Purified Pismo Pee—Tastes Great!

Read all about Central Coast Blue here!
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/latest-news/article211170159.html

4/mg L Nitrogen!

Wow. These guys had even tougher standards than we did and our 7/mg L nitrogen, the Riverhead Sewer District on Long Island, New York.

https://www.tpomag.com/editorial/2018/05/a-new-york-plant-adopts-reuse-and-eliminates-the-pumping-of-100-million-gallons-of-groundwater-annually?utm_source=StreamSend&utm_medium=email&utm_content=newsletter&utm_campaign=180425

This was just a fascinating read because of our similarities in treatment plant size and their being near an estuary, the Peconic River Estuary. "....an EPA-designated nationally significant waterway. The shallow estuary has been prone to algae blooms, including the brown tide that decimated the scallop population in the 1980s."

I signed up for an online wastewater magazine subscription. I'm sure I was supposed to be a worker in the industry.... but due to living in a town with most likely the l-o-n-g-e-s-t sewer war in history that I am still writing about, it seemed like a useful idea for this blogger: https://www.tpomag.com/

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!)

Museum of London - FATBERG!!!

I was tardy getting all parts to The New York Times read from their April 1 edition. Last night I was cleaning out my office and ran across an article in the New York Times Magazine section called "Fatbergs." 

Sewer followers, this is a MUST READ!!!! Below is the link. Don't be put off by the subscription pop-up, just remove it by clicking the "X" in the upper right hand corner. The fatberg in question was broken up by sewage workers in hazmat suits and a section of it was saved and put into a London museum! That London fatberg, reported here in 2017, was the length of 22 double-decker buses and weighed the same as a blue whale! The online image is far superior to the print edition, so do NOT miss this article—and, as with all things New York Times, the writing is superlative!

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/27/magazine/letter-of-recommendation-fatbergs.html

Enjoy!

District 2 Supervisor Candidate With A Reclamator Past

Someone very interesting to Los Osos sewer history has popped up in our SLO County District 2 Supervisor's race - Patrick Sparks, the attorney for the "Reclamator" guy. Surely you remember crackpot Tom Murphy who tried to convince the citizens of Los Osos that we really didn't need a sewer, they needed a Reclamator in their yard instead? I think ("Wrecklamator" might have been a better name.)

(Click to enlarge images. Sadly, note the quotes around the words "Legal Opinion" on page 2!) 

Here is an article about Tom Murphy: https://calcoastnews.com/2008/10/reclamator-inventor-sues-water-resources-establishment/

Check out page 4 of the Regional Water Quality Control Board minutes to find Sparks and Murphy:
https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/rwqcb3/board_info/minutes/2008/05_08_mins.pdf

Read more "Wreclamator" and the Fraud Alert put out by the Water Board: https://www.newtimesslo.com/sanluisobispo/fraud-alert-doesnt-deter-reclamator-proponents/Content?oid=2945838

Sparks speaks at the Board of Supervisors (Item 7):

Mr. Patrick Sparks: AES Chief Legal Counsel, states  the Reclamator meets the Gold Standard for recycled water...

http://slocounty.granicus.com/MinutesViewer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=447

See a copy of the Water Board's Fraud Alert and what I wrote in 2017: http://losewersaga.blogspot.com/2017/07/ 

And last, but (maybe) least, here is the candidate Sparks himself, in an article in the CalCoastTimes: https://calcoasttimes.com/2018/02/03/patrick-sparks-enters-district-2-supervisor-race-macelvanie/

Here is a dangerous and a completely untrue Sparks quote: 

“Gibson cost the city of Los Osos in excess of $100 million for a sewer project that could have built a different way for less,” Sparks said. “The same problem is now occurring in Morro Bay.” 

First off, we are not a city, and crackpot technology will bomb just as bad in Morro Bay as it did in Los Osos. You people in Morro Bay really have to be careful about voting for someone willing to represent and support the inventor of an impossible faux sewer solution, which only caused the citizens of Los Osos time, confusion, and ultimately, money. 

San Francisco Sewer Video

Well, I suspect many of us reading this blog will not be around when our present sewer is ready for replacement, but here is a look at what San Francisco is up against:
http://abc7news.com/politics/sfs-aging-sewers-provide-gross-glimpse-into-need-for-repairs/2558293/

Check out the roaches! Reminds me of my hippie days in Venice, California.

