Gazing Into The Mysterious Depths......

.......Of what you might ask. 

Could it be a piece of pottery? 

A Christmas ornament sans the metal cap? 

Perhaps a window into the universe?

Actually, none of the above. 

Had you been where I was standing, had you wobbled due to horrific aromas, you too might have wanted to change the the reality of what there was in the lens of your cell phone with Photoshop, 

Reality is what you see below, and I'm happy to not be able to include the Smell-O-Vision version here, but I can next year if we both buy this (wouldn't that be not fun?):

Above you see a really LARGE septic tank just having been pumped. 

I will be glad when the last putrid smells become diluted into the breeze, the contents of our tanks are pumped one last time, and they are finally put out to pasture in noble and gainful use as rainwater catchment chambers, or perhaps, simply and humbly filled with rocks.

Video of Ox Ditch and Sewer Construction Pix!

Check out the Trib for video and an article on our wastewater treatment plant-in-the-making! If the oxidation ditch (or racetrack) container was complete, the interviewer and the interviewee would be standing in 12 turbulent feet of swirling water (2 feet per second) with floaters! Yikes.

There are also photos of the current construction.

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2014/10/07/3284610_construction-underway-on-los-osos.html?sp=/99/100/&rh=1

County Postcard! County Update!

The latest communication shows an arial photo of the treatment plant, a sewer timeline, and a reminder of retrofitting your fixtures!

See it at this link:
http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/Assets/PW/LOWWP/Wastewater+Project+update+postcard+Sept2014.pdf

Find on this link below the project update for August 2014:
http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/Assets/PW/LOWWP/PM+Monthly+Update+Oct2014.pdf

The photos are awesome, and the contract information on how the project is going, interesting (at least to sewer geeks).

Ship Shape Sewage

Toilet in the cabin.

For those of you wondering how sewage is handled on a ship, and I know there is at least one, or maybe a half of you out there, here is some information specific at least to a cruise up the Danube, at least on the Viking ship, Delling, (who was a Norse god known as the "father of the day," or "bringer of the dawn"). I suspect this information is true for all river cruises, at least those in Europe.

Read more here:

http://www.imo.org/OurWork/Environment/PollutionPrevention/Sewage/Pages/Default.aspx

Sadly, Hungary, Austria and The Czech Republic are not included here.

http://www.noonsite.com/Members/val/R2009-01-16-1

http://www.rya.org.uk/infoadvice/boatingabroad/pages/holdingtanks.aspx

https://www.gov.uk/prevent-pollution-and-reduce-harmful-emissions-at-sea

www.thetravelfoundation.org.uk/.../3_-_Operational_management_of_river_cruise_ships.pdf

‎

www.ebcd.org/pdf/presentation/215-Mr._Grammerstorf.pdf

I consulted our ship's Program Director Marek S., who, if he thought I was nuts, and I wouldn't blame him if he did, did not give it away in the least, and was very helpful.

Readers, the flushage is NOT going into the river! Like modern trains, and some lakeside houses around the world, the flush part is handled by a vacuum system. Here, it is held in a tank on board ship and disembarks into the city systems, a watery passenger as it were, at docking. In our case, however, only to big cities like Budapest, Vienna and Nuremberg, as needed.

I had first gone on a wheelhouse tour to ask about this, but the crew referred me to Mr. S.. There just wasn't the language to convey the specifics I guess, or so it seemed, although English was spoken and was very clear on the various technical aspects of wheelhouse equipment. Perhaps it was the polite Hungarian way of saying they really didn't want to get onto this particular topic with a crazy American woman.

View over the Second-in-Commands shoulder, who was piloting, showing the contours of the river.

Monitoring view of the ship's water system and tank levels. Didn't take good notes, so this is fresh water or ballast water.

This is the point where I asked for the crew member to bring up the sewage tank screen to show tank levels and got the broken English.

We docked at night in Nuremberg, which was the end of the on-the-water part of the trip. I don't know if things then flowed into the city. Or in Vienna, or Budapest for that matter. I was off touring much of the time rather than watching the ship's discharging. Although we missed the bus one day, so saw crates of beautiful potatoes and apples come on board. 

But here is a shot of a compartment open on the ship's hull. Not at all sure what I was seeing, those ports with plugs and all.

Then, on another ship that was docked, I saw this blue hose hooking up to something that looked like a city utility. But I think it was only water.

To be continued sometime......

