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.

Toilet to Tap in 24 Hours!

Yes, this could well be our future too.....someday when it is cheap enough for a small operation like ours!

http://patch.com/california/brentwood/could-toilet-water-be-new-drinking-water-0?utm_source=newsletter-daily&utm_medium=email&utm_term=health%20%26%20fitness&utm_campaign=newsletter&utm_content=article-mostrecent

http://www.westbasin.org/files/press-releases/record-year-in-water-recycling.pdf

http://www.westbasin.org

Monarch Grove Update!

The Planning Commission held their meeting on Thursday, October 29, 2015 regarding Monarch Grove. The Commission voted unanimously "yes" to forward the proposal to the Board of Supervisors for their approval to include Monarch Grove in the Los Osos Urban Reserve Line. If approved, and all is good with the Coastal Commission (updating the LCP), Monarch Grove residents can discontinue the use of their package sewer plant and hook up to the Prohibition Zone's sewer. They already have their pipes in the ground and will now need to do an inspection of the lines so the County will take them. Faulty lines won't cut it as Bayridge found out.

New!! Financial Aid Meeting Info on County Site!

November 5, 2015: San Luis Obispo County and Peoples’ Self-Help Housing invite you to attend an informational meeting to be held Thursday, November 5, at 6 p.m. at South Bay Community Center, 2180 Palisades Avenue, Los Osos CA 93412 to get more information about financial aid.

Planning Commission Thursday - Monarch Grove Hook-Up

Tomorrow the Plannning Commission will have a hearing on whether or not to recommend to the Board of Supervisors to vote to include Monarch Grove into the urban reserve line of Los Osos. Right now it is not eligible to hook up to the sewer the rest of us are getting because they are outside of "the line."

Right now, they have their own mini wastewater treatment plant (a "package plant") to service the 83 lots in the subdivision.

Here is the link to the Planning Commission documents:
http://agenda.slocounty.ca.gov/agenda/sanluisobispo/Proposal.html?select=5244

Here is what the Monarch Grove Homeowners Association had to say in 2007:
http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/Assets/PW/LOWWP/BOS+Related+Items/Letter+Monarch+HOA+BOS+8-28-07.pdf

Here is what was presented at the LOCSD meeting July 28, 2015 regarding Monarch Grove:
http://www.losososcsd.org/Library/2015%20Agenda%20Packets/08.06.15/Agenda%20Item%2012B%20Approve%20Reimbursement%20Agreement%20btwn%20LOCSD%20and%20Monarch%20HOA.pdf

Johnny, the Running Toilet Mascot

Los Osos is behind the times! Why didn't Los Osos, whose fame—(regrettably) rests in part on sewage, think of this—especially since we are in a terrible drought! Wasting water is considered tantamount to a federal crime in these parts! NO toilets should be running in this town, except after having been employed for their specific purpose, and even then, only under the "If it's yellow, it's mellow....." rule! Granted, Raleigh, North Carolina is a CITY of 431,746 souls, established in 1788, so they do have a bit of heft and age on us, but—!—they are not famous for sewage! (Eventually we won't be either, once the sewer is in and the whiners give up their favorite sport. However, Hell is probably experiencing climate change as well, as I think even a slight cooling is unlikely to happen, ever. In other words, have no hope for the whiners to shut it down........but I can dream!)

So, let's enjoy this fantastic creature, representing a fixture sometimes referred to as "the throne," and look at what Johnny the Running Toilet is doing and what we can learn from him (he is so cute I just want to pinch his little lid):

https://www.raleighnc.gov/home/content/PubUtilAdmin/Articles/MascotsIntro.html

https://www.facebook.com/Johnny-The-Running-Toilet-784307731610638/

Poop Fairy Fraud Exposed!

(Click the image to see the larger size where you can really see the clothespin on the fairy's nose!)

This will be a non-sewer topic today—on a product, that if of human origin, we would require its collection.....but we don't.....as it is dog poop. Too much of it sits around in parks—like the Elfin Forest—and in front yards and parkways around town.

I think some people in Los Osos are believers—that the existence of Poop Fairies is real, gauging by the amount of poop left out in the open, as if a scooper team would fly by in the night and remove the offending particles, and the sun would rise and the streets would shine with cleanliness and safe walking areas. (Actually, the mind set is not too different than the mind set of the people who were true believers in Magic Sand, back in the Sewer War days, "We don't need no stinkin' sewer, we have Magic Sand!" Who can forget our Magic Sand?!)

