/wwtg/

Waste Water Treatment General

Anything you want to know about how you water is dealt with is answered here

Why do you think we should drink it?

I'm going to be taking an exam in a month or so to get my operator in training license.

Do you recommend this as a career?

Is there anything done to remove dissolved medications? Do you test for that?

Yeah, if the fluoride levels are too low, we add some to it. Don't buy into the water filter meme, your water is safe goyim, trust us.

You know what? I was just wondering if I would see the day a WWTG thread gets posted to Sup Forums

How is our waste water treated?

Dump in a bunch of chemicals and microbes, let it sit in the sun until it stops stinking, and then drain it back out through a brita.

It's water, we don't add anything to it you fag
Fuck yeah, I'm a college drop out with my cert making $25 an hour with quarterly raises. I love it.

No we don't test for that and I'd like to but budget issues prevent us from filtering all that out. Blame all the sluts on birth control for all the xenoestrogens.

Hi I'm doing a project for my college where companies ask college students how to solve engineering problems. I was wondering if say there was waste very hot water from a industrial cooling system could you safely dispose of it directly into some stage of the sewage system?

What happens if I flush a rag down the toilet?

Hypothetically, I mean.

As I am sure many people will be who ate reading this thread.

I have almost no knowledge of what happens at a wwtp.

How do you remove the surfactants, plastic waste and human sewage ?

What's the waste used for?
I've picked up somewhere that they use the shit as fertilizer. If yes, is it pure shit or chemically enriched shit?

It's water, they don't add anything to it you fag

Go to hear. I have a biochem degree but it hasn't done me much good.

Any tips for someone entering the field?

I watched come outside years ago (Brit TV programme for kids)
They do indeed use human shit for fertiliser on farms. Enjoy your vegetables kids

temperature isn't really an issue, but I live in New Hampshire and it's cold here most the time.

You increase my turbidity and make my monthly rounds more laborious. Don't do this because it will end up costing you more in tax dollars down the line.

We have a lot of filters that screen most that stuff out.

Just say you want to. I got my job by cold calling asking if they needed any lab people and now I'm the head lab guy. Full bennies and everything.

In Mexico, they don't even need to treat the waste. They just crap right in the field.

gets sent to a landfill usually

>I've picked up somewhere that they use the shit as fertilizer. If yes, is it pure shit or chemically enriched shit?

Yes and it's neither. The only chemicals added, if necessary, are flocculants that pull suspended solids out of the water. The sludge is broken down by bacteria such that the product that exits the settling tanks is not very much like raw sewage. Granted it's still nasty stuff that has to be processed but the final product is no different than ordinary manure.

Do you work in this field because that's a pretty accurate answer.

does your wwtp use asp or microfilters/ultrafilters etc.

What system do you use to run BODS?

Do you run FOGS in your lab and what brand of tubes do you have to test CODS?

What is your cut off point for danger levels of Nitrate in a bore hole before you deem it unfit for consumption?

>Granted it's still nasty stuff that has to be processed but the final product is no different than ordinary manure.
Heavy metal content in sewage solids is much higher than manure

Just put the outflow pipes all on the Mexican side of the wall. Fuck em.

Thanks for the answer Brad. Can I call you Brad?

I imagine there's a scientifical process to ensure the water that leaves your WWTP comes out of the average American housewife's kitchen tap, or faucet as you lot like to put it, is absolutely bloody marvellous?

I'm a water resources engineer, I design collection and treatment systems.

Are you the guy that regularly comes on here encouraging people to work in wastewater treatment?

Somebody does, and I haven't taken a class yet, but it's always on my mind.

Are you the same guy that also made a similar post on imgur not long ago?

Why is this on Sup Forums? Is this a new meme?

So you're saying the EPA won't fine you by the day if you don't put ammonia and chlorine in?

