Poop Train Pauses In Parrish: 10 Million Pounds Of Poop Stuck Two Months!

A bureaucratic foul-up caused a 42-car train with 400 containers of New York poop to ferment in Parrish, Alabama's rail yard for two months. The residents were not happy. You can read about this rail constipation off the link. The New York Times finds the best stories, really, they do!

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/19/nyregion/poop-train-alabama.html

Where does OUR sludge go? Last I heard, it was trucked to Engel and Gray in Santa Maria. But what happens if they fill up? A sludge train from our county to the large facility in the Central Valley (yes there was a great deal of controversy in the early 2000s and beyond) could help us out! We sure don't want oil trains in this county, but what about poop trains? (And will we have any choice?)

http://www.synagro.com/offerings/rail-transportation/

Check out their location map!
http://www.synagro.com/locations/

And finally, for more sewage information - a bit of history, a lot of money, wimpy regulations, and LAWSUITS! Read an excellent paper, Regulate This: The Politics and Practice of Poo Farming, by a Harvard Law School student on what we euphemistically call - biosolids!

https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/8852199/Christenson06.html?sequence=2

(There is a wealth of resources just in the footnotes!)

Chicago Searches New Name For $@&*

Sewage followers, check out this cheeky article from the Chicago Tribune! The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District is holding a very quirky contest!

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chicagoinc/ct-sewage-renamed-mwrd-0816-chicago-inc-20160813-story.html

PS - the word "bloom" has taken on a whole new meaning in Washington, D.C.. 

Broadwater On Sludge

I attended the Water Resources Advisory Committee meeting last Wednesday and the first speaker at public comment was David Broadwater. He had a handout on sewage sludge (see below - wish I could give you a single pdf - but those aren't uploadable on blogger.com. Click each picture for a larger size). He has spoken and written on the topic for many years which you can see if you google "Broadwater" and "sewage sludge." 

We do not need to worry in Los Osos on what is to become of our biosolids; they will be trucked far, far away as there is no safe place to put them here however non-industrial the composition. Below is a link to an interesting paper on this topic.

https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/59468/5.3.Schaefer.pdf?sequence=1

A Bounty Of Biosolids!

The City of San Luis Obispo has an upcoming meeting tomorrow, Tuesday, November 3. On the 272-page agenda is an item on biosolids, the city's. They have a budgeted line item of $206,000 for fiscal year 2015-16 and $210,000 for fiscal year 2016-17. Now, they do have an output of 4.5 million gallons per day, which is quite a bit over our 1 million gallons per day at buildout and so the resultant biosolids and associated costs will be proportionally less for us when our plant is up and running. But it is fun to look at these costs and locations for transport—to get a heads up, more or less (or maybe it is bottoms down).

Here is a copy and paste of a small smattering of what is in their meeting packet for this item:

Other Agencies

Below is a brief description of what other agencies are doing with their biosolids. The City

generates more biosolids than many agencies because of its size and the treatment processes used

to attain the high level of water quality required to meet the WRRF’s discharge requirements.

Presently the City pays $44.23/ton for hauling and composting.

Cambria – $47.50/ton. Biosolids are hauled to Liberty Composting in the San Joaquin Valley,

composted, and then marketed for a variety of uses.

City of Morro Bay - $46.00/ton. Biosolids are hauled by McCarthy Farms in the San Joaquin

Valley, composted, and then marketed for a variety of uses.

South San Luis Obispo Sanitary District - $36.50/ton. Biosolids are hauled by Engel and Gray,

Inc., composted, and then marketed for a variety of uses.

City of Paso Robles – $7.19/ton. Biosolids are hauled to the City-owned landfill and used as

alternative daily cover.

Pismo Beach - $48.68/ton. Biosolids are hauled by Engel and Gray, Inc., composted, and then

marketed for a variety of uses.

Here is a link to the agenda:

http://www.slocity.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=7185

(Look for item six, then click the header link for the support documents.)

Engel and Gray, Inc. was always the facility discussed for our output, and the sewer disruptors (I am running out of descriptors for these people) flailed arms and spittle and warned of looming disaster should Engel and Gray close its doors to us. But as we can see, there are other facilities available, so I am officially putting that alarmist, pot-stirring fear to rest in the compost heap. And I will also add, that I am sure that we will have a very high quantity of output, guaged by the amount of unprocessed biosolids that are frequently flung from the mouths of the sewer detractors at the various meetings in Los Osos.

Semi-Sewer Related BOS Item Tuesday!

Read what is on Tuesday's Supe's agenda for enlightenment on SLO County bio-solids/sewage-sludge issue!

CONSENT AGENDA – REVIEW AND APPROVAL

Items Set for Hearing:

2. Introduction of an ordinance to continue the provisions and restrictions that were in place in the Land Application of Treated Sewage Sludge/Biosolids interim ordinance for a period of four years. Hearing date set for May 6, 2014. All Districts.

http://agenda.slocounty.ca.gov/agenda/sanluisobispo/Proposal.html?select=3217

This item is meant notice a hearing to re-up an expired interim ordinance until a permanent ordinance can be crafted by or before March 2018 and includes the need for:

•  Notification of the Public Health Department, Environmental Health Services Division 30 days prior to the land application of biosolids exceeding or equaling 5 cubic yards.

• Places a cap of 1,500 cubic yards on the cumulative total of exceptional quality biosolids that can be land applied in any 12-month period beginning with the adoption of this ordinance.

We will most likely be trucking the Los Osos' sewage sludge to Santa Maria when our plant is up and running and producing this stuff.