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Because I wanted to learn more about the impact of my actions on the environment, I took a tour of the City of Woodland wastewater treatment facility, where the sewage from my house is treated. I found the wastewater treatment facility to be a very peaceful place, surrounded by hundreds of acres of ponds filled with ducks and geese, without traffic, loud music or heavy machinery to disturb the quiet. In this serene environment, over seven million gallons of raw sewage are treated each day.
I had called ahead, and the plant manager arranged for Joe, one of the operators, to give me a tour of the facility and educate me on the process of treating wastewater. Joe was an affable man, dressed in blue jeans and a work jacket; his close-cropped hair and tanned skin were those of someone who prefers to spend time outside. He greeted me with a quick handshake, and got to the task of letting me know how the plant operated. The first thing we looked at was the computer monitoring system which keeps the operators informed of the equipment status throughout the facility. Joe quickly moved through the different menus and explained the meaning of each piece of data with the familiarity of a person who has spent years with the system.
While Joe was an expert on the facility computer system, I had the feeling that he would prefer to be outside, dealing with the real world. He logged off the computer and we moved out of the building, to where the sewage enters the facility. While watching the wastewater flow into the facility through a forty eight inch pipe, Joe told me about the hazardous materials that people dump in the drain, including oil, silver and grease. We watched the water flow into another large pipe pointed upward, and Joe told me that it was an Archimedes screw pump, one of the oldest and most efficient pumps available, first used in ancient Egypt.
From the pumping area, we went to the first two stages of filtration, where the large non-organic materials such as plastic bags, pieces of metal, and rags are removed from the water. Joe described the function of a new piece of equipment that the operators were testing. The machine was called a “Muffin Monster” and its job was to grind up any material caught in this first stage of filtration. After being ground up, it was dried, and eventually taken to the Yolo County Landfill for disposal.
Joe seemed to be impressed with this new piece of equipment, because it would do an efficient job of disposing of some of the material that people sent down their drains. We left this first stage of filtration, and began the long walk over to the next area. Taking advantage of the quiet, I asked Joe a question that had been on my mind for a while; “What is the euphemism you use for the solid human waste?” Joe looked at me, the two of us not yet comfortable with each other, and replied; “Well, we usually use the s-word.” I had not expected anything other than that, and I was satisfied that in the back of our minds, we were both thinking about the fact that the water was simply full of shit, and it was the job of the plant to take the shit out of the water.
This may remind you of the chocolate river in the Willy Wonka movie. Or maybe it reminds you of the mocha you drank yesterday....in fact, that mocha is probably in here...
We moved across the facility, with Joe taking time to carefully describe the steps taken to clean the water in each of the different pools. Next to an especially dirty looking pool covered scum, I saw a life preserver. This pool was where the water was aerated; there were huge rollers, looking like giant hairbrushes, spinning in order to introduce oxygen into the water. In my mind, falling into this vile pool of filth would be bad enough, but taking some of the liquid into my mouth or lungs while drowning was unimaginable. Joe told me that nobody had ever fallen into the swill, but related a story from the Lake County treatment plant: A deer had jumped the fences into the wastewater treatment plant and had fallen into a pool very similar to the one we were looking at. It had become caught in the brushes that were churning the water and was torn apart. Joe had a grimace on his face, and said; “I’m glad I didn’t have to clean that one up.” As we walked away from the pool, I had the image of the large brush covered with filthy water and parts of a deer; I agreed that I was also glad not to clean up the mess.
We ended the tour near the chlorination pool. This is the last step of the process, where chlorine is introduced into the water to kill the bacteria. After the chlorine is added, sulfur dioxide is used to neutralize the chlorine before the water is released.
Joe told me that he was looking forward to some of the plant’s improvements, including an ultra-violet purification system that would reduce the need to use these hazardous chemicals, and a filtration system to take out all of the particles. We watched the clear water slowly move through the cement river, and I asked Joe if he considered himself an environmentalist. Joe looked up from the water and said “Yes, I am an environmentalist. I care about what happens to our natural environment, and our world. I want my grandchildren to enjoy the rivers and wildlife in the same way I have. Anyone who comes out here and does this job has to see the importance of this.” We stood for a few minutes more before turning toward the buildings housing the laboratories, computers, and offices. I thanked Joe for the tour, and we shook hands again. I had come to the facility expecting to be awed by giant machines that scraped filth out of the water and forced mother nature to take back the water we had used. I ended up being impressed by Joe, a man with the purest motives for being an environmentalist; he cares about his grandchildren.
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with the conveniences of our modern life, many of us forget about the
environmental impact of our daily activities. It is easy to turn on a
faucet, wash a car, or flush a toilet without ever thinking about where
the water comes from, or where it will go. 
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