FW: septageHi again,
Not to draw you in to my world but thought I'd send along some of the
justification why we shouldn't accept septage. Have you ever heard of
"septicity"? Is that a word?
I think I'm being dealt a line of "septage"!
Have a good weekend.
Jane
From: Jim Hansz
Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 4:49 PM
To: Jane Howington
Subject: RE: septage
1. It is far more difficult to treat and takes more effort at much
higher cost for an equivalent volume of ordinary City sewage.
2. It is far more problematic for our BNR process to deal with
because of its septicity and greatly lowers the margin for error in our
plant operations which is very important as we move toward the date when
our permit changes to a daily limit that must be met every single day
rather than averaged over a week/month as it is now. It consumes
capacity to treat which has been specifically built for the City's
expansion, not to solve a county-created problem of too many/much
septage from septic tanks and too few options for disposing of it. The
county has failed to properly plan for this and allowed residential
subdivisions to encroach areas where septage is disposed of. Folks are
starting to complain. i.e. allowing houses near an existing airport and
then having to deal with resident's demands to close the "nuisance
airport." Same thing.
3. Once you begin there is no turning back. Costs to dispose, and
the need to increase the charge, will become an issue very soon. As our
costs rise there will be enormous pressure on the City Council to
prevent any increase in disposal charges with it being characterized as
"unfair." Anchorage, AK, and other cities are having this problem and
the main rate payers are left subsidizing the county residents. You will
never be allowed to stop taking it, unless you provide an alternative
disposal method.
4. We already have a difficult time keeping odors controlled and
have spent big $$ on improvements. This will make it worse. The only
significant point of odor we have left is at the manhole discharge point
from Evergreen's force main, located inside our fence on the road to the
plant. There are 6 pages of septic haulers listed and advertising in
the phone book. They are all busy. If we add another big chunk of liquid
septage and septic solids to the plant we further compound our odor
control task.
I would have to re-read the technical report made a couple of years ago
to refresh my memory, but there are other good reasons to not take on
this problem, I just do not recall them on the fly.
Jim H
From: Jane Howington
Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 3:15 PM
To: Jim Hansz
Subject: septage
Jim,
In several recent conversations you've implied that we should not accept
septage in our treatment plant. I can't remember the reason for this.
Could you remind me why our plant shouldn't accept septage?
Thanks.
Jane