Posts

Opinion: The Abundance Choice, Part 10: Time to Stop Wasting Wastewater

/in , /by /California Globeby Edward Ring

If there is any source of water that ought to be optimized, it is the wastewater produced by California’s urban centers. Perennially issuing from sewage treatment plants throughout the state, every year this torrent of mostly treated effluent is equivalent in volume to the San Joaquin River in a wet year.

The California Department of Water Resources estimates statewide urban water consumption at approximately seven million acre feet per year. Just over three million of that total is estimated to be so-called “interior” water use, which means this water is flushed or drained through sewer systems into a wastewater treatment plant.

Full Story

As Sea Level Rise Threat Grows, SF Officials Don’t Have Public Plan to Save Sewers

/in , , /by /NBC Bay Areaby Stephen Stock, Robert Campos, Mark Villarreal, Michael Horn and Jeremy Carroll

Because Bay Area low-lying sewage treatment plants remain vulnerable to rising sea levels, government regulators told sewage facility managers to “provide a written plan for coping with SLR by the fall of 2021 – or they will be given a plan.”  The NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit reached out to 10 “at risk” sewage treatment plants to see those plans. All except one provided extensive documents of their proposals, the cost to address them, and even provided tours of completed work. San Francisco’s Public Utilities Commission replied to the Investigative Unit’s public records request that after a “diligent search for records…no records were found.” Other sanitary district officials were much more forthcoming about what they’ve already spent, what they’ve built and what they’re planning in the future to combat the rise in bay levels. All agreed seas are rising faster than expected.

Full Story

Colorado Sewage Treatment Plants are Examining Your Poop for Coronavirus Clues. Seriously.

/in , , /by /The Colorado Sunby Nancy Lofholm

For 24 hours starting early every Sunday morning, small pipes suck samples from the river of sewage flowing into the South Platte Water Renewal Partners wastewater treatment plant in Englewood for 24 hours.

The tubes deposit the raw sewage into containers inside a box that resembles a mini fridge. Goggled, masked and gloved workers then haul the samples to the plant lab, package it in special vials and overnight it to a lab near Boston.

Full Story