Well, a couple of counties in different states have posted that these beings DO NOT actually exist, with cute graphics proving so, and I think that these places must be inhabited by optimistic folks who harbor a warm and fuzzy feeling about their fellow beings and their abilities toward responsible dog product pick-up. 

Have a look, and be sure to play the videos on the first of the two links below.

http://www.bernco.gov/public-works/poop-fairy.aspx

http://jeffco.us/sheriff/animal-control/poop-fairy/

Septics! Decommission & Reuse Plan

0. Off the Board of Supervisors Agenda:
   
   Tuesday, October 20, 2015
   Board Business:
   
   
1. 20. Presentation of a project update and Septic System Decommissioning and Reuse Plan for the Los Osos Wastewater Project. District 2. 
   
   
   I will post a link the relevant documents when they are available.
   

http://agenda.slocounty.ca.gov/agenda/sanluisobispo/Proposal.html;jsessionid=EF4356F8545612AC36B3D99A3F42B1F4?select=5211

Tillman Water Reclamation Plant

Water Online recently posted the tech side of the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant in the San Fernando Valley in an online article! I wrote a piece on this some years back which you can find at this link: Gamelan Concert

Read the latest here and find out more about bar screens vs. climber screens than you ever imagined you would—unless of course you are a wastewater professional.

http://www.wateronline.com/doc/years-of-tranquility-at-water-reclamations-plant-and-japanese-garden-courtesy-of-headworks-bar-screens-0001?sectionCode=TOC&templateCode=Single&user=2124006&source=nl:44029&utm_source=et_10759433&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=WOL_2015-10-08&utm_term=8B6151B5-326C-4D25-A47F-7FA24BE85D17&utm_content=8%2bYears%2bOf%2bTranquility%2bAt%2bWater%2bReclamation%2bPlant%2bAnd%2bJapanese%2bGarden

Don't Pee On Me!

San Francisco has had an ongoing problem with public urination. Well, just one gender is responsible for this problem, but I will let it go un-named. Anyway, the city realized it had to take this problem seriously when a three-story tall light post fell over due to corrosion. Sure, it was only one of the 25,000 that the city has, and no one was killed, the car it flattened was unoccupied, but there could be more about to go, right? (Granted, in this case, some of this corrosion may have been due to the urinary work of dogs—also of that same, un-named gender.) To fix the problem, San Francisco contacted a company in Florida that makes a specialized type of paint. It repels liquids! So the pee splashed back onto the shoes and pant legs of the pee-er! I'm not sure how this works with dogs....

This idea was first used in Germany, specifically Hamburg's St. Pauli quarter, where a LOT of late night beer drinkers were too blitzed to find a bathroom.

The program in San Francisco has been a great success! The calls to Public Works for steam cleaning has gone down 17% since last year. So far eight walls have been painted with eight more to be done next week. The cost (a few hundred dollars) is far less than the $80 an hour it costs to steam clean the walls.

Take a look at the video on the product Ultra-Ever Dry, especially the mud test at the end! Sadly, but wisely I suppose, there is no actual pee demo on the video so use your imagination as to how this actually works!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPM8OR6W6WE

Sewer Update! August 2015!

Read all about it off of this ink and note the photos:
http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/Assets/PW/LOWWP/PM+Monthly+Update+Aug2015.pdf

We are in the final six month countdown to the finish, AND on schedule! 

Don't Fall In!

Today I heard a cautionary tale which may be useful to pass on as next year we will be decommissioning our septic tanks. I will not reveal names involved or the location, other than to say it happened in this county of San Luis Obispo—recently, to a person who bought an as-is home. It happened at a home using a septic tank, although, apparently, it can happen at homes where a septic tank has been abandoned improperly after a sewer hook-up.

(Note: Many in Los Osos have not pumped their their tanks in 30+ years. We have not pumped ours in 10, and actually don't have much of an idea as to where it is located. We have a suspiciously verdant couple of trees that we have never watered, so.....)

Anyway, this person was digging around in the yard to find the septic tank on this recently purchased house. He/she had an idea where it was and was removing soil over what he/she thought was the concrete lid. Chopping about 6" into a pile of dirt however, down the shovel suddenly shot; he/she caught it, fortunately, in the nick of time. The "lid" to the septic tank it turned out, was made out of corrugated fiberglass panels, the concrete lid—gone. The person quickly exited the lid area, grateful that it had not collapsed.

(I am guessing as to the color of those panels, but see-through was just too ghastly to contemplate.)

