Stick a Cork in it
A few Sewer Workshop notes…
I have been asked several times recently why I don’t teach, or coach “Sewer” and instead been mainly focused on Water topics.
I really haven’t given it much thought…
I already wrote a book that achieved a #1 Best Seller through Amazon/Kindle– the subject was in the almost solely in the realm of Sewer Utilities.
I keep saying that, “sewer” but ever since I left my longest-term job site, where I spent 33 years, It was commonly called “the Sewer Department.”
It has stuck.
And ever since I left that community, it has been only called “Wastewater”.
But I have always called it “Sewer” so bear with me if it that former term creeps out once in a while.
Can I teach or rather write a short post on this subject?
Well, yes!
Like almost everything, I have taught on in many Workshops throughout New Jersey, Pennsylvania, in Alabama, even Florida. These tools have been saving money for utilities, for communities like yours everywhere they have been attempted, I am told.
So I will stick with what I know and know well, I believe.
The largest component of a communities Budget, whether it is a small town or a large city is the Tax Bill. ( Ugh!) The largest portion of that Budget is almost always the Sewer Bill for Treatment.
It could be a County Treatment Bill or your own communities Wastewater Treatment Bill.
Here’s the thing, though.
Just like most Water Departments, the largest component of that entire Sewer bill is paying another Utility.
The Electric Bill.
Why?
Why not?
Something has to power all that Treatment Equipment.
And if you have been reading my articles, you know that I (most of the time) have been against laying people off to save money, that it becomes “Hope Management” if that is done.
And that is worth a whole ‘nother article, don’t you think?
I believe that hiring a well-experienced person could be really worth the money. I find that is often a shortcut, a very knee-jerk reaction to a money crisis.
A shortfall attempt to save money quickly.
It may have happened because of a variety of reasons, but still, these things happened.
And you may have to deal with it.
What if it didn’t need to happen?
What course of action could quickly lower that enormous Electric Bill ( Saving you enough money right away that laying the staff off is offset by that money you just saved over the past month?)
What causes that large bill in the first place. (Now, he is getting to the point, finally…I think)
The amount of water coming into the Wastewater plant- right?
Nothing surprising about that.
So what can you do about that?
Kaopectate?
Nope. Don’t even go there…
Let’s break this issue down into the various components.
There is the wastewater from people flushing toilets, yes.
But the other two parts are far larger than anyone ever thinks.
Step one: The NJ DEP gives a number to calculate with.
Should be the same everywhere, shouldn’t it?
350 gallons per day per capita ( per person)
Again: Take the known population. Multiply it by 350. Get the amount of sewer being treated ( what you are being charged for.)
Go ahead make that call.
Compare the 2 numbers.
If the number for your “rough back of the envelope” calculations are larger than what you are being charged for,
Look elsewhere.
You are done.
But if not, now you have a number of the cost per gallon ( or the cost per million gallons) to go by.
It might be $1.65 per thousand gallons or even more.
Now you can seem like the expert you are becoming, and that is never a bad thing.
Then there is Infiltration & Inflow
Inflow - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infiltration
“Groundwater entering sanitary sewers through defective pipe joints and broken pipes is called infiltration. ... Groundwater flows parallel to the sewer until it reaches the area of the damaged pipe. In areas of low groundwater, sewage may exfiltrate into groundwater from a leaking sewer.” (Not a wonderful thing occurring…)
Inflow is mostly man-made.
It can be people’s sump pumps that run to keep their basements dry.
It is the roof gutters of all the buildings that have been run to the sewer system for convenience. Or by accident.
Again on Google:
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infiltration/Inflow
“Water entering sanitary sewers from inappropriate connections is called inflow. Typical sources include sump pumps, roof drains, cellar drains, and yard drains where urban features prevent surface runoff, and storm drains are not conveniently accessible or identifiable.”
in other simpler terms, man-made.
It often is a creek or stream that has found its way in between the sections of pipe. Or higher groundwater finding the path of least resistance that you so thoughtfully provided.
Or,
And I speak from 5 years experience…a daily high tide in coastal cities ( ouch!)
Let us talk about the easiest part.
Rainwater that has found its way into the collection of sewer pipes that are conveniently underground just waiting for a visitor like rain. And you have to pay for it. Or your community is paying for it.
Alot.
Like snowmelt.
In fact, I will leave it at that.
I wrote a book I mentioned earlier ( a decent book I believe…hey, I wrote it!) that made its way onto the Amazon’s #1 Bestseller list for a short while.
( Now let’s get real, a really short while- but I was able to screenshot it so I have actual proof!)
Still didn’t impress my own kids, though, tough crowd, I guess….
It’s inexpensive, $2.99, the Kindle version.
The paperback version they are selling is something like 10x that price, Which is a bit confusing as Amazon has an algorithm that seems to adjust the price so the price may vary a bit at times.
But the price for the real item, a "hold in your hand" version – called a book, remember them?
The paperbacked book is around $21.00
I am not saying which is better, it is Amazon, they make almost 70% of the price anyway you look at it.
So I make, perhaps, 30% of the price and then have to declare it and pay taxes on that amount, so I am not demanding that you go out and order it, not saying go out and buy it, as I am not expecting to make any large sum of money from it. ( oh, I wish!)
I just mention it as it does explain the whole picture pretty quickly. I just offer you the possibility that it is there for you, written really simply and speaks directly to the point of shaving the reduction of “Inflow and Infiltration” down to a minimum.
But I will tell you the overview (which is the title after all…)
“How to reduce Infiltration and inflow using low-cost techniques.” By Larry Coslow.
There, the advertisement is over.
Why did I write it in the first place?
In this industry overall in our County, we had a really high staff turnover and I kept having to teach the new staff with different backgrounds, the same thing every 8 months or so. The Workshop taught-time-tested techniques, that could be done without making large purchases of equipment to accomplish the savings.
Most towns had enough trouble just trying to get their sewer budget accepted by the citizens of the community, so spending still larger amounts of money would be out of the question.
So these tools, tips, and techniques needed to be free, easy to accomplish and had to produce cost savings immediately. And most importantly, had to be absolutely capable of pretesting so you could then ( after trying each portion out and knowing what exactly was being accomplished.) try it out and then only with positive proof in your hand, declare what you were trying to accomplish publicly.
I recorded my voice while teaching these Workshops and had the transcripts (which used be very expensive to get done.) put into several chapters.
Now, everyone can go to the website, “Fiverr dot com” and get transcripts for almost nothing…
I highly suggest this and would have used it if it was available back then.
But, I taught these workshops back in the mid 80’s when ( I shudder at the thought) the internet wasn’t more than a few bulletin boards on strange networks and smartphones hadn’t been invented yet.
There wasn’t even Yahoo, AOL or Google invented then, imagine that!
In fact, personal computers were very expensive and very few people even had one.
Wow, ancient history, it seems like. ( were tires made of stone back then?)
So these workshops had to be something that someone didn’t need a computer for to work, didn’t need more than a legal pad of paper and a pen to accomplish great things.
Things change, sometimes improve.
The next few postings will cover the things I wrote about.
So if you want to save even more money, hang in there, it’s coming to you free.
It will be piece by piece and post by post but as I said before if you want it quick, go to Amazon Books and order the Complete Book.
Thanks.
If you liked this frank reality check, please “like” this and push that symbol, if you are pushing the “Share” button, even better, it will get the word out.
Thanks,
I hope this has served you,
Larry Coslow