Poop-Bots

I got a little behind (ha-ha!) on reading the New York Times (we get an actual paper delivery three days a week, and pixel version daily on Kindle - where I am also late to read stuff). I had been in LA and the stack of paper had piled up on the dining table threatening dinner plates. Realizing another weekend boatload starts up again tomorrow, I was racing through the old news tonight. But I did an abrupt stop on the section "WeekendArts1," where the word  "poop-bots" froze my scanning eyes. The article was called "Dream a Little Dream. I Dare You." Page one, just below the fold, was an article on a Netflix TV show, "Maniac." The sentence reads, "Tiny wheeled 'poop bots' trudge the sidewalks cleaning up dog waste."* Well, this sewer blogger wasn't going to let a blog topic like that go to waste (ha-ha!), so here is what I found:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rsYF9mIgDU

https://discordbots.org/bot/381409327673638923

https://poop-bot.github.io/

https://boingboing.net/2017/08/02/scatological-robots.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfhyB6VCMDQ


* New York Times, Friday, September 21, 2018

Fecal-Philiac Or Fecal-Phobic

Stinson Beach! Always a pleasure to share one of the well-written posts over here from the California Coastal Dweller!!

http://californiacoastdweller.com/2013/12/07/septic-tank-arguments-could-stinson-beach-be-the-fecal-philiac-pole-opposite-malibus-fecal-phobic-choice-of-sanitation/

I wrote those words above 2014 and never posted the blog blurb! So I thought it was high time to revisit Stinson Beach and see if they had solved their septic tank problem - just as we had! 

Well, they did, but not quite with the same solution. I found an article off the Orenco website on Stinson Beach! (Remember our old friends at Orenco—at every...single...meeting they could possibly attend???) Orenco may have struck out in Los Osos rather badly, but they hit the gold mine in Stinson Beach!

https://www.orenco.com/Portals/0/Documents/Article%20PDFs/Aug.pdf?ver=2018-08-02-145028-373

Lipstick On A WWTF With A Camera

Photographer Paul Cockrell has done the impossible, making wastewater treatment plants into works of art with his camera. Have a look:

https://www.tpomag.com/online_exclusives/2016/11/beautifying_wastewater_treatment_plants_one_photo_at_a_time?ref=related_sidebar

An interesting side note, Mr. Cockrell used to work as a water/wastewater design engineer for HDR. Guess who managed the construction on our WWTF? HDR!

https://www.hdrinc.com/sites/default/files/2017-05/hdr-extreme-sewer-makeover.pdf

I have to give credit to our own San Luis Obispo County photographers for their beautiful shots of our rather picturesque WWTF that we have seen in their drone shots and drone time-lapse videos. (Our setting for a sewer beats most too of course.)

5-G In London Sewers!

Sewer pipes do double duty.....yes, there is a pun in there - but sewer parts and products to go therein so easily lend themselves to that sort of thing, don't they?

https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/londons-sewers-set-for-5g-makeover/10035631.article?blocktitle=News-Feed&contentID=13612

http://www.rebresearch.com/blog/sewer-jokes-and-song/

💩

Red Tide, Blue Green Algae

"Thirty percent of the population uses septic systems."

New York Times, September 30, 2018

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/29/opinion/sunday/red-tide-florida-tourism.html

Ugh. If you want to see a close up of dead fish on a Florida beach, read the article linked above. Be glad there is no smell component to an online article.

Did you know that "More fertilizer is consumed in Florida than any other state but California, Illinois and Texas." Fertilizer, both commercial and people-made, is a big problem as the blue-green algae thrives on it. The blue-green algae kills the fish, just like the red tide. Hence the stench! Check the tides before you book your vacation.

Sewer's Farm Road

http://data.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/doc/4000000030541157

Yeah, I know.....how do they mean "sewer?" One who sews with needle and thread, or are they honoring a construction which one flushes into, which happens to be on a farm road - a sewer plant shoved out of town maybe (sound familiar Los Osians)? The town apparently named Abinger Bottom 😐........and it is in the Mole Valley, you know, underground tunnels. Well, this is yet another British Mystery! Perhaps a future someone in the know will leave a clarifying comment?

The Woeful World Of Wipes

Yes, it's been a while. I have been very engaged in writing on the local Los Osos Nextdoor which includes parts of Morro Bay. They are going through a sewer war, and I have been providing some Los Osos sewer background of what they don't want to do, namely, vote NO and change locations.

