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/article148522254.html

A quote from this last article;

"State fines are likely far down the road. It’s an administrative process that involves quite a few steps, including a notice of violation and then a complaint. And property owners could contest the penalty. 

"'In the future, it may be necessary for the water board to exercise its enforcement authority,' Packard said. 'The water board has demonstrated that it is willing to use that authority.' 

"County fines for violating county municipal codes start at $100 a day and whether the accused does not respond or takes no action within the month, the fine bumps up to $500 a day."

The meeting where all of this happened can be viewed here:

http://slocounty.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=2665 

Look for items 18 and especially 19.

Read more here: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/article148522254.html#storylink=cpy

July 18 Sewer Service Charge Supes Hearing

This came in the mail days and days ago and I managed to scan it, but not post it.

Sorry about the underlining (husband with a pen damage), 

and yes, I was too lazy to Photoshop it out.

Sewer Delinquents Mark Your Calendars! Plus Rebates!

I have been a tardy blogger of late, but am back in time to warn tardy payers they could be caught forking over delinquent service charges. Please read!

Items: Set for Hearing:

2. Setting of a public hearing to consider collecting of sewer service charges onproperty tax bills for San Luis Obispo County Wastewater Assessment DistrictNo. 1, Los Osos. Hearing date set for July 18, 2017. District 2.
   
3. Setting of a public hearing to consider collecting delinquent service charges onthe 2017-18 County property tax bills for San Luis Obispo County WastewaterAssessment District No. 1, Los Osos. Hearing date set for July 18, 2017. District 2. 
   

Consent Agenda - Public Works Items:

31. Submittal of a resolution amending and establishing ongoing rebates for the Water Conservation Implementation Plan for the Los Osos Wastewater Project. District 2. 

Los Osos Sewer History 2007

I accidentally ran across this video today from 10 years ago. I had never seen it before and at the time of my watching it there has been only 43 views. First a loud beep over SMPTE color bars, then experience the laid back music under text, the Sewer Dragon lady, and clips from one of the Central Coast's Regional Water Quality Control Board's Cease and Desist hearings, for the dreaded CDOs.

 

Prague's Museum Of Chamber Pots, Etc.

Darn. It wasn't on the tour and I did not do my homework. I missed the The Hygiene Museum when I was in Prague. Oh well, have a look, sorry I could not bring you more!

http://muzeumnocniku.cz/en/home/

Finally, The Hook-Up!

Mid-April-ish, strange paint markings appeared in the street and in the yard. Rumor has it a permit was pulled....

Now, in May, we are a month plus past the time to hook up to the sewer. We are in Phase III and the San Luis Obispo Tribune has already had an article about "those" people who have not yet hooked up to the sewer. Well, rainy weather, contractors dropping out, and who knows what else, delayed our getting started after paying our deposit in October 2016.

I ignored my cell buzzing as I was stuffing my face with lunch at La Palapa. Suddenly apparently, the lateral crew was at our house and digging a hole in the front yard to try to find the pipe coming out of the house. There is a kitchen on one side, two bathrooms and the washing machine on the other. 

Then there was the picture from the county website showed two septic tanks. Why two tanks? We don't know. One giant hole has uncovered a pipe and a concrete tank, but what is that other blob on the county's image? When I questioned the worker, the response was: "We are going to use a water probe to go deeper" to look for that second tank. (Must look up the term, "water probe.")

Then there was the ugly white plastic pipe with the cap which I artfully covered by a lava rock planter, empty of its Bonsai tree, dead 35 years ago. I now learn that this is the cap to the leach field. And below that that is the blob apparently.

The original concrete bin IS the septic tank. To think I sat on top of it all comfy in an adirondack chair, munching a turkey sandwich never imagining it would, after some processing and transformation, traverse piping to wind up a few feet below where I sat. I know, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, but the gooey part in the middle....ugh.

Now the question was to find the pipe coming from the north side of the house that handles the two bathrooms and the washing machine. The kitchen pipe is elsewhere.

There was a joint where the two pipes came together. But the angle of the main pipe was wrong. It wasn't going to work! The entire pipe had to be removed and replaced! Well, that went rather quickly. Below is the end result.

Then the new, white pipe went under the fence and out to the stubbed pipe that comes from the street.

It was hard to get a decent shot without falling into the hole.

*************************************************************************************************

Tonight, after dinner, it was time to shower, then flush and forget.

The inspector is supposed to come tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

Morro Bay's Sewer Plod Lampooned By Shredder

Well, Los Osos is not the only local town to have had a sewage problem, and not just literally, as in leaking pipes, but in that striking lack of action one could equate to clogged plumbing be it hairballs, or one's personal, blocked alimentary canal. The New Times brilliant and snarky wit-meister, the Shredder, takes Morro Bay to task this time, offering some verbal Dulcolax.

Have a fun read, as long as you are not eating. (Pooping is permissible, but that is a matter of taste.)

http://www.newtimesslo.com/shredder/15325/whats-brown-and-runs-downhill/

Sewer Poster

For those of you readers who are part of sewer inspection crews and wishing to inform/decorate your workplace with a sewer safety poster (not that we would have this problem with our tiny sewer pipes, but then I have not seen a wet well/pump station, so maybe we do need this poster), go to this link:
http://inbound.envirosight.com/confined-space-safety-poster

According to the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics, 50 workers average per year die in confined spaces. That is pretty creepy and we sure do NOT want that happening here!