Budapest Sewers for a Change of Pace!

Sewage is worldwide, and with traveling, especially when all to report from our own home sewer situation has already been reported on for the moment, it is time to expand our sewer horizons to other parts of the world!

The reason I show you the Budapest Opera House to locate us in Budapest, Hungary, instead of pastries or something, or even perhaps the world famous Parliament Building, is because our sewer saga would fit nicely into an operatic setting, you know, lots of angst and drama....just imagine the shrill voices, shrieks and loud protests with discordant violins! But in English, of course. And sewer talk around pastries is not very pleasant, despite where they end up.

I will give you a few examples of manhole covers I have found, but as what lies beneath them, sewage, electrical, cable, other services of an unknown nature, unless you read Hungarian, your guess is as good as mine.

Fortunately, there is an English page for the current sewer system (note, do we Americans respond to courteously to web crawlers from other countries in their native tongues?):

http://www.fcsm.hu/en/services/drainage_of_wastewater_and_rainwater/sewer_network_operation/

When you find yourself in Budapest, you can also think sludge!

Here is a tidy history of the development of sewers in Buda and Pest!
http://v.fcsmzrt.hu/en/company_information/the_history_of_the_sewage_of_budapest/general_sewerage

Here is a tour, "Making a sanitary sewer the first destination on a 5 day road trip was perhaps not the most sensible of decisions."
http://www.thewinch.net/?p=3522

Happy reading!

PS - not sure why some images don't show a thumbnail on this page, but the wireless is a bit buggy on this ship. Click the missing link image to see the larger image, it is there.

WWTF Project Costs to Date 6/60/14

Correction! The date is 6/30/14. Months these days feel like they contain 60 days....

It is part of the BOS agenda for Tuesday, September 16, the "Fiscal Year 2013-14 Year-end Financial Status Report" for the Los Osos Wastewater Project.

You can see those costs off this link:
http://agenda.slocounty.ca.gov/agenda/sanluisobispo/3817/TG9zIE9zb3MgUHJvamVjdCBDb3N0IEVzdGltYXRlcyBwYWdlIG9ubHkgMTMtMTQucGRm/12/n/33628.doc

The project moves forward; the sewer gets closer and closer, lo, these many bygone years, to the "flush and forget" stage. I can almost imagine the blowback talking points to my statement from those who have hated the sewer idea from the beginning, but now fully embrace the return-water as a valuable resource that I dare not be flippant about. Take a break folks, lighten up. This is the reality; most of us will simply flush and forget, and allow the professionals to requisition the recycled water, as conditioned by the California Coastal Commission, to the proper and appropriate destinations. I will imagine that reality instead, professionals in charge, as they have been since 2007, January 1, following a tragic and expensively fallow, year-plus hiatus.

The County's Latest Mailer!

All about water conservation of course! Mine arrived Thursday, September 11. Blue on the tiny map mean low-flow fixtures have been installed. There are still yellow spots needing to go blue. I am one of them. All done (showers, toilets, bathroom faucets, a new HE washer—check) but for one lousy tap. I need to call a second plumber to see how to reduce the flow, the first plumber tried but couldn't. My solution is to eat out more and to use paper plates. Less dishes to wash that way, (it is in the kitchen).

CDOs on Regional Water Board Agenda!

Find relevant links here for the September 25, 2014 meeting:

Agenda link—see Item 13, "Enforcement"
http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/centralcoast/board_info/agendas/2014/Sepember/agenda_files/agenda_sep2014%20a.htm

Relevant documents page, off which are numerous links.
http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/centralcoast/board_info/agendas/2014/Sepember/item13/index.shtml

To cut to the chase, the Enforcement Staff's recommendations are thus:

1. The County has not yet completed the community system, and while we are confident that it will, this outcome is not guaranteed.
   
2. The main requirement of the orders, hooking up to the sewer when it becomes available, cannot yet be complied with. This requirement should stay in place until the system is available.
   
3. Even when the system is available, there may be dischargers in the prohibition zone who are reluctant or refuse to hook up. Leaving these orders in place maintains a disincentive for order recipients to continue violating the prohibition after construction of the sewer system. 

We ALL should have gotten CDOs OR NOVs to begin with. In other words, we all should have been treated equally. While I disagreed many times with the frantic fight against these orders, as in real life, they didn't amount to much unless one chose to react that way about them (think of all of those who simply signed that paper and moved on), the unfairness to not be treated equally, I think, we can all agree on.