Or that there's nothing to keep the lead from leeching out of the pipes?

you were cold calling water treatment plants?

what do you do in the lab

He monitors the computer monitor that's hooked up the machine that monitors how well the sieves are sieving shit out of water.

Which requires checking the sign on the door to remember whether or not you're wearing the proper safety goggles or whether your forgot.

You need a degree for that.

300ml bottle with controls and added nutrients

My name is Dylan but you can call me that if you want. Seeing as how we are American, yes, we're better than you

No I'm not but it's kinda nice to know there are other people out there trying to get people into the field seeing as how most people are retiring soon.

Lies, I do all the lab work and sample stuff, do TSS, BODs, and order a lot of equipment and smoke a lot of weed.

>So you're saying the EPA won't fine you by the day if you don't put ammonia and chlorine in?

Ammonia already exists in raw sewage. Chlorine generally isn't used in wastewater treatment.

The point here is not to disinfect the water, it's to treat it to a quality such that it can be discharged into raw water, preferably downstream of nearby intakes, such as a stream or river. You can do this with good old-fashioned bacteria living in activated sludge.

If anything the EPA and other regulatory fags want you to NOT put chemicals into the water unless it's necessary to treat some quality that can't be addressed using the conventional processes. You may end up killing some algae on the endangered list or some other such hippie bullshit.

>Or that there's nothing to keep the lead from leeching out of the pipes?

What lead? Potable water pipes are cast iron, PVC, or (at the household level) copper. Sanitary sewer uses PVC, vitrified clay, HDPE, cast iron, ductile iron, or reinforced concrete.

do you use Glucose solution in your AQCs?

we have this shitty new stuff dumped on us by the environment agency and have to do MCERTS. have to do the same test but with a matrix spike that we add and then do the same to our blanks. We then remove it from the results. Its annoying.

>I was wondering if say there was waste very hot water from a industrial cooling system could you safely dispose of it directly into some stage of the sewage system?

It depends on how hot it is. HDPE starts to lose structural integrity at ~225°F and PVC at ~250°F. If the water has additives or if you don't watch your pressure you could end up collapsing a pipe (though most collection systems from industrial developments use reinforced concrete).

There's also the issue of heat originating from chemical reactions in the system itself. Sanitary sewer pipes have to flow at a certain rate or else the wastewater can start to undergo the same decomposition processes it does at the treatment plant. This can generate a good deal of heat and collection systems, by nature of being buried a few yards deep with sealed inlets and manholes, are remarkably well-insulated.

i'm not sure what MCERTS are but we have a glucose solution for our standard. We just renegotiated our permit with the EPA so we're mint.

Do you work with any niggers or jews?

Nope, none, my superintendent talks so much shit about nigs it makes me feel racist and I post on here daily.

some new regulation or something. we have to do MCERT version of SS, pH, BODS Nutrient anaylsisi etc.

As I said its the same test but with a matrix spike in the AQCs and Standards/blanks that we recover then remove from the results. Its a just a more anal way of testing everything.

Gets annoying. It slows everything down and its the same sodding test.

Just checked. its UK specific.

"MCERTS is the Environment Agency of England & Wales (EA) Monitoring Certification Scheme. It provides the framework for businesses to meet quality requirements. Compliance with MCERTS gives the EA confidence in the monitoring of emissions to the environment."

We use reclaimed water here in Florida as a cheap and plentiful irrigation supply.
We get our tap right from the aquifer and then the utility takes the waste, treats it a bit, then sends it out for lawns. The best part: even in droughts we're allowed to water our lawns with it.

Are you sure it's not MCRT? Mean cell reaction time. It's in effect a measure of how old your sludge is.

>tfw i am currently doing undergrad research for a professor gathering data on methods of treating wastewater
>tfw i had to take an entire class on this

what is happening

no, its just some UK crap we have to do to justify the ERnvironement agency.