SO.....when decommissioning time comes, and you might want to be doing some of the digging yourself, WATCH OUT, unless you already know what is down there. Septic tanks can KILL.

For further reading, follow this link:

http://www.septicprotector.com/deathpage.html

Sewer Tour Successful!

The third tour of our Los Osos Wastewater Treatment Plant on September 24, 5:00-6:00 p.m. was quite a success. Around 60 of the curious showed up to see what was going on out there behind the cemetery. Some of us will go anywhere for free food—cookies and little water bottles were on hand to keep one from fainting from the heat (which was pretty abominable). That was smart on the County's part, and I for one am grateful! 

A snappy color print out was handed around so that one had a map of the tour and what the various buildings and black pits were named. I took photos and will include them after the scan below that I did of the County handout.

John Waddell headed up the tour and we learned some useful bits of information. 75% of the plant is complete. The Septic Tank Reuse program will go before the Board of Supervisors October 20, this year. January 2016 is the most likely date for the next Town Hall. There will be monthly meetings starting next March when we all start connecting. It will take around a year for all of us to hook up and this process will be done in phases. More to come on that. (Click on the image to see a larger size.)

You really couldn't see much of the Secondary Clarifiers or the Oxidation Ditches from the ground.

On our walk in, a drone buzzed around overhead. I waved and smiled. I hope the film will be edited into a video with a score like last time - it was really, really, quite coolski.

Administration Building is on the left above. The Water Quality Lab will be inside. On the right, the roof is on but the Chemical Facility beneath it is not in yet.

Administration Building.

Effluent Pump Station. Note the port-a-pottie. Several of those were scattered around (so you really know that this place is not up and running yet.....).

Ramp at the Effluent Pump Station for trucks to unload septage (only from the Los Osos area).

Shooting into the sun was not the best idea..... This is REW Pond 2 on your aerial view up top.

This is the wall between REW Ponds 1 and 2. I'm not sure how this works or why it is there.

This is REW Pond 1.

This is the front of the Dewatering Facility. Not sure what those gun-like things are....

Stormwater Pond. The ponds, when full of course, will be able to accommodate helicopters that scoop water to fight fires.

This is a view of the fencing around the facility. The Storm Water Pond is to the left in this shot.

Serious piping to the left of the Sludge Storage Tanks. Those sludge tanks look better from the aerial shot, there really isn't much to see from the ground.

Project Manager John Waddell explains the tertiary filter process. There are 20 discs of cloth media inside the tanks. These two small units can process 1 million gallons a day. Hmmmm. Sounds suspiciously like the 2005 sewer technology that got crashed by 19 votes - the membrane bioreactor plant at Tri-W (to be PC, the "Midtown Site"). To the right of this is the area for the UV disinfection, where lots of lights kill the bugs remaining. To the left is the chemical facility as some chlorine must be used to keep stuff from growing in the pipes.

To the east of the tertiary filters is this cheery patriotic hued tanks tableau. This set-up is there for fire suppression, should there be the need. There are a few small wells on the property, but none with enough output to stop a fire, hence the storage of water for instant and ample use.

The green monster is a hefty-sized generator inside the Electrical Building. Work WILL go on if the power goes out.

Then we all walked back to where we parked our cars along the sewer plant's fence and at the cemetery. We passed by two clumps of the stuff in the photo below.

I know Pampas grass is invasive and horrible, but back-lit as this was, it was rather beautiful.

And that was the end of our one hour tour.

Septic System Reuse Options Meeting!

Off the County's wastewater webpage:

September 24, 2015: The project team and Central Coast Green Build will give a presentation at the 7pm LOCAC meeting on septic system reuse options for use when connecting properties to the wastewater project. For more information, review this draft Septic System Reuse brochure and visit the LOCAC webpage for the upcoming meeting agenda.

June & July Updates

Oops. I missed these somehow. Well, take a look - a good idea before our sewer tour next Thursday!

http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/Assets/PW/LOWWP/PM+Monthly+Update+Jun2015.pdf

http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/Assets/PW/LOWWP/PM+Monthly+Update+July2015.pdf

Doing It Right

I was at Noi's Little Thai Takeout in Baywood on Tuesday for lunch and saw something I'd only heard about before—cooking oil recycling. Naturally Noi's would do this right, as she does cooking right (in ten years of Thai food that I have eaten, never any meal was less than perfect).

What I saw was a tank truck and a hose that looked like one from Al's Septic.