There are just as many NOV holders, probably more actually, who may not comply with hooking up to the sewer when it is available, so point 3 just seems to be a way to cut costs or something on a CDO holder who does not comply. In other words, maybe the Board would have to start from scratch with a non-compliant NOV holder, but it wouldn't with a CDO holder? Again, it just looks like playing unfavorites. 

So, IMHO, I believe the Board should adopt the resolution offered which TERMINATES these orders!
http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/centralcoast/board_info/agendas/2014/Sepember/item13/item13_att2.pdf

Coast Starlight Sewage Update

As we wait until 2016 for our very own wastewater treatment facility, here is another sewage narrative to keep you entertained!

So...in case you were wondering, and I know 99.9% of you were not and that's OK, what happens to the collected sewage, hand wash water and shower water on trains, after you flush or the water goes down the drain? It is stored in a holding tank, then off-loaded from this yellow-capped pipe shown in the pix below (click the images for larger views).

The train attendant that I asked wondered about my question and I said that I wrote a sewer blog. He kept his poker face straight, but the passengers around him did not. I won't elaborate. None of them lived in Los Osos, I'm just sure of that.

Anyway, earlier in the trip, I got some shots of strange, green kitty litter-looking stuff on a neighboring track:

Now there were several blobs of this green stuff over a couple of miles. Trains no longer dump excreta on the tracks as they once did, so it couldn't be human-use kitty litter. But how about some granular stuff for oil spills? So I found webpage and the product comes in industrial sized quantities too! http://www.bradyid.com/bradyid/pdpv/GS-10.html No idea if that is what this stuff was. Perhaps instead a variety of railway mold?

Following the moldy thread, read the text on the link below and click on the link "Alien Sludge" for a photo that does not look like this one above, but worth viewing anyway. The dialogue describing it is pertinent. http://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing/comments/1evhg7/alien_sludge_found_near_railroad_tracks/  I did find a desiccated opossum head that looked like a dried fig lying on the platform in Salinas....where I shot the yellow-capped pipe while the train was being repaired for five hours.

Salinas BTW, has a sewer system, here's the proof:

On another track altogether, you might enjoy another sort of train, one that RUNS on sewage.

http://www.treehugger.com/cars/poo-poo-train-runs-on-the-weight-of-sewage.html

Seitz Explains Measure B News - Zombie Precautions Not Needed

A new feature of LOCSD meetings is the District's legal counsel explaining what HE is working on. I won't go down the long list of his jobs (I was really amazed at the work performed in just one month) but will update us all here in sewer-land on the dreaded Measure B and why it appeared on the LOCSD Closes Session agenda on September 4, 2014. 

"Housekeeping" said Mike Seitz. So, even though there will be a "case management" meeting on Monday, September 8, in court, it really won't amount to much. The Measure B suit from the Regional Water Quality Control Board was suspended by the bankruptcy, and as we have seen, the bankruptcy appears month after month on the LOCSD closed session agendas, as the many leftover bits and pieces need to be swept up and disposed of. In this case, "injunctive relief" is the bit to be put to rest in the dustbin of sewer history.

Let us all hope that this goes as expected with our long dead Measure B. Zombies can be vanquished in a variety of methods according to which movie you wish to cite. Experts vary in their opinions. But substantial structural destruction to any part of the brain seems to do the trick. Substantial destruction to District finances from this folly might finally be put to rest as well.

LOWWP Update July 2014

The County has posted a new update! Check out all that cool rebar and see what is inside of the pump stations and generator buildings! Find it all at this link!

http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/Assets/PW/LOWWP/PM+Monthly+Update+July+2014.pdf

Vacuum Toilet, The Coast Starlight

In case you were wondering how this looks in a Superliner Bedroom, here you go!

And here is how IT goes.....vacuum!

The Best Places to Pee, Portland

When in Portland....pee as the hip Portlanders do!

I found this unlikely book in a magazine called Portland and had to check out the book's website:

http://thebestplacestopee.com/purchase-the-best-places-to-pee/

I'll have to order this when I get home, I'm sure I'll be back in Portland. It is quite a fabulous town for things other than peeing, although there are a LOT of micro breweries around here which lend the need to!

(I'm not sure one could make a book out of all the public places to pee in Los Osos however, but maybe a small pamphlet.)

A Different View....

