Wastewater Treatment Facility

Date: Tuesday November 9, 2010
Place: Wastewater Treatment Facility, Franklin New Hampshire 
Weather: Drizzling/ Raining/ Overcast


Today, we went to visit the Wastewater Treatment Facility in Franklin, NH. It was a little smelly at first but after you got over that it was fine. Our tour guild was Ken Noyes the Chief Operator of the plant. Ken has been working at the facility for 22 years. The plant in Franklin process waist from a large portion of the Lakes Region.(See Picture 1) The water that comes, mostly residential, in stays for about 13 hours in total to be processed. 

Picture 1

The water enters the plant at the Headworks(A). At the Headworks most of the suspended solids are taken out of the water. This is done by taking the water from a speed of about 3ft per second down to 2ft per seconds. 


After the Headworks, the water goes on to the Primary Clarifiers(B). Here the settleable solids are taken out of the water. The water enters in the middle of the big round tank and slowly travels to the outside where it leaves. Here about 60% -65 % of the settleable solids are removed and between 35% and 40% of BOD's. BOD or Biochemical Oxygen Demands is the amount of oxygen that pathogens need to survive in the water.  When we watching the tank there were about six sea gulls sitting on the sweeping arm, witch skims the remaining floating solids out of the water, eating some of the solids. When we asked Ken about it he told us simply that: "Sea gulls are nasty birds." 



From the Primary Clarifiers the water goes onto the Aeration Tanks(C), witch is the main treatment unit, where lots of air is put in to the water along with microorganisms or "bugs" to remove the organic content. The "bugs" work hard to get the dissolved solids out the water. The water will spend 6 hours here being cleaned by the workers. In the summer time less "bugs "are needed than during the cold winters. If the number of "bugs"falls below the legal limit then they go to other wastewater plants and take some of their bugs to help boost their population. When the "bugs" have done their work they are then sucked off the bottom of the tank to be used again. Ken told us that if he was going fall into one of the tanks it would not be one of these because the aeration process makes it impossible to swim. 


After the Aeration Tank the water goes to the Secondary Clarifiers(D). This is another big round tank that looks a lot like the Primary Clarifiers. This tank removes the residual solids. These solids are because of the microorganisms in the aeration tanks. 




The last stop for the water before it goes back to the river is the Disinfection System(E). In this building the water looks just like "Mountain Dew," according to ken, because of the UV lights. The UV system was put in place in 1997. Prior to this the plant used chlorine tablets. The chlorine system is still in place for high flow times. From here the water flows right into the Merrimack River. The water that we saw flowing out of the Disinfection system was very different from the water we saw entering the headworks. The water at the beginning was a dark grey almost black color and smelled like sewage and the water we saw leaving was clear and looked and smelled just like normal river water. 

At the end Ken told us: "I love the work I do, I love cleaning the rivers." This was very satisfying to hear. The entire time that Ken was talking to us he seamed excited about what he was talking about. Being the Chief Operator of a sewage treatment plant may not seam like a glorious job but it is a very important one in my opinion. 

All Photos are from "The Winnipesaukee Rive Basin Program" pamphlet. 

Food Inc.

Watching the film Food Inc has made me think a lot about the industrial food process. Their are so many thing wrong with the way that our food is produced. From GM crops to the continual turning down of Kevin's Law we have a lot to improve on. My favorite part of the movie was getting to see the visuals of Pollyface Farm witch I really enjoyed reading about in The Omnivores Dilemma. 


Kevin's Law
The storie of Kevin's Law is a sad one but it is something that must be told. In 2001 two year old Kevin Kowalcyk was killed by E. coli O157:H7 that he got from eating an infected hamburger. Kevin's parents talks about how they lost her baby boy: "On Tuesday, July 31, 2001, our two-and-a-half year old son, Kevin awoke with diarrhea and a mild fever. By Thursday morning, he was much sicker and was hospitalized for dehydration and bloody stools. Later that afternoon, we were given the diagnosis: E. coli O157:H7. The following day Kevin’s kidneys started failing. He had developed the dreaded Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS). We spent the next 8 days living in the hospital watching our beautiful son slip away from us. By Tuesday, Kevin was on a ventilator and continuous dialysis. By the end of the week, he was receiving numerous medications to stabilize his blood pressure and heart rate. On August 11th at 8:20 P.M., after being resuscitated twice, our beloved Kevin died. We did not know the risks we were taking by feeding our child a hamburger." No parent should have to go through this so after Kevin's death his mother went on a mission to make sure it never happened again. If made a bill Kevin's Law would give the FDA the power to shut down plants that produced contaminated meat. The Law has been seen by congress multiple times but has yet to be put in place. I think that it is ridicules that the FDA dose not have the power to shut down plants. This law could possibly save lives but because of money the big companies wont let it pass witch is to bad. 