Then I noticed this:

A guy with the hose just attaching it to some above ground outlet. I didn't want to be too obvious about this picture taking; I think no one would recognize him here so I won't get sued or anything. Anyway, the name on the truck was "Salinas Tallow" and the picture became clear.

This is what we need to do when our new sewer comes online peeps! NOT put fat, especially fat that will solidify, down our drains! Who know what we are doing now, it is an individual thing, and I suspect that we are all cheap enough to not abuse our septic tanks for our own good. But lest we forget, it will be a whole new era of flushing, one of flushing into into a communal pipe. What someone does downhill with grease could well affect what doesn't go down when we uphill flushers flush! Remember that London Fatburger post from some months back? 

I do sometimes have nightmares about certain sewer obstructionists who claimed a gravity system would fail as they, weeping and tooth gnashing, were forced to live without their beloved STEP/STEG system. I fear sabotage frankly, but it is probably very bad to put those thoughts out there just in case this idea has not yet been crocheted into an actual plot from strands of personal bitterness, rent hair, and bacon grease.

On another note, on the way home from SLO today, this was in front of me! Please click on the image for the larger size. It is always a jolly day when you can see the oversized license plate with "SHT2GO" in big red letters on Al's trucks.....ahhh, Los Osos, what a bubbly zest for life we have here!

From Poop—Concrete!

Selangor, Malaysia: A study was recently published in the Pertanika Journal of Science and Technology on the potential for using sludge as an additive to cement! It may even lessen water permeability, thus increase durability, in certain grades of that most ubiquitous of building materials! 

This came about due to stricter environmental regulations on the disposal of sludge, due to its high, heavy metal content. 

What to do with this stuff? Get creative!! This might have world-wide implications for a lovely recyclement of tainted sludge!

You can access a news report on this here:
http://www.wateronline.com/doc/turning-sewage-sludge-into-concrete-0001?sectionCode=TOC&templateCode=Single&user=2124006&source=nl:43767&utm_source=et_10759433&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=WOL_2015-09-03&utm_term=8B6151B5-326C-4D25-A47F-7FA24BE85D17&utm_content=Turning%2bSewage%2bSludge%2bInto%2bConcrete

Read even more here—and see some sludge photos too!
http://www.pertanika.upm.edu.my/Pertanika%20PAPERS/JST%20Vol.%2023%20(2)%20Jul.%202015/04%20JST-0464-2013%20Rev1.pdf

September Sewer Tour Sign-Up!

Here is the County info for the upcoming sewer tour!

"September 24, 2015: Upcoming Public Tour of the Water Recycling Facility construction site on Thursday, September 24 from 5pm to 6pm.  For more information and to sign up to attend, please contact Rosalyn Piza at (805) 788-2759.  Sign ups can also be sent via email to (rpiza@co.slo.ca.us). "

Ohio Town Resists Sewer Hook-Up Since 1979

There are some eerie similarities between the Los Osos sewer mess and that of a tiny town of 622 souls called Bay View in Erie County, Ohio. Of course their tiny soon-to-be system costs only a bit over $6 million as there is already an existing treatment plant awaiting delivery of product. But work on the pipes began in 1979 and is just now on the brink of being started. Read about it here:
http://www.sanduskyregister.com/news/environment/9429986

A 2013 report said: "The Ohio section of the report lists the Bay View West beach in Erie County as the fourth-worst in the state."

(Erie County health commissioner Pete) Schade's letter to (Governor John) Kasich outlines the problem.

" 'Over the past several years, I have been working to bring sanitary sewers to a small village of 400 homes on the Sandusky Bay. The Village of Bay View, Ohio, has septic systems that basically dump raw sewage directly into Sandusky Bay,' Schade wrote."

Comments below this article were:

doratheexplorer

SAT, 06/29/2013 - 3:19PM

Gross

Blues

SAT, 06/29/2013 - 4:05PM

There is a beach in Bay View? 

doratheexplorer

SAT, 06/29/2013 - 9:48PM

A crappy beach

Tool Box

MON, 07/01/2013 - 11:47AM

So the poop from my house is going into the bay? Oh my, that's not good! All those people who swim at the sand bar are swimming in my poop then! Ewe!

I can't say that I ever see swimmers in OUR bay, do you? But then, having waded into Lake Erie at (a different spot!) this summer, the water there was a LOT warmer than here. It is nice to know though, that we are not alone in the world of sewer reluctance......although I believe we can rightly claim a far more spectacular reluctance on oh, so many levels.