A few days ago I traveled by train from San Luis Obispo to Portland, Oregon. It was quite an enjoyable trip! So of course when you have a sewer blog, you tend to notice things out the window such as wastewater treatment plants that might just blend into the background for the casual viewer. This is a slice of SLO County that you don't get from a road trip!

First, I concluded that this must be the wastewater treatment facility for Cuesta College and The Men's Colony, as after the plant, the very next thing was The Men's Colony. I couldn't find a website for the plant itself but the plant is visible from Google Earth if you'd like an overhead.

I caution you that these are dirty train windows with added glare, not a crusty camera lens.

On the way to the next point of interest is this blocked off tunnel. Click on the image below and look at the lower left portion, a heads up for what is coming up next.

The Atascadero Wastewater Treatment Plant.

To learn more about the Atascadero Wastewater Treatment Plant, click the link below:
http://www.atascadero.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=644&Itemid=1666

Then we have an unknown spoutage shot. It is in San Miguel and right by Courtside Cellars. Not sure who it belongs to as Courtside is a pretty big operation and probably has a fair amount of wastewater to deal with, and there is a certain joyous feel to the spritz!

I hope to find more shots on the way back. I confess, I missed some from towns along the way north.

The Measure B Blot on CSD Agenda

Measure B! Remember that moldy corpse from the past, say 2005-ish? Well, if you don't, just read about it off this link. I find it too painful to go over one more time! It would be fair to say it cost the district thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars in legal feels and, finally, it was declared invalid. Measure B stopped the $154 million sewer to bring us, when the County accepted the sewer project from the State, an $183 million sewer. "We Delay, We Pay" was the slogan back then and boy, has that ever been true. Look at the sewer cost history if you can stand to.*

Anyway, on the September 4, 2014 Closed Session portion of the Los Osos CSD agenda, Measure B once again rises from the dead invoked by the Regional Water Quality Control Board. The agenda item reads:

2. A.
RWQCB v. LOCSD in SLO Superior Court (CV051074) - Injunctive Relief Measure B

Well, we all know that what goes on in Closed Session, remains in Closed Session and we very seldom know what goes on in there. I tried to find that case on the SLO County Superior website, but no luck. Really, the definitions online for "injunctive relief" don't quite make sense here.

So we are left with speculation as to why this is here. Maybe this is simple housecleaning to discuss closing out the books on this? That is my hoped for wish.



*This is a copy & paste from a Word document that I got from Sorrel Marks at the Regional Water Quality Control Board:

Los Osos Wastewater Project – Timeline and Project Costs Increases

Date     Project Cost     Basis of Delays & Cost Estimates

1984    $34.6 million   Phase II Facilities Planning Study by Brown & Caldwell

1987    $48.5 million   Final Los Osos Wastewater Project EIR by The Morro Group

1991                                                    CAWS v. SLO County & RWQCB (Superior Court)*

1992                                                    CAWS v. SLO County (Superior Court)*

1995    $62.3 million   Los Osos Wastewater Study Task G Report on Detailed Evaluation of

Alternatives by Metcalf & Eddy

1997                            Supplemental EIR addressing treatment plant locations

1997                                                    TAPPS Appeal Coastal Development Permit to Coastal Commission

1997                                                    Coastal Commission requires additional Alternatives Evaluation

1997                                                    CAWS v. SLO County (Superior Court)*

1999                                                    CSD formed, begins new project development

2001    $84.6 million   Final Project Report by Montgomery Watson

2001                                                    Coleman v. Los Osos CSD (Superior Court)*

2001                                                    Keller v. Los Osos CSD (Federal Court)*

2001                                                    Keller v. Los Osos CSD (Federal Appeals Court)*

2002                                                    Keller v. Los Osos CSD (request for en banc review)*.

2002                                                    Grand Jury Investigation Report*

2002                                                    CASE v. California Coastal Commission (Superior Court)*

2003    $93 million                  50% Design cost estimate       

2004                                                    Cal Cities v. RWQCB & Los Osos CSD (Superior Court)*

2004                                                    CCLO/CASE Appeal Development Permit to Board of Supervisors

2004                                                    CCLO/CASE/Bhuta Appeal Development Permit to Coastal Commission

2004    $110 million    Redesign cost estimate

*All litigation has been ruled in favor of the wastewater project

CCLO = Concerned Citizens of Los Osos

CASE = Citizens for Affordable and Safe Environment

CAWS = Citizens for Affordable Wastewater Systems

TAPPS = Taxpayers Against Percolation Ponds

Sewer Plant Construction Site Tour!!