ARB Lawsuit Settlement Followers Take Note

You will recall that there were not enough Supes present at the last Board of Supervisors meeting to be able to vote on $money$ matters, so here we go:

See item #2 under Board Business:
http://agenda.slocounty.ca.gov/agenda/sanluisobispo/1045/QWdlbmRh/6/n/91217.doc

And check all of the documents off of this link:
http://agenda.slocounty.ca.gov/agenda/sanluisobispo/Proposal.html?select=8476

Monarch Grove Hooking Up!

The Monarch Grove housing tract has had its own wastewater treatment plant since being built. All 83 homes are served by a tidy little package plant that of late has become a bit loose around the seams and in need of an expensive facelift, or abandonment—the cheaper and more reasonable way to go—to hook up to the Los Osos sewer.

First Monarch Grove had to be accepted into the Los Osos URL. There is a whole story as to why it wasn't, not to be gone into here, as I am trying to point your attention to a document from the Board of Supes, February 6.

http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/Departments/Public-Works/Forms-Documents/Projects/LOWWP/Monarch-Grove/2-6-2018-Monarch-Grove-Hearing.aspx

Read about the plan and rationale for "capacity charges" for Monarch Grove. The charges named for them will have no impact on what charges the rest of hook-up-ees are paying.

Sewer geeks, aside from Monarch Grovians, might want to attend the April 3 meeting of the BOS!

Poop Toys Hit The Market!

Well, hard to believe, but it is time for people older than babies to play with poop! Perhaps children will be the main customers, but I doubt it. Have a look:

https://www.hasbro.com/en-us/product/don-t-step-in-it:9988C0C6-451B-4FFA-8AE8-9C0DC66A32E9

https://nerditis.com/2017/12/22/life-in-plastic-toy-review-flush-force/

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

I could not find the toys on some of the manufacturer's websites, so here is a nifty compilation:
https://www.thegameaisle.com/2018-toy-fair-trends-part-1-poop/

At least these things are not home-made......

Gibson's Plan To Lessen Sewer Settlement Shock

Los Osian Facebook users, see how Bruce Gibson will help us with the ARB lawsuit settlement costs:
https://www.facebook.com/bruce.gibson.1069/posts/1604269509665995

There was a lot of talk about how the County was culpable in screwing this up resulting in a $9.95 million settlement to ARB, but this really is just hogwash. ARB was sneaky and low-bid one part of the two collection system contracts offered. Then they lost the other bid. When the work for that bid they won started to overwhelm what they planned for, they started to lose money, so they did a bunch of sketchy change orders, trying to squeeze the County for more $$$. 

The County had no choice but to accept ARB's bid and suspected that this was coming, but the law made them take it. (The other collection system bid was won by W.A. Rasic (remember the "WAR" logo on their equipment? No problems, on time, on budget.)

Gibson just posted tonight. He explained this plan this afternoon as his Los Osos Office Hours (February 22 - so I guess it is now yesterday afternoon.) He also outlined the plan again at the LOCAC meeting later, in the evening. He better get re-elected, or we might be screwed. No one else could possibly know the ins and outs of this sewer game is played to be able to figure out how to protect us from a backbreaking payback. Especially in negotiating with the state to try to lower our EPA loan down from 2%. Maybe the whole thing could be refinanced, saving us a bundle!

When he posts this information on his webpage, you might find it yourself before I post the link here (for non-Facebook users).

This was posted on Nextdoor today, which is from Bruce's Facebook page:

Bruce said: My position on the proposed settlement of the Los Osos sewer lawsuit: While I’m not happy about it, I will support paying the $9.95 million settlement from the county’s general fund reserves at our Board of Supervisors meeting on March 6. This is the final bill for constructing the sewer and it closes a long and contentious chapter in the history of Los Osos. Sewer rates will not be changed at the March 6 meeting. Assuming these funds are to be repaid to the general fund by sewer users, I will not support raising rates above the maximum levels approved by ratepayers in 2009. Any increase above the maximum levels would have to be approved by ratepayers. The details: Q: Where’s the money coming from to pay this settlement? Short answer: From the county’s general fund reserves. Long answer: On March 6, the action before the Board is to pay the settlement using funds from the county’s Solar Plant Mitigation Funds. These funds were collected in lieu of the sales tax that would have been paid if the solar panels and other construction materials for the big California Valley solar projects had been purchased in SLO County. They mitigate the sales tax loss (not the projects’ physical impacts) and currently total about $15 million. Q: How will this affect sewer rates? Short answer: The effect is yet to be determined. No change to sewer rates will be made on March 6. I will not support raising rates above the maximum already approved by ratepayers in 2009 in order to pay this settlement (see question below). Long answer: The effect on sewer rates depends on, a) the BOS as a whole requiring the sewer ratepayers to repay the reserve fund, which seems likely, and b) how the repayment is financed in terms of interest rate and length of loan. I am currently working with county staff and the State Water Resources Control Board on a refinancing proposal that might produce a minimal effect on rates. It will take several months to know whether this can be accomplished, but the SWRCB indicated at the time of the original loan that we could ask for a reduction in the interest rate below the current level of 2%. Another approach, among others, might be to structure the repayment as a loan from the county’s general fund. Q: What maximum rate increase could you support? Short answer: Any increase must be within the voter-approved rates. The maximum charge for a single family home could be raised by about $4.79/month under the currently approved rate structure. Long answer: In 2009, sewer users voted to approve a “rates and charges” ordinance under the provisions of Proposition 218. For a single family home, the rate is currently $44.06/month (fixed) plus $7.54/month per unit of water used indoors. A “unit” is 100 cubic feet or 748 gallons. The average home is charged about $157/month total – less than the $165/month we had originally estimated. The maximum fixed rate authorized in 2009 is $48.85/month or $4.79/month more than currently. The maximum average charge would then rise to about $162/month. Q: What if the BOS wants to raise rates higher? Short answer: The board would have to put any greater rate increase to a vote by the sewer ratepayers under the provisions of Prop 218. The ratepayers then decide. Longer answer: I won’t support even asking ratepayers for such an increase to pay this settlement. Q: Why did the county get sued? Short answer: A contractor on the sewer’s collection system, ARB Inc., submitted a low-ball bid to get the contract and then wanted more money for the work they were obligated to perform. Long answer: The sewer’s collection system (pipes in the streets) was so big that we split the contract into roughly equal halves. ARB was awarded the contract on one half, with a low bid of about $26 million – way under the next lowest bid of almost $35 million. This appeared to be a low-ball bid, but the county was obligated by state public contracting law to accept it. As work progressed, ARB claimed they were owed more money for the work they contracted to do because of conditions in the field that they claimed the county should have told them about. The strategy of increasing payments through unjustified change orders is not uncommon in public contracting. Q: So was the county at fault for this by being incompetent, inattentive or deceptive? Short answer: No. Long answer: The $26 million bid was clearly low when compared to the six competing bids, which ranged from approximately $35-$42 million. When ARB bid (unsuccessfully) on the other half of the collection system, their bid was $36 million. The county had stringent construction management procedures in place for both halves of the collection system. The contractor on the other half (W.A. Rasic, low bid of $29 million) made no unreasonable claims and completed their contract within budget. Q: Why is the county choosing to settle this lawsuit rather than fight it? Short answer: ARB claimed they were owed another $23 million. If this complex case went to trial, we would likely expend another $1.5 million in attorney and expert fees and risk an unsympathetic jury awarding them the $23 million they sought. We held our nose and agreed to a $9.95 million settlement to avoid that risk. Long answer: This case is extremely complex, involving the arcane details of construction practice and contract law. In four years of defending this litigation, we have already spent over $2.4 million on attorney and expert fees. The case was moved out of the SLO County courts and is being heard in Santa Maria, where juries are expected to be unsympathetic toward government.

ARB Lawsuit Over At Last!

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/article200135409.html

Well, it is finally over. And sad to say, it is cheaper to settle than to fight the thing. ARB didn't follow the rules. I guess they have paid their attorneys too during all of this time. So they, like we, are out that money. We did get a sizable discount anyway, which is also how these things usually go.