Sewer Tour Coming Up!!

Announced by Supervisor Bruce Gibson at the Thursday night LOCAC meeting - a new sewer tour of the treatment plant behind the cemetery on Los Osos Valley Road has been scheduled for Thursday, September 24, 2015 at 5:00 p.m.! It will last from between one to one and one-half hours. 

We usually have to E-mail someone from the County to put our names on the list and that announcement as to who that might be, is not up on the County website just yet. I will post the link when it becomes available. Hope to see you there - the last tour in March was quite fascinating!

Food (And Water) For Thought on Diablo

Cape Cod, another oceanside community built on sand, has had some rather bad news from the Silent Spring Institute about its water supply. The institute found a high level of antibiotics and PFOS, a chemical used in stain-resistant and non-stick coatings, and fire-fighting foams.

"Although Cape Cod is particularly vulnerable to contamination due to the prevalence of septic systems and its shallow sandy aquifer, the study has national implications. A quarter of U.S. households use septic systems or small community systems to process wastewater, and about 40% of Americans rely on groundwater for drinking supplies."*

Uhhhhh, that would be us!! 

There are currently no regulations in the U.S. on the contaminants listed above (and so many others) as there is in Europe. The solution put forward to the problem in Cape Cod was to "(divert) treated water from septic systems and centralized plants away from drinking water supplies." Of course, we are doing just the opposite.

Today at the BOS, the first feelers were put forward on using the desalinated water from the Diablo Nuclear Power Plant, piping it both to South County and Los Osos. All five supervisors voted yes, let's pursue this. 

Water fresh out of the ocean has a monumentally higher dilution rate from contaminants than does our confined aquifers into which we are returning our recycled sewer water.** 

The usual naysayers were there at the podium for Public Comment on the issue, railing against even exploring the idea of importing Diablo's desal water to Los Osos. But then, they were key in stoping a sewer project, losing a $134 million low interest loan, delaying water conservation, and making the County come up with a second sewer idea for Los Osos at $29 million MORE than the LOCSD's project that they trashed. 

How long will our drought be? What contaminants are in our drinking water? At what concentration are they? At what rate are they increasing? These are all important questions. 

What solutions do the sewer nuts propose this time? Actually, all I have heard is a mumbled mouthing from the heads planted deep in our fine Baywood sands. It sounds like they think that we can live completely on the water from the aquifers directly beneath us—yet, yet, they complain that the Basin Plan—the plan that will manage this water supply of ours—does NOT take into account any plans for a prolonged drought!

So....who do you want to listen to this time around Los Osians? The sewer nuts of old, or more reasonable minds that know that one El Nino, should it be a water-plentiful one next year, will NOT fix our problem; that no amount of conservation will save us; that there is no possible way to know the timeline on the next drought or even how long the current one will last; that there is no way to predict exactly what global warming will do to both us and the animals and plants in the environment in which we all live. Do we want to be prepared or simply avoid thinking about it until we can't live here at all anymore?


Please read the report generated in 2006 by the LOCSD about the constituents already in our water, some of which are not regulated.
http://www.losososcsd.org/Library/Document%20Library/UPPER%20AQUIFER%20CHARACTERIZATION.pdf

* Please read this source article:
http://www.wateronline.com/doc/contaminants-cods-drinking-water-silent-spring-institute-finds-0001

** "The Institute found that treated water from both septic systems and sewage treatment plants contain similar levels of contaminants. The systems effectively remove some chemicals, such as caffeine and acetaminophen (Tylenol); others pass through largely unchanged, including sulfamethoxazole and TCEP, a chlorinated flame retardant."

Michigan's Septic Tank Slip-Up

We are not Michigan here in Los Osos of course, but septic tanks around a body of water bode badly for them too a new study finds.

Check this out:
http://www.wateronline.com/doc/septic-tanks-aren-tkeeping-poo-rivers-lakes-0001?sectionCode=TOC&templateCode=Single&user=2124006&source=nl:43697&utm_source=et_10759433&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=WOL_2015-08-25&utm_term=8B6151B5-326C-4D25-A47F-7FA24BE85D17&utm_content=Do%2bSeptic%2bTanks%2bPollute%2bFreshwater%253f

A Look Back In History, 2012

A petition geared to stop the County's sewer (the present one anyway) remains online years later. Take a look back in history from January 2012:

https://www.change.org/p/tell-decision-makers-stop-the-most-expensive-per-capita-sewer-in-the-us-the-los-osos-sewer

It needed 5,000 signatures and garnered only 299. A sad commentary for diehard sewer opposers always looking for that "better" sewer design; a glad commentary on reality and the cleaning up of our water and moving ahead.