Genetically Modified Crops

According to The Center for Food Safety it is estimated:"that upwards of 60 percent of processed foods on supermarket shelves--from soda to soup, crackers to condiments--contain genetically engineered ingredients." One of the bigest manufactures of prosed soy is Monsanto a huge company with lots of controle. Monsanto has a patent on there seeds and any one who is found growing the seeds illegally is vulnerable to copyright infringement. This is even true for farmers who get the GM seeds blown into their crops. While GM crops have a higher yield and come round up ready they are not as ethically sound and most of the money that comes from growing the produce goes strait to the seed companies.  


Polyface Farm 
My favorite part of the movie Food Inc. was getting to see footage of Polyface farm witch is owned and operated  by the Salatin family in Virginia. The produce beyond organic meat and produce witch is then sold locally. While the way that they farm is much hard to do and takes a lot more work the end product is much healthier and more rewarding








Food Inc. was a hard movie to watch but it is an important one. The cruelty that the animals receive is no fun to see but since watching the movie I feel much more informed. I had no idea how much of our food is modified or exactly how terrible animals in feed lots are treated. We have talked about these things in class and most of the big idea are brought up in The Omnivores Dillema but seeing the visuals made it seam so much more real. One sean that was particularly terrible to watch was when the farmer was walking through her chicken houses picking up all the dead chicken.  By far the worst part to watch was when a cow who was to weak to carry his own body weight was being pushed around by a fork life. These images will stay with me and have made me much more informed about what I am eating. 

Blackwater Sub-Water Shed

Pleasant Lake

Today, October 5,2010 we swam the Blackwater Sub-Water Shed! It was slightly overcast but that keept it from getting to hot until we were by the lake and then it got very chilly. Luckily we were not literally swimming the river but drove to different points along the river to see where it comes from and how the environment around the river can have an effect. When we first got to the river we talked about the ABCDE's of a system:

A- stands for abiotic, all the non-living things with in the System. In the case of the Blackwater this includes the rocks, sand, and water. The rocks were put here and shaped when the glacer came through 1,000's of years ago. The sand is rich in nutrients and can get washed away when the river is high.

B- is for Biotic or living things. This is possibly the biges part of the system. All living things in a system arre biotic. From big mammals like dear and bears to microscopic plankton living in the rivers. While there might be a big size  difference they are all equally important. Plantes are also an important part of the biotic group. They provide the oxogen that is required for the world as we know it to thrive.

Alan teaching class from in a River!!!!

C- Cycle. A system is just a big cycle with change and exchange. A system is always changing and not always in a good way. Some change like more pollotion and less nutrians are bad while other change like less pollotion and more nutrians can be good. Their is also a cycles of exchange in systems such as the exchange between people and trees for Oxogen and carbon dioxide.

Elliott looking for critters!

D-Diversity is good in a system and with out it a system can not function. If there weren't diverse forms of life then every thing would be all the same and needing all the same things and there would be no ways for the environment to suport life.

E- Energy is the staple that holds the system together. Everything is driven by energy from the flow of the river to changing of the leaves. Energy flowing trough the system is very important.

Once we had established the ABCDE's of a system we went down to our first spot on the river. We went about 100 yards past the Trestle Bridge and went down on a rocky little beach. It was are farthest down river stop. The water there was a dark browny red color that we learned was the origin of the rivers name, that and the fact that some of New Londons sewage was dumped in to the river a while back. While we stood on the rocky beach looking at the water, most of us avoiding steeping in it due to its 58 degree temperature, we learned what a water shed was.

The brave ones that got in the river.

A water shed is the system of where the water goes to from a certain point. The contour of the land is what causes the formation and division of water sheds. High hills and mountains create boundaries between the water sheds seeing as water can only flow one way down the sloopes. The water ends up in dips or valleys between major mountains. For example the water shed we examined today lays between Ragged Mountain and Mount Kearsarge creating a perfect Valley.