Here is the original article on the lawsuit:
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/article200135409.html 

Read the County staff report here:
http://agenda.slocounty.ca.gov/agenda/sanluisobispo/8402/SXRlbSBEb2N1bWVudCAoUHVibGljKSA=/14/n/90145.doc

Religious Beliefs V. Sewering Needs

I have a Google news alert for the word "sewer." I have used it for years to find interesting tidbits to post here when the news is slow in our little (but famous) corner of the sewer world. It is always amusing to find the postings for the word that are referencing a needle and thread or a sewing machine! Such is the oddball English language.

Anyway, I ran across an article that illuminated a unique reason for declining hooking up to a sewer. One would have thought with our deep and extensive decades-long sewer war that this might have come up here, but it did not.

Please do have a look and maybe you will find this story as fascinating and compelling as I did:

http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/pennsylvania_court_orders_amish_family_to_use_electric_sewer_pump

http://www.pennlive.com/news/2018/01/amish_electricity_court_ruling.html

Unconnected/No Excuse Properties Shrink To 68!

The latest Basin Management Committee meeting packet was released Friday evening (January 12) for the meeting to be held at the South Bay Community Center on Wednesday, January 17, 1:30 P.M.. Item 6, the Executive Director's Report, contained this interesting tidbit:

• As of 1/1/18, 95% of the lateral connections have been completed, an increase of 23 connections since last meeting.   

• Of the 214 unconnected properties, 79 are waiting for the County/USDA/LOCSD low income grant program to pay for their connection leaving 135 properties that may require enforcement. Of the 135 properties, 46 are in the process of connecting (ie: obtained a building permit), and 21 have responded to the County’s survey giving reasons why they are not connected yet. Subtracting those categories leaves 68 properties (1.6% of 4200 total connections) that are the focus of the Code enforcement process.  

• The County had to cancel the Nov. 7 BOS meeting regarding enforcement. The County plans to go back to the Board with a County Code Amendment in a month or two. The intent is to strengthen our legal position regarding the enforcement process.

You might want to see what else is in the packet, which you can find off of this link:

https://slocountywater.org/site/Water%20Resources/LosOsos/

WOW! Russian BOTS In A Sewer Blog!

Those of you bots over in Russia who are bumping up my miniscule stats, WHY? 

I know you are not real, but any attention to a tiny sewer blog written from a tiny town to have so many hits, is....well....BIZARRE! 

What the HE-double-hockey-sticks are you doing sluicing around in American sewage? To what purpose? No one here is running for any office! 

PS - You know I can see you, right?

Giant Poop Creatures (And More)!

New find on the internet!

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2533074/russian-artist-sinks-to-new-low-by-making-sculptures-out-of-poo-to-celebrate-the-year-of-the-rooster/

New Times Article - Sewer Discount 4 Low Income

This will be a bonus for some - read the New Times article off this link:
https://www.newtimesslo.com/sanluisobispo/county-opens-los-osos-sewer-service-discount-program/Content?oid=4010093

Cuban Sewers

Where do I go when I want to find out some info quickly? Wikipedia!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_supply_and_sanitation_in_Cuba#Wastewater_treatment

Wastewater treatment

According to a 2006 report by the “Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba” to the US President, there are only five wastewater treatment plants in Cuba, and all of them are “inoperative”. They provide “some degree of treatment” to only four percent of collected wastewater, the remainder being discharged without treatment.

I was in Cuba recently, but only spent time in Havana or on a bus, (or in the Cienfuegos Bay, which is another story, although I did also visit the Bay of Pigs), so the manhole cover images I bring you below are all from Havana. Click the link to a map of Havana. I wish I could ID where each cover came from, but I can only generally say that they came from old town Havana. I did not know exactly where I was most of the time. Also, I did not see or smell anything untoward, so maybe it was the right season (no rain) or things have been upgraded:

https://moon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/01_01_Havana.jpg

The link directly below is a sewer disaster for your reading—well, not "pleasure," that's for sure. Hold your nose. I wasn't in Los Osos during the floods in 1995-96 where sewage emerged from the flooded underground and septic tanks popped up out of the ground, but this sounds baaaaaaddddd:
http://ens-newswire.com/2012/10/03/sewage-troubles-in-havana/

Perhaps it is understandable that the sewers are a bit balky, considering they were commissioned to be built around 1908 (actually built in 1915). Sources:

The Organic Municipal Law Of Cuba. You can get the free E-book off of this link: https://books.google.com/books?id=AoUVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA76&lpg=PA76&dq=sewers+in+cuba&source=bl&ots=t7mRwIc6gI&sig=8BTfGgUVEvg2gR1tZ97pGVFMWsA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjfwLrBsbjXAhUE5GMKHcUVDlwQ6AEIYTAL#v=onepage&q=sewers%20in%20cuba&f=false

http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/cuba/pollution.htm

Here is an interesting article on recent sewage problems:
https://translatingcuba.com/the-sewer-waters-phantom-truck-gladys-linares-hemosoido/

Well, happy reading on all of that!

