LABS has posted a new set of videos on CWEA’s YouTube site. The hour-long six-part series is a recording of its April dinner meeting, which featured Sam Espinoza from the LA Sanitation Districts of LA County speaking about wastewater collection system operation and maintenance.
Comment on this post and let us know what you think. Does your workplace allow access to YouTube? Are the videos useful for information sharing? Want to provide footage of your events or tours of your facility?
SARBS presents their 17th Annual Collections Training Seminar on Thursday July 22 at the Huntington Beach Public Library.
CWEA members $35 / $60 non. CWEA contact hours available.
CLICK HERE FOR REGISTRATION FLYER (PDF)
Topics include:
- Sewer Systems Maintenance
- CWEA update
- Plastics in the Marine
- Tracking down the root of our sanitary sewers
- FOG inspection training
- Safety
- Vendor training
- Collections system case study
- And always fun exhibitor booths and prize drawings – including a drawing for a flat screen TV!!
Due to popular demand the San Francisco Bay Section Collection Systems Committee will be holding a repeat of the Large Diameter Pipe, Force Mains and Siphons Maintenance training on July 28, 2010 at the City of Foster City Community Center. To reserve your spot contract Patricia DeRouen of Restoration Management at (510) 377-1855 or pderouen@restorationmanagement.com. For more information, please see the Large Diameter Pipe Maintenance Seminar Flyer.
By SSCSC Committee
On June 16th SSCSC held a joint workshop with CWEA for the Central San Joaquin Section. The host city was the City of Fresno.
With attendees in excess of 80 and with over 12 vendors, the workshop was considered a huge success.
Attendees repeatedly mentioned that the Central Valley lacked quality education and expressed their hope that CWEA and SSCSC would consider returning with a workshop in the area in the near future.
Five classes were offered as well as plenty of time for attendee and vendor interaction. The following classes were presented:
- Nozzle Technology and Cleaning Techniques – Rick Lewis
- Rodders – Tim Kenned
- Mechanical and Hydraulic Cleaning - Duane Johnson
- CCTV Inspections – Jim Aanderud
- Pump Station 101 – Denis Pollak
A special thanks goes out to everyone at the City of Fresno that helped make this workshop successful.
Learn more about SSCSC training events at www.SSCSC.org.
Join CWEA, the Central San Joaquin Valley Section and the Southern Collection System Committee at the Collection System Workshop and Vendor Fair Wednesday, June 16 in Fresno, CA. Register online now or send in your registration form. Members who register by June 8 can save $20 and sign up at the $65 rate! Read more
A Seattle PI story about the Emerald City’s FOG problem is getting plenty of attention today – possibly because of the two cool (though some commenters call them gross) videos of grease clogged sewer lines.
Seattle Public Utilities estimates 544,000 gallons of grease get into Seattle’s wastewater collection system every month. They’re on a campaign to cut back the grease (as nearly all wastewater utilities and collections managers are trying to do).
Money quote from a surprised deli owner:
“I really felt like we didn’t put out much grease and that it would be waste of time. But I was shocked to see how much grease we put out. It was kind of embarrassing,” he said. “I never looked at ice cream as grease. We were just rinsing the pans, and dumping ice cream rinse water in there.”
He paid about $3,000 for the grease trap, he said, but didn’t mind spending the money, since it also helps keep his side sewer clear.
The story was picked up by: USA Today’s Green House blog; Mother Nature Network; WaterTech Online and others.
Bottomline message everyone – never pour grease or greasy food scraps down the drain – it clogs the sewers!
Get a full day of detailed FOG training at the P3S Conference in Long Beach March 1-3. Conference catalog and sign-up here, go>
The USGS Water Analysis 1900-2005. The survey of national water use is conducted every 5 years. (graph: Pacific Institute)
Dr. Peter Gleick of the Pacific Institute points to a recent USGS water use survey showing only a tiny increase from 2000 to 2005 – an amazing number considering population and economic growth during that period.
He points to two major breakthroughs: water efficiency and major changes by industrial water users. From his post…
Water Number: 410 billion gallons per day in 2005 compared to 413 billion gallons per day in 2000. Despite continuing population growth, despite continued economic growth, total water use in the United States is effectively unchanged… Even more remarkable? Water use today is lower than it was 30 years ago, in 1975.
Which begs the question for CWEA members? Will flow rates continue falling and how will that affect the wastewater treatment system?
Add a comment below to share your thoughts – will future wastewater flow rates rise or fall? How will this impact collections, the treatment process and the fiscal health of municipalities?
The August 19, 2009 workshop in the City of Newport Beach turned out to be one of the best hands-on workshops ever.
This was the first annual Orange County workshop put on by the SSCSC-OC Workshop Subcommittee. Bev Stumman did an outstanding job of organizing the workshop. A special thanks to Jeff Sankey, Bill Roseberry, Patty Lambaren, Matt Muinch, Yan Theraube, Carlo Nafarrete and Jim Aanderud.
The first session of the day was a demonstration of the usage of a bucket machine by Victor Roberts. This was followed by a talk on rodders by Tim Kennedy. The morning sessions were wrapped up by Carey Olcott on combination unit maintenance. The afternoon sessions were cleaning and nozzle technology by Duane Johnson and hydro-excavation by Pierre Raynes-Perez.
There were 94 attendees and 16 vendors present.
We would like to thank the City of Newport Beach for allowing us to use their facility for this workshop.
The Committee has two upcoming events: Oct. 28th collections system training in Victorville and a Nov. 18th event in National City (registration form here).
Photos and story courtesy of the SSCSC website.
CWEA’s Northern regional Training Conference in Redding not only trained hundreds wastewater professionals, but raised awareness of our aging infrastructure and the public health benefits of clean water with the City of Redding’s Mayor and the public.
Redding’s Record Searchlight was at the conference and reported that aging sewer pipes, pumps and plants will mean more leaks and spills if they’re not replaced. Investment in sewer infrastructure will be a hard sell when a grinding global recession has forced cities to cut police and fire protection.
Redding Mayor Rick Bosetti listens as John Tasello, retired wastewater collection supervisor for Redding, talks about nozzles used to clean sewer systems during the NRTC09 conference in Redding. Photo by Nathan Morgan, Redding.com
But sanitation is a part of public safety, too, said CWEA President Darren Greenwood, water resources manager for the San Francisco Bay area city of Livermore and president of the California Water Environment Association (CWEA).
“We’ve been so successful, no one notices us,” Greenwood said. “You flush and it goes away. But if a community underfunds wastewater, the infrastructure deteriorates. And when an agency upgrades treatment, that’s a good thing for the environment. It’s time to remind people there will be a need for funding.”
Greenwood said he supports the idea of a national “flush out,” modeled on the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout Challenge. But the idea would be to go a day without flushing to dramatize how key sewer systems are to public health.
Read the whole Record Searchlight article .
Southern Sections Collections Systems Committee will be holding its annual San Diego County workshop in the City of National City on November 18th. This workshop will concentrate exclusively on TCP training and will not include vendors. This is a perfect opportunity for anyone taking their Grade I through IV test over the coming year.
The morning session will focus on math in two separate class rooms. One class room will be dedicated to Grades I and II math while the other will cover Grades III and IV math.
The afternoon sessions will cover the various skill sets found in the test as well as study and preparation techniques. A separate class will continue to provide math problems throughout the day.
This venue is able to hold over 400 attendees, so make your plans now to attend.
Please visit the SSCSC web site www.sscsc.org for more information.
