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city of the sun wastewater lagoon
sludge sampling - laguna encantada news - permit reports - water bills
[cos] laguna encantada news
2007 jun 15 [cos] lagoon work day - jun 16 sat 8-10am
and preparing activated em for the lagoon
2007 jul 10 [cos] laguna encantada news
2007 oct 24 [cos] laguna encantada - gardening work party
2008 mar 28 [cos] laguna encantada news - work party - re: b.s.
2008 jun 30 [cos lagoon] re: Lagoon statistics
2008 sep 3 [cos] laguna encantada news & reports - gardening party sep 6 sat
2008 oct 8 [cos] laguna encantada - sep 21 meeting notes
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[top prev next] Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2007 09:34:10 -0700 (MST) From: chris vansprouts <vansprouts at mac dot com> Subject: [cos] lagoon work day - jun 16 sat 8-10am a re/minder... lagoon weeding & cleanup work day, tomorrow morning 8 to 10 am, saturday, june 16. bring rakes, gloves, and yourselves! we will be just in time for a visit & lagoon site inspection by naomi davidson from the new mexico environment department, this wednesday, june 20. these are -the- people where we get our 5-year lagoon permit, and permission to use bentonite/envirogel/ clay instead of the dreaded plastic lagoon liner. we're talking about $60,000 or more here, so let's behave! (maya has all the history and details, so please ask her if you need info) thanks to bob for contributing many hours of weeding earlier this week. many hands make light work... for anyone who's interested, see below for some details on em and the exact recipe i've been using. chris vansprouts [top prev next] preparing activated em for the cos lagoon & sewage system both bob and i have been preparing em according to standard practices as described by professor higa ("an earth saving revolution", vol 1, p 203), and on the em america website: http://www.howtouseem1.com/activatingem.html here's the em recipe i've been using. i've shortened the activation time by "recycling" some of the previous batch into the next batch, as with sourdough bread. it works. |
[top prev next] Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2007 17:55:05 -0700 (MST) From: chris vansprouts <vansprouts at mac dot com> Subject: [cos] laguna encantada news please mark your calendars for these two dates... (yes, july 11 is tomorrow! em is fast :) -- july 11 wednesday 3 pm at cos community center info about em - effective micro-organisms eric lancaster, vp of em america, traveling from tucson az, will be here at city of the sun to answer our questions about em in the lagoon, composting, and other applications. -- july 14 saturday 8 am - lagoon work party outside the lagoon fence we have large heaps of dried weeds to be raked into smaller heaps and burned safely. inside the fence are a few woody roots to be dug out. that's it, for 1-2 hours, please help if you can. many thanks for help in june & january to - bob, maya, chris, lynn, don, gordon, leigh, wes, hazel, johon, sean, jacksun, and two anon. -- if anyone has a spare 45-55 gallon -plastic- barrel with a good tight lid, i need 1 or 2 of these asap for making em, so there will be plenty for the lagoon, everyone's drains, gardens, and other community uses. -- to help minimize odors from the lagoon, please consult with me before sudden dumping of large quantities of sewage, or if you have been using formaldehyde or disinfectants (in rv holding tanks, for example). as always, please do not put chemicals, non-biodegradables, etc, into our sewage system. thanks. -- in case you haven't heard, we passed our two state lagoon inspections in june. we will be renewing our wastewater permit for another 5 years with our existing bentonite clay lagoon liner. during the next 5 year permit period, we are expected to connect with the columbus village wastewater system as they extend northwards and beyond cos. (either that, or buy a new liner, i guess) |
[top prev next] Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2007 18:35:48 -0700 (MST) From: chris vansprouts <vansprouts at mac dot com> Subject: [cos] laguna encantada - gardening work party lagoon gardening work party & discussion october 27 saturday 9:00 am mdt please bring rakes, and wear heavy gloves and work clothes. for an hour or so, we'll be pulling up big ripe tumbleweeds from around the lagoon and throwing them outside the fence for burning later. afterwards, we'll see what remains, hopefully a diversity of shallow-rooted indiginous desert weeds, which should be good for natural erosion control of the banks. at this time we can also brainstorm and discuss other possible vegetation and methods to control erosion, and crowd out tumbleweeds! native grasses and iceplant have been suggested so far. p.s. full moon thursday night at 10:52 pm mdt |
[top prev next] Date: Fri, 28 Mar 2008 12:57:40 -0700 (MST) From: chris vansprouts <vansprouts at mac dot com> Subject: [cos] laguna encantada news - work party - re: b.s. march 30 sunday 9:00 am mdt - lagoon work party this time, we have a few more woody rooted things to dig up, and gaps under the fence to fill in. we'll need some heavy digging tools, like picks & shovels, if you can bring them. thanks to adelaide, sheila, dewey, david, roberto, and chris for working in october and/or november. we finally got out all those blatantly illegal tumbleweeds! annual vs perennial seems important - there were many perennial weeds with woody roots, of various ages and sizes, seriously not good (ie, illegal), growing in the banks of our enchanted lagoon... -- i know people at cos -do- care about the lagoon. most of the rv's here now use em in their holding tanks, and there has been no toxic dumping since the incident last october, thank you everyone. we've been getting very good results in rv holding tanks by adding a gallon of em, allowing a couple weeks for fermentation etc, and dumping 1/4 or 1/3 of the tank each time, instead of all at once. this em is free for use within the community, just bring over a gallon jug or 5-gallon bucket and i'll give you some. also, addition to the lagoon of up to 4-8 gallons of em per week during the summer has significantly reduced our famous summer lagoon odor problem, and this will continue to improve. btw, our lagoon is not delicate or fragile - it's alive. which means it's re-generative and self-maintaining, like any other living creature - if it's in a supportive environment. the less everyday toxins we put into it, the