On the ground—literally—in Havana, are my manhole captures. I can't be certain they are all for sewers, but the ones labeled "alcantarilla" most likely are. (If you click on each image, you can enlarge it, BTW.)

For the curious, I did take photos of things other than manhole covers, and I thought I might include a typical view from a street, but I guess I have maxed out my upload capabilities for a Blogspot post, I can't get anymore photos to upload.

Tame Sewer-Related YouTube Episodes

I was randomly watching TV tonight and happened upon the Mythbusters show. I thought I had recalled one of their programs from years past dealing with a sewer. What I found looking online to try to refresh my memory brought up the first two videos below. 

But this is not at all what I remembered! Then I realized the show was called "Dirty Jobs" and found you have to pay Amazon to watch it. Oh well, watching the two parts to blasting manhole covers in the air for free is OK, and I did find the cool videos of unclogging sewer lines in: Denton, Texas; Edina, Minnesota; Los Angeles, California.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DokeJj0pxPw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JrCYYLHQPY

Denton, Texas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xdoqcSOixs

Edina, Minnesota.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUyYd8T5jy4

Los Angeles, California.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fewPbl0k9VA

New Funds For Hook-Ups Up Hinge On Checkbook

UPDATE! Great news! The LOCSD passed the resolution tonight - those in need will get their lateral money. I don't know how long it takes to set up the account though, and real contractor bids will be needed by the applicants, so call the District office 805 528-9370 for more information. Penalties for not hooking up are apparently around the corner, so this really is here in the nick of time! There is around $139,000 left, so if you want to be part of figuring out ways to help people out with the rest of it, attend the Finance Committee meetings. Info for date and time will be posted on the LOCSD website.) 

There were funds gathered years ago by friends of low-income folks to be administered by the LOCSD to help with the sewer costs for the plant that was to be built back in the early 2000s (and delayed numerous times by lawsuits). That sewer project was stopped in 2005 and in the fallout from that, these funds went into a back burner Community Foundation savings account. This money was safe from being raided by the board that bankrupted the LOCSD. This money was sort of left to languish until the LOCSD posted this on their website:

The link to the live page is here (I am reposting this from an earlier post).

Now these funds are in another position. They need an OK from the LOCSD board to acquire a bank account and checkbook to disburse them. As with anything in Los Osos sewer-land, I do not feel comfortable that there is only one side to this apparent no-brainer. Take a look at the agenda item about this from the meeting that will take place tomorrow - Thursday night:, 7:00 p.m. at the District Office (some history is included there):
https://www.losososcsd.org/files/99c2e8b69/Agenda+Item+12A+Adopt+Resolution+Establishing+Bank+Account+for+Low+Income+Assistance+Funds+and+Approve+Applications.pdf

I hope that those of you interested in helping out the remaining people who need assistance with the hook-ups will show up tomorrow night at the LOCSD meeting and will say so when public comment times comes for this item. Supporting keeping the money here in Los Osos, with our far cheaper way to disburse this money as opposed to the County doing it, is important. If you can't show up, please write a letter of support to the board to do so.

Contact the board at this address: board@losososcsd.org

From A Once Sewer Problem Spot - The Key West Sewer!

Yes, little, tiny 1 mile by 4 mile Key West has a sewer! And has had one a lot sooner than that certain central coast town that was referred to in this blog's name. But that sewer was not without its own horrid fight.

The article linked below says it all, and we might appreciate the scope and cost of their $1 billion sewer project. FYI, in 1889 Key West was the largest and wealthiest city in Florida (unlike Los Osos in California, which has not hit that mark and likely never will):
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/article1980193.html

Here is the official link to their current sewer page:
http://www.cityofkeywest-fl.gov/department/division.php?structureid=164

Happy expansion of your sewer education!