Tribune's Dr. Alexander Obituary

Today's Tribune had an obituary for Dr. John Alexander, which much improved on the teeny death notice in the paper on March 7 that announced his death on March 2, 2017. I wrote about his passing here:
http://losewersaga.blogspot.com/2017/03/dr-john-alexander-alexander-dies.html

Check out the much amplified version of his life with his many accomplishments. Los Osos was not mentioned. I suspect his involvement with our sewage woes was but a small blip in his long life:
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sanluisobispo/obituary.aspx?n=john-alexander-alexander&pid=185180539

These death notices do not last long online, so best to check this out in the next couple of weeks.

Celebrate Easter With Homemade Poop Peeps!

....Or not. Especially if you do not celebrate Easter.

Here take a look, you could really use these things year-round, say to gift a neighbor who has made you crazy with noisy parties and the like! These are so darn cute - see the photos on the link below!

💩 💩 💩 💩 💩 💩 💩 💩 💩 💩 💩 💩 💩 

http://nomageddon.com/poop-peeps/

Humanure Handbook

💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩

For your reading pleasure, I have found this gem of a webpage, complete with music ("My Dad's Dunny Doesn't Flush") and a how-to book which you can purchase to learn how to "recycle" certain of your bodily products. There are even videos to tell you how to do it! 

This is not about a composting toilet - but a "collection device" as the composting is done elsewhere.......... There is a bounty of information here, and you could spend days picking through all of these piles of knowledge.

All of this would be illegal in Los Osos, but it is fun to fantasize, as long as fantasy aromas do not spoil your "brown study."

http://humanurehandbook.com

Watch where you step.

Town's Sewage Plant Hosts Giant Viruses!

Sewage from the Austrian town Klosterneuburg, where Franz Kafka died, is fueling a scientific controversy. I'm not sure how excited to get over the giant viruses found there and Franz Kafka is probably not a topic for a sewer blog. But with our sewer plant running smoothly, and still no sign of hooking my house up which will yield a bounty of photos and descriptions, I had to go somewhere. 

Kafka did have tuberculosis and who knows, if the sewer in that town was operational then (1924), what could have happened in the mixing of multi-viral and bacterial components is unknowable. It is an interesting thought anyway, if one doesn't linger on it beyond three seconds.

All of the excitement is about a genome that looks like it could have descended from some cell-like virus - some in-between state between cells and viruses, which is a big deal in the scientific world. Now, as all of you might recall, viruses have few genes, some with as little as two. E-coli, a single-cell bacteria found at sewage plants, can have 4,400 genes and comes in many types, some, when internalized, can lead to death (Kafka died of starvation however). These giant viruses can hold more than 2,500 genes!

If you want to read about this, you can go to this link here:
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/04/giant-viruses-found-austrian-sewage-fuel-debate-over-potential-fourth-domain-life
There are some lovely virus renderings on this page to illustrate scale.

I did go to the Kafka bookstore while in Prague a couple of years back, the city where Kafka was born, the bookstore being very near to his birthplace (sign translation - Kafka Bookstore).

And while I did not get the chance to visit the Prague sewer system, it is quite old and you can read about it here:

http://www.pvs.cz/en/history/history-of-the-sewer-systems/

You can see inside here:

prague sewers

Come to think about it now, this odd nexus of Kafka and giant sewer viruses (I'll have to relate what was said about viruses and our sewer some years back to complete this picture I guess), if there was ever an author living or dead that could have summarized the hideous Los Osos sewer war in a deep and meaningful way, Franz Kafka would be my pick. Please read The Metamorphosis and The Castle. Or if you prefer, a Cliff's Notes assessment,

"No matter how hard Kafka's heroes strive to come to terms with the universe, they are hopelessly caught, not only in a mechanism of their own contriving, but also in a network of accidents and incidents, the least of which may lead to the gravest consequences."

https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/t/the-trial/critical-essays/kafka-and-existentialism 

Sweater Poop (Sad Story, So Don't Read If Depressed)

This is a sad posting. Coyote scat is usually not so colorful. If you click on the image to see the larger size, you will see the bright yarn, probably from a little sweater, probably covering a little body, most likely that of a little dog, or possible a cat (but not likely) embedded in the scat. Coyotes do not eat sweaters without something inside of them.

I wavered on posting this. I don't know how many readers there are here, so don't know if this will go anywhere. But when a couple of my cats vanished years ago when I first moved here, having no clue on the coyote population, I would have wanted to know what happened to them.

This was found on State Park land, off the end of Santa Ysabel, on the path that heads to the eucalyptus trees, Saturday, April 1. It had been there for some time. 

Purple Pipe Hydrant

Well, it is back in our midst. The bacteria laden, butt ugly, and foul smelling water that we have sent underground and out of town for its spa treatment - beautification and toxin removal - has returned not just to Broderson, but right here in our midst - on Tenth Street!

Who owns it? Ostensibly the water companies. Who paid for it? We did. What paperwork, legalities and hoop jumping must there be to open the spigot - to maybe send this water back home and underground into our sparkly clean, repurposed septic tanks? It is the next part of the sewer journey for this H2O. 

Let's hope the story unfolds quickly, as this rainy season won't last, spring is coming, summer - if we are lucky, might be a foggy drip, but by fall, our repurposed tanks might be empty. Our plants would be happy to get this stuff. Then the aquifer's water could be used for indoor water needs only, thereby saving it from some amount of overuse.

Our titled (22!), regal water languishes inside of its purple prison! Mary Queen of Scots all over again, with a better ending, I hope.