"this test is fine, but tecnology has improved. Please make it more annying even though it proves nothing"

Like soluble reactive phosphate. Its just a regualr phosphate thats been filtered. Except now it has its own test and I have to run that as well as the regular phosphate tests which are *basically* the same. (yeah there is a small difference)

Sounds shitty m8, we just run our basic twice or thrice weekly tests and we're all good. TSS, BOD, E. Coli,Turbidity, pH, chlorine, we also test for Phosphors, Aluminum, Nitrates, and TKN when we're bored.

Our sludge get ran through our centrifuge weekly, we burn through it pretty quick.

You got memed because I just called my plant and said 'hey what up, wanna do your lab work'

How does it not freezes over when it's below zero outside?

twice of trice weekly. I wish.

I run about 250 samples a day for ammonia, TON, Po4, CL, No2, No3 etc.

We have e.coli, crypto, closi, pseudo and what not in the other department.

For susupended solids do you use whatman papers?

i probably am, or at least that's what my buddy has been telling me. undergrads at my uni don't get paid for the research beyond a $1500 per semester stipend, which came out to $1260 after taxes.

upside is the professor has expressed wanting to try and secure me funding in the event i pursue a PhD

Why can't you remove hormones?

They can.... the majority of water treatment in Canada tests for hormones and removes them.
I worked as an analytical chemist at a water treatment facility and we tested for estradiol, estriol, estrone, and conjugated estrogens.

Our ditches have organisms working in them that heat it up so it doesn't freeze, and it gets pretty cold here in New Hampshire.

We order preweighed papers from Bluebook which is a water supply company. They send us a shit load and we just crack em open and use that.

>just get more debt, that'll save you!!

We could it's just tax payers don't want to pay for that upgrade and technology.

in germany its culturally enriched shit ;]

I have no clue what to do for a job. How do I get started in this, and what does one do in it? There's a treatment plant like 20-30 minutes away from me. Is there any past sort of experience for it I need?

preweighed?

we have to wash ours with RO then dry them for 3 hours at 105 degrees then weight them.

Man, pre weighed papers

we use about 3-400 a day though.

Brian??? Is that you? What's the deal, Amber takes off and you're now on Sup Forums!?!?!

Fucking cool.

Sup faggot, you coming to Texas?
>How is our waste water treated?
Like shit. Get it, we treat it like shit cause it's shit water

Depends what side you want to get in on. You could be doing digs and fixing water pipes that break or you could get more on the science side testing for shit. I just called up and they were desprete for people, apparently most people dont want to get involved in this so it's a good option with good pay.

That sounds like shit.

Does the plant make you use the loo or do they let you just take a leak right into the tank because it wouldn't matter anyway?

it wasnt this bad. it just got busier over the years. more companies, more regulations the usual crap/

>You increase my turbidity and make my monthly rounds more laborious. Don't do this because it will end up costing you more in tax dollars down the line.
Also what would have happened to this alleged rag? It didn't just get caught in a grate somewhere? I would think you'd need to have motorized grinders here and there.

I know my uncle takes shits you could crack a stick over.

I could go both ways really. What do you mean by digs and such? I imagine testing for stuff in the water requires some past sort of experience or a degree of a sort?

I make 32 and change. Offset by the lowered dollar we make about the same amount doing the same thing. I can go higher in wage but then I have to pick up and leave civilization which isn't an option due to family.

Mexican efficiency has always been amazing to me.

Those 50 Mexican intellectuals are hard at work.

What grade are you?

wow. No. Grinders would likely make everything 100s of times more complicated

any good documentary on this

and any stuff on birth control in the water or is that just a myth

Think about it though. You could use the water flow in one pipe to drive a turbine to run the grinder in the other pipe. It would be like turbocharging. And then the sewage is combustable, right? So now you have the conditions necessary for a turbofan that runs on its own to propel it along, and maybe even enough energy to spare to run a generator and make money from free shit.

We could do whatever, no one would care.