Happily, they did pass their 218 vote Tuesday evening to move on ahead with their WRF, Water Recycling Facility. Note the wording difference; ours was/is called the Los Osos Waste Water Project, LOWWP. We are recycling water too, but we sound a little more old school. Well, since our plant started back in the cave man days, I guess it would, but these days recycled water is a lot more hip of a term than "waste water." It sure sounds better anyway. The idea of wasting water is firmly brain ingrained as a no-no in Los Osos. But I digress.

I subscribe to a newsletter from the wastewater industry, TPO, for Treatment Plant Operator. Since I have written on wipes in the past, I thought I would update you all (who are not in the industry) on how the problem has been combatted in this modern age. So have a look and get educated. This grinder thinger doodle looks to be able to take care of even the false teeth that occasionally wind up at wastewater treatment plants—I mean water reclamation plants!
https://www.tpomag.com/online_exclusives/2018/09/wipes-arent-going-away_sc_003ey?utm_source=campaigner&utm_campaign=180912&utm_content=newsletter&cmp=1&utm_medium=email

Jolly Video Of The LOWWP Being Built!

I was sticking my nose one again into the Nextdoor posts on the Morro Bay Sewer..... well, the word "debacle" sure does not fit the low key sewer battle they are having - maybe I can use the work "skirmish?" This is nothing like what possessed and emanated from the sewer followers over here. Fortunately.

But I digress. I was researching something to include in a post and I ran across a video that I had never seen before! It is just delightful, toe-tappingly so! It is early on in the sewer building process, so not much is built, but it is really worth a viewing! I have no idea who the creator of the video, the Mimiaga Engineering Group * is, so now I have to look them up.

Click this link, not the image:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tyq3GNtLU1s

Note: Farmland.

* Oh! There we are, right on their Home Page! They were a sub-consultant to HDR, one of our main contractors. LOVE the video guys!!

Cayucos Sanitary Plant

Does anyone (besides me) see anything unintentionally hilarious in this screen capture?

Sewer Salmon!

OK. it is not quite sewer salmon, but the alliteration made such a good headline! What it really is, is salmon being raised in the treated wastewater from the Bangor, Maine WWTF. The salmon are the draw to get people to visit, and in the process, the plant gets to show off what a glorious transformation it can do to poopy water! Read the story here:

https://www.tpomag.com/online_exclusives/2018/07/effluent-raised-salmon-gets-community-involved-in-wastewater-treatment?utm_source=StreamSend&utm_medium=email&utm_content=newsletter&utm_campaign=180725

BTW, one can find great stuff in TPO magazine!

Sewer Socialism

OK, this is a bit off topic, but it did involve sewers! 

Quote, "Milwaukee Socialists sought to reform the legacy of the Industrial Revolution on the local level by cleaning up neighborhoods and factories with new sanitation systems....."

(Learn about something that you never heard of! It may come in handy if you get on "Jeopardy.")

https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/tp-043/?action=more_essay

Alligator Swimming In Treatment Plant Pond

Our Los Osos sewer news is slower than frozen pancake batter these days, but fortunately other treatment plants have more exciting goings on! The Mineral Springs Wastewater Treatment Plant in Clearfield County Pennsylvania has a guest swimmer! Have a look at this video (and never mind the prologue ad - mine was for a law firm specializing in debt cases, a guy had his car towed, was going to have a problem getting to work, and got zero sympathy from the tow truck driver).

https://wjactv.com/news/local/gator-hunt-animal-seen-swimming-in-sewage-treatment-plant

Los Osos Park Septic Tank

Fun Fact: Well, it is gone now, likely filled in with slurry, but the Los Osos Community Park, when built, was outfitted with restrooms that flushed into an 800 gallon septic tank! I was researching something else at County offices today and ran into that tidbit. You never know where something sewery will pop up when researching any aspect of Los Osos!

San Francisco's Poop Problem

You can't say I never bring you horrible stories!

https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/state/california/article214320174.html

Who collected this stuff is what I want to know, and I suppose WHY, too.

Recycled Toilet Paper!

