Post by DADDY O on Sept 29, 2017 15:45:02 GMT
I've been in Houston for several days trying to get a Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) back on line. I was there right after Harvey hit, and returned this week to check out the progress of the restoration. Boy, was I disappointed.
Here's the "Skinny". WWTP'S are always constructed at the lowest elevation of the service area. This is because most wastewater is delivered to the plant using gravity. If you have to pump it (and sometimes you do), then your operational costs sky rocket.
I designed a WWTP back in 1982 for a Water & Sanitation District in South Houston. The design requirements are to protect the plant from the 100 year storm event (a probability of the largest storm to hit within a 100 year interval). The problem is Harvey was a 500 year storm event. Hence, not only did the WWTP get flooded from the high waters in the area, but when I first saw it, it had a house sitting in the Primary Clarifier.........not an acceptable way to treat Wastewater.
My next step was to call TCEQ (Texas Department of Environmental Quality.....the EPA on a State level, and discuss solutions to the problem. After all, 28,000 residents depended on getting this WWTP back on line.
I told the TCEQ that what we needed to do was to discharge the raw sewage into Buffalo Bayou (large river type system in Houston), and then get the house out of the WWTP so we could operate it again. TCEQ agreed, as long as Buffalo Bayou was above flood stage (15.5 feet at the WWTP). Hot Damn we're in and we have an approved solution to get it done.......at least I thought.
I gave these instructions to the chief WWTP operator and told her I would be back in two weeks. She never did anything with it.
I came back last Sunday and was furious this woman had done nothing to get this plant back on line.......remember, 28,000 houses and businesses were dependent on this plant. I met with her on Monday and asked her why she did nothing. Her answer was "We can't discharge raw sewage, our permit does not allow it". I then reminded her that this was an emergency and that I got the State TCEQ to approve it. She didn't care, so I called the Mayor and explained the problem to him. He was pissed because by now the water level in Buffalo Bayou had dropped and they could no longer discharge raw sewage into the Bayou. The only other solution now was to discharge into 10,000 gallon trucks and haul the sewage to another treatment plant. At a 2 million gallon WWTP capacity, this would take 200 trips to another plant, when all they had to do was open a valve when I told them to.
Needless to say, the WWTP Bitch was fired the next day.
I explained the WWT concept of "The Solution to Pollution is Dilution" to so many people, I'm sick to it. Basically it means if you have a large amount of water to discharge into, the level of pollution goes down, thus if the Bayou is at flood stage.......let her rip. You, of course, super chlorinate the wastewater BEOFRE discharge to kill any bacteria.
So you are dead on balls accurate Tony by saying "Houston.......we have a problem".......and it stinks (pun intended).
What a disaster Houston is right now.....makes me ashamed to be from Texas.
Here's the "Skinny". WWTP'S are always constructed at the lowest elevation of the service area. This is because most wastewater is delivered to the plant using gravity. If you have to pump it (and sometimes you do), then your operational costs sky rocket.
I designed a WWTP back in 1982 for a Water & Sanitation District in South Houston. The design requirements are to protect the plant from the 100 year storm event (a probability of the largest storm to hit within a 100 year interval). The problem is Harvey was a 500 year storm event. Hence, not only did the WWTP get flooded from the high waters in the area, but when I first saw it, it had a house sitting in the Primary Clarifier.........not an acceptable way to treat Wastewater.
My next step was to call TCEQ (Texas Department of Environmental Quality.....the EPA on a State level, and discuss solutions to the problem. After all, 28,000 residents depended on getting this WWTP back on line.
I told the TCEQ that what we needed to do was to discharge the raw sewage into Buffalo Bayou (large river type system in Houston), and then get the house out of the WWTP so we could operate it again. TCEQ agreed, as long as Buffalo Bayou was above flood stage (15.5 feet at the WWTP). Hot Damn we're in and we have an approved solution to get it done.......at least I thought.
I gave these instructions to the chief WWTP operator and told her I would be back in two weeks. She never did anything with it.
I came back last Sunday and was furious this woman had done nothing to get this plant back on line.......remember, 28,000 houses and businesses were dependent on this plant. I met with her on Monday and asked her why she did nothing. Her answer was "We can't discharge raw sewage, our permit does not allow it". I then reminded her that this was an emergency and that I got the State TCEQ to approve it. She didn't care, so I called the Mayor and explained the problem to him. He was pissed because by now the water level in Buffalo Bayou had dropped and they could no longer discharge raw sewage into the Bayou. The only other solution now was to discharge into 10,000 gallon trucks and haul the sewage to another treatment plant. At a 2 million gallon WWTP capacity, this would take 200 trips to another plant, when all they had to do was open a valve when I told them to.
Needless to say, the WWTP Bitch was fired the next day.
I explained the WWT concept of "The Solution to Pollution is Dilution" to so many people, I'm sick to it. Basically it means if you have a large amount of water to discharge into, the level of pollution goes down, thus if the Bayou is at flood stage.......let her rip. You, of course, super chlorinate the wastewater BEOFRE discharge to kill any bacteria.
So you are dead on balls accurate Tony by saying "Houston.......we have a problem".......and it stinks (pun intended).
What a disaster Houston is right now.....makes me ashamed to be from Texas.