Bay News LO Sewer Article

Hot off the press, or in this case, arriving in warmish pixels, the Bay News has a Los Osos sewer story this issue - basically writing about what went on at the Board of Supes yesterday, protested heartily by the usual suspects. Alas, not even a tiny pause in approving the sewer's Consent Calendar items by ALL FIVE SUPES, (Yayyyy, Supes!!) which must have been truly disheartening for the you-know-whos.

Here is the link:
http://tolosapressnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/BN-08-20-15-web.pdf

You can find the cost breakdowns off this link:
http://tolosapressnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/LO-WWTP-costs.pdf

And here is the link to the latest County Sewer Report:
http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/Assets/PW/LOWWP/PM+Monthly+Update+Jun2015.pdf

Check out the fun photos! Our sewer is moving closer to completion, the naysayers are more and more irrelevant than ever!!

BOS - 8-18-2015 Triple Serving Sewer Stuff!

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Consent Agenda - Public Works Items: 

15. Submittal of a resolution authorizing execution of notice of completion and acceptance for the Collection System Pump Stations Contract for the Los Osos Wastewater Project, Los Osos. District 2. 
    

17. Request to approve Amendment No. 4 to the Owner-Engineer Agreement with Carollo Engineers for professional engineering services during construction of the Los Osos Water Recycling Facility, in the amount of $329,303. District 2. 
    

CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL - PENDING LITIGATION (Government Code section 54956.9.) It is the intention of the Board to meet in closed session concerning the following items: Existing Litigation (Gov. Code, section 54956.9(a)). (Formally initiated.) (3) ARB, Inc. v. County of San Luis Obispo; .............

When relevant documents are posted, I will add the links here.

Two steps closer to flushing, where the goods will take a little journey out of town and return—TRANSFORMED!....... And on the ARB issue—who knows where that will go!

Update—here are the LINKS:
For Item 15 - http://agenda.slocounty.ca.gov/agenda/sanluisobispo/Proposal.html?select=4996
For Item 17 - http://agenda.slocounty.ca.gov/agenda/sanluisobispo/Proposal.html?select=4976

Dirty Jobs Found On YouTube!

Septic tank clean-out and inspection! Just the right follow-up to yesterdays post! Just think, sometime in 2016 Al's Septic will be working 24/7! Yeeee-haaaaaa!!!!

Septic Tank Quad System

From the 'burbs of Cleveland, July 2015: 

This is what a septic system looks like on a two acre parcel. I will protect the owner of the property by calling him Mr. X. He very generously gave me a septic tank tour and it was quite different from anything that I had seen before. I suspect out in the 'burbs, on a large chunk of land, you will find different systems from what we, in tiny-lotville, could possibly have. (You may click on any of these images to enlarge them.)

Pictured above are three of the four chambers of this system. The contents flow from the first through fourth chambers, the water becoming progressively cleaner as it advances. I am standing on the first, underground tank, to take this photograph. Pictured below is the unseen underground first chamber which receives the output from the house: sinks, tubs/showers, laundry, toilets.

The lid to the second chamber, above and below.

Mr. X kindly lifter the concrete lid to the second, visible chamber. 
No noxious aromas wafted forth.

Pictured below is the concrete lid to the third chamber.

Mr. X lifted the lid to the third chamber. Again, no fumes.

Below is the concrete lid to the fourth and final chamber.

Below, the lid opened, reveals some sort of attached mechanism. I forgot to ask what it was. A pump perhaps? This final phase water drains out into piping in the woods. Whatever nitrates or other components are left are sucked up by the vegetation to which the water flows.

Below, you are looking back at the one invisible and three visible tank lids. The forest is maybe another 20 feet behind me where the water eventually goes.

The forest into which the reclaimed water is received. It was pretty darn green I'll have to say; but then it actually rains in the Cleveland 'burbs—a lot this past year.

For fun and refreshment, please don't take this as a depressing tease to the parched Californians, what you see is the lake in the front yard, stocked with bass of some sort. Just enjoy a sight that we are longing to see. We could move to the Cleveland 'burbs to escape the drought if we really wanted to.....and have a nice two-acre parcel with a small lake and lots of fluffy, green trees, that you actually don't need to water.....

Thanks to Mr. X for the septic system tour!