It'd most likely get caught in a grate but the smaller bits would end up down the line.

I mean a pipe burst under the road and you're digging it up to fix it. I had a background in environmental science but no degree. You just gotta wanna work.

Grade two operator. Grade three lab analyst, grade two distributor.

>I would think you'd need to have motorized grinders here and there.

Some municipalities require grinder pumps for residences for a given floor area, whether garbage disposals are installed, etc. If you have a septic tank sometimes you need them also.

As far as turds go, perhaps surprisingly, they rarely make it to the end of the service lateral intact.

Oh look.

Another /general/ to spam the catalog!

I did my community service many years ago at a sewage treatment plant as a literal shit stirrer. Like put on these giant rubber pants and get in the poo. Best job I ever had and the workers there were some of the funniest fuckers ever.

Toilet to Tap???.,...Do I find remains of MR HANKEY?????

As far as docs go, can't help you there m8, but the birth control in the water is absolutely real and a huge problem, we just can't afford to filter it.

Yeah we're real niggas.

Im conflicted
Maybe its different in Aus but I doubt it. We're always behind in technology.

No. Absolutely none of that is doable. Not even by accident is it.

Right on. I'm set to take my grade1 in April. Anything I can do to improve my chances of getting an OIT position?

Standing by: Drinking water purification plant operator. 25 years experience.

How were you even able to take the test if you weren't an OIT to begin with? Like I said, I just kinda came in there, took a bunch of tests and now I'm getting paid. I'd say take any test they offer you, call up your town clerk and ask for anything they're testing for and take it all.

Do you like it because this is my career path.

what state are you from and is birth control really a problem??

what state are you from

what about our calcified pineal glands

>implying you even need your pineal gland

what is an endocrine system

They should be removed after birth like foreskins.

Love it. Great pay and benefits, pension plan. Drinking water doesn't smell like shit, so it's a better job than a wastewater plant.

whats the grossest thing you see show up there?
fetuses?

A Jewish myth.

What did you think when the Hillary Bus drumped its black water down the storm grate?

Was that halal or harem?

Michigan. No, rx drugs are not a problem in Michigan's deinking water.

Just shit in the river and hope the cow god takes care of it.

Problem solved.

How do you filter aids

Nuclear operator in training?

New Hampshire

Absolutely Haram

As stated earlier, I work in the lab so I've never seen anything too bad.

I know pf no such study, but it would be interesting to determine birth control residual levels in ww, since Obama Care mandated it's coverage by insurance companies.

I suspect it has gone way up.

HOW GOOD IS TAP WATER IN GENERAL

cut the bullshit and give me the brief rundown.

do you drink it or nah

do you put mind controlling substances in it to keep your population docile or nah.

>Like put on these giant rubber pants and get in the poo.

Last summer I was out working as an RPR on a sanitary sewer survey job. The portion of this involving pipelines is accomplished with CCTV and robotic crawlers, basically little remote-controlled cars carrying cameras.

(If anyone is looking for a non-college job, be one of the guys who operates these, we subcontracted these fuckers for $600,000 for about six months of work.)

Anyway the small residential lines are pretty straightforward because they are only about 8-10 feet underground, the lines are small (8"), and you can plug upstream lines before doing the cleaning and camera work.

But for the larger pipes, the interceptors, you instead have to use what is basically a small outrigger boat that floats in the sewage while taking footage of the line. And someone has to go in the manhole, sometimes 50 feet down, to set it up, wearing chest-high waders while trying to keep this boat upright in Class 5 shit rapids. And it's fucking hot down there.

Anyway this guy would come out after an hour down in the manhole feeding the line for the camera (the boat has to be held back, otherwise the flow is too fast to get a picture) and he'd be covered in sewage, face and everything. Then he'd go to his truck and pull out those little Lysol wipes you get for your house and start wiping himself off.

also is estrogen in the water a meme or is this real shit.

should I drink my own piss