Yeah - really!! My dear friend just found this group on Facebook - but as you all might not be there, I am giving you a link to their website:

https://us.whogivesacrap.org

You must see this video!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S4YGaz-7EE&version=3&hl=en_US%3Bautoplay%3D1

Stay and watch the second video, it gives a good explanation of what this is about - it's a TED talk.

Thanks XXXX for the tip!!  (And I won't give your name out, as you might not want to be identified on a sewer blog!)

Crocheted Toilet Paper

I was noodling around on Tumblr tonight and found this - have a look:

https://picsthatmakeyougohmm.tumblr.com/post/174918758345/hmmm

This just is not practical.

Movie - "Toilet: A Love Story"

This is a real movie:

"Directed by Shree Narayan Singh, the film was retitled Toilet Hero (Cesuo Yingxiong) for the China market. The movie tells the story of an Indian man who manages to win back the heart of his newlywed wife by building an in-house toilet for her, a break from the local custom of doing one's business out in the open air. The film was inspired by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Clean India Movement, a campaign to improve sanitary conditions in the country."

Above is a quote from the Hollywood Reporter, see the full article here:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/china-box-office-indian-comedy-toilet-a-love-story-tops-quiet-weekend-1118937

I often wonder if our "Magic Sand" sewer story isn't movie worthy too. I just wouldn't call it a love story; it falls more into the tragedy category, with many sad vignettes that played out over the many years of looming crisis. Bring a full roll of toilet paper (as opposed to a box of Kleenex) to the premier if it ever comes to a cineplex near you.

Trump Solves Sewage Problem

No, I'm not talking about PRESIDENT Trump, but developer Trump, who managed to hide 24,000,000 gallons of sewage. Really!  There are SO MANY things I could say here, but I'll just give you a link to the article!

https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-donald-trump-tried-to-cash-in-by-dumping-sewage-into-the-hudson-river

Beer Has Pee Too!

I did not realize how much wastewater is generated by a gallon of beer - 6 to 8 gallons of plain water go to make 1 bubbly golden gallon - and more than half of that is WASTEWATER! Read all about it here (yikes):
https://www.tpomag.com/online_exclusives/2018/04/muffin_monster_takes_over_when_macerators_cant_cut_it_sc_001s5?ref=related_body

Los Osos Sewer Lateral Etc. Update!

The Basin Management Committee which manages the Los Osos water basin by court order meets today, May 16. There was sewer related info in the Executive Director's Report which will be of interest to sewer readers here!

Here is a quote from that report:

Los Osos Wastewater Project Flow and Connection Update

•   Of the 177 unconnected properties, 72 are waiting for the County/USDA/LOCSD low- income grant program to pay for their connection leaving 105 properties that may require enforcement. Of the 105 properties, 32 are in the process of connecting (ie: obtained a building permit), and 13 have responded to the County’s survey giving reasons why they are not connected yet. Subtracting those categories leaves 60 properties (1.3% of 4583 total parcels) that are the focus of the Code enforcement process.
  
  
•   The County is in the process of securing a Board date & preparing a staff report to amend the County Code. The Board date is scheduled for August 7, 2018.
  
•   
  Influent flows into the treatment facility are peaking at 0.50 mgd. No recycled water deliveries have been made to irrigation users yet. Effluent is being disposed at both Broderson and Bayridge leachfields. As of 3/31/2018, effluent disposal totaled 133.7 AF to Broderson and 6.5 AF to Bayridge leachfields. The development of the expected groundwater mount downgradient of Broderson continues as shown in the attached recent hydrograph of monitoring well FW-6. Recycled water agreements are being finalized with LOCSD and GSWC for the delivery of recycled water to the schools and urban areas, and the schools will be retrofitted to receive recycled water during the 2018 summer break.
  

Option to Bring Morro Bay Wastewater to Los Osos WWRF
Similar to staff’s last update, it was determined that both summer and winter peak day flows at the City of Morro Bay are expected to exceed the available capacity in the Los Osos Wastewater Reclamation Facility, and therefore an expansion would be required to accommodate the higher flows. A number of peak day flows of over 3 mgd have been observed at the existing Morro Bay facility. Additional information on the Morro Bay project can be found here: http://morrobaywrf.com/. 

View the entire report here: https://www.slocountywater.org/site/Water%20Resources/LosOsos/pdf/2018-05-16%20Los%20Osos%20BMC%20Meeting%20Agenda%20Packet.pdf