Deluxe Sewer Tour, Part 2

Well it took long enough for me to get to Part II. To refresh your knowledge, or if you missed it, here is a link to Part 1. 

We left off touring the headworks. I forgot to mention that 8.34 pounds "stuff," avoiding a more descriptive word, which comes into the headworks, yields 1 gallon of water, containing a myriad of microscopic "goodies!"  there are 41 lift stations throughout town all working to push this stuff along. The main lift station has three pumps, two of which work at any given time. It is pushed along the force main and arrives at the headworks.

And now we turn 180º to the the end of the Oxidation Ditch, viewing the part that is called the "anoxic zone," the next step in the process after the headworks.

(Click on a picture to enlarge it.)

This zone has very little oxygen in it and the contents are mixed slowly. This is where anaerobic bacteria convert nitrate into nitrogen gas. (This is similar but different from intestinal gas which also uses bacteria to create gas - although some bacteria actually consume gas; hydrogen, carbon dioxide and sulphur-containing gasses are the vaporous result.) Standing next to this vat, while not a perfume factory type experience, was far less offensive than standing next to some gas-emitting biological unit, as say, in a crowded elevator.

The two photos below, well, I am not sure what they are showing.

The handy signs ID some of this stuff.

I have NO idea why I didn't publish this ages ago. I know I have more notes from the tour somewhere, but finding them now.......... Well, I do see some leftover fabric from a skirt I made in the 7th grade, but most of this is stuff on the Los Osos CSD and the sewer! There are worse obsessions I believe.

Cal Poly's "Sewer Tour"

Today in the Tribune, photographer David Middlecamp posted a photo from the vault about a long gone Cal Poly tradition for new students called the "Sewer Tour!" It is gross and hilarious! Have a look:

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/photos-from-the-vault/article114325738.html

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!

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.