September 25, 2014: Public Tour of the Water Recycling Facility construction site from 5pm to 6pm.  For more information and to sign up to attend, contact Rosalyn Piza at rpiza@co.slo.ca.us or (805) 788-2759.

This was copied and pasted right off the County's Los Osos Wastewater Treatment Plant website website at:

http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/PW/LOWWP.htm

Make your appointment now! Plus, scan the website if you have not done so in a while!!

Sewer-Water, the County's New Website!

Part of the Los Osos sewer project are the mandatory-for-hook-up to the sewer water conservation measures. The County just put up a new website, http://conservelososos.org/ to assist anyone not yet on board. Everything is explained on what you need to do, including a video on how to install a new shower head! (Also a map of which areas need to do these measures.)

Needless to say, the sooner you are tricked out with these water saving measures, the more you will be saving our water basin!

Largest Latin American Sewer!

A behemoth sewer that will be ten years in the making in 2018 is being dug under Mexico City! A tunnel the width of a three-lane highway deserves a mention on Los Osos' tiny sewer blog. Read the story off the link below:

http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_268779/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=gqCNRhIf

However, on a more alarming note, I found a fascinating article on Mexico City's water; drinking and sewer (aguas negras). I have never been to Mexico City, only Puerta Vallarta, Los Mochis,  Escuinapa (where the car had a flat), Tepic, (where I think I had some KFC for lunch) and Tijuana, (but I only got sick when I ate raw oysters in PV). It is sobering to find what can happen if you don't clean up your water:

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/feb/05/mexico-city-water-torture-city-sewage

Video Lesson in Proper Roman Bathroom Behavior

To pick up again on the Roman sewer theme I found an unexpected video! Thanks go to the BBC's "Horrible Histories!"

Resolution 83-13, Apocalypse Then and Now

The resident turnover in Los Osos is probably low compared to other places. The only stats I could find was off this website http://www.city-data.com/city/Baywood-Los-Osos-California.html#b where 6.77% of this county's 2006 resident taxpayers lived in other counties in 2005. So what is correct for Los Osos today, I don't know.

The point being however, as it was with me when I got here, there is a certain percentage who know very little about about the sewer history in Los Osos and how it got that way. And there is a certain percentage of longer time residents who don't know either. Depending on who you talk to, there can be quite a variation in stories.

One good place to learn the still-relevant history, although it makes a difficult read due to funky typing and primitive and hideous scanning, is to read the actual Resolution 83-13 by the Regional Water Quality Control Board (Region 3). What is the Prohibition Zone and why do we have one?

http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/centralcoast//water_issues/programs/los_osos/docs/1983_09_27_memo_bp_amendment_res_83_13.pdf

The timetable for building a sewer was outlined thus:

• Begin Design November1, 1984
• Complete Design November 1, 1985
• Obtain Construction Funding December 1, 1985
• Begin Construction April 1, 1986
• Complete Construction November 1, 1988

Yikes. COMPLETELY UNREALISTIC!

The draft of 83-13, with a much easier map to see just where the PZ landed, is on this document.

http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/centralcoast/water_issues/programs/los_osos/docs/draft_res_83_12_000.pdf

The Staff Report for 83-13 is also illuminating, where the lot size to be excluded from "THE ZONE" was lowered to 1/2 acre.

Here is a tasty morsel from that report:

Adoption of this amendment will help prevent numerous problems that have resulted from on-site disposal systems. Water quality problems have resulted from systems located in sites unsuitable for on-site systems such as improper soils, areas of high groundwater, areas of high bedrock, or on lots that are too small. Inadequate design, inferior construction, inadequate operation and maintenance, inadequate local agency regulation, and a lack of consideration of the cumulative impacts of on-site systems have also contributed to such problems.

Also relevant is this document, Resolution 84-13, an amendment to 83-13. It adds that while the addition of 1,150 additional homes (but no more!) would increase the nitrogen in the groundwater, it would not result in the degradation of the quality of the lower groundwater aquifer.

http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/centralcoast/water_issues/programs/los_osos/docs/1984_01_19_res_84_13.pdf

Amazing how this lack of a sewer went on for so long. And how a lessening of the actual water supply from the lower aquifer was not though of at all with the addition to so many new homes prior to 1987. 

The whole story is pretty amazing. Not in a good way of course.