The Pine

Today we also talked about how environmental impacts effect water sheds. Everything that happens in our world from building a road to the fall of snow has an effect on the watershed. One of the biggest manmade impact on the water shed comes from run off. Everything we as humans put on the ground endes up in the water system. Some of the bigest causes of run off are roads and gas stations. When people accidentally drip gas on the ground it endes up being absorbed into the ground and ending up in the water. Roads witch are made with tar witch is made from petroleum are sanded or salted in the winter with all eventually endes up dissolving or washing off the road and then running off into the water shed.

Taking Notes

Our next stop up the river was off of Fox Farm Road on the way to New London from Andover. Here the river was a bit shallower so the photic zone, witch is the layer of water that the light penetrates, went all the way to the botom. This caused there to be more alge on the rocks at the bottom of the river. This part of the river is lined with pine trees whose needle cause a lower Ph in the water making it more acidic.

Finally we went up the the beging of the Blackwater Sub-Water Shed witch is Pleasant Lake in Elkins, NH. This was our final stop before heading back to school. Here we just took some water samples to measure temperature and Phosphates(see graf.)

Pleasant Lake

All in all it was a good day and nice to see where the commonly used Blackwater River comes from and how our actions effect its well being and the water shed it is a part of as a whole. Just yesterday I got to experience the beauty of the Blackwater when we paddled it in kayaking. The Blackwater can be beautiful just like any part of a watershed and we really need to work hard to preserve it.

Us Kayaking the Blackwater

Monica!

Graph of our Findings

Two Mountain Farm

Date: Monday September 28, 2010

Location: Two Mountain Farm, 76 Shaw Hill Road Andover, NH 03216

Speaker: Cat Darling
Weather: Over Cast sometimes Drizzling, Temp ≈ 65

"When you get pumped up by mundane things
like compost and poop you know you are a farmer."~ Cat Darling

Sunflower!

Today we Visited Two Mountain Farm run by Cat Darling. Cat grew up in Andover and went to Proctor before she attended Witman Collage and then Prescott Collage. Her goal is to provide her self with a livelihood and to be good to the land by giving back what she takes out. Currently she only takes produce to sell and diseased crops off of the farm and brings in seeds, started soil, some nutrients such as limestone and phosphorus, equipment, and fuel. Cat told us that there are "lots of resources to tap into" so she tries to bring as little in to the farm as possible. 

Two Mountain Farm is located on top of a hill with is in many ways a good thing. Being on top of the hill provides the farm with good drainage, sunlight, and ventilation. Drainage is important because it keeps plants from sitting in water. Good sunlight is important to give the plants the 6+ hours they need each day. Ventilation is important on a farm to control pests and diseases by moving the air around the plants. 

When we were at the farm Cat talked a lot about the soil. We were told that the top 6 inches of topsoil is the most divers place in the world and that the soil is like an organism and it needs specific things in order to survive. Some fertilizers are added to the soil but they are all natural brought in from somewhere else in the world. These nutrients are essential to keep the chemical make up of the soil at a good place. One thing added to the soil is alpaca and sheep manure, it is uses due to its low nitrogen levels that allow it to be added to the fields when things are being grown and there is no worry about it burning the plants. 

Bees

Cat uses animals on her farm to keep a natural balance. She has chickens, sheep, and bees. The chickens produce eggs at a rate of about 2 dozen a day. They get moved around the farm every few days to spread there nutritious poop around the farm. The sheep also get moved around the farm to spread their poop about. The Bees are also very important to the farm they help with pollination and increase the yelled of crops. Cat hopes to also incorporate draft horses into the farm to do what she is currently doing with the tractor. 

Chicken face-off!

Chickens in there movable coop.

Sheep

Worlds smallest Easter
Island Head!

I really enjoyed going to visit Two Mountain Farm. When we were reading The Omnivores Dilemma I found the parts about Polyface Farm very interesting so going to visit Cat and seeing a farm similar to Polyface was a really good experience. I think that if all farming was done this way we would be much better off as a society. Not only is it better for the environment but it is free of harmful chemicals found in feedlot animals. 


The farm was really fun even thought it was a little over cast and wet but I still learned a lot. I think what Cat is doing is great and the world would be a much better place if there were more people like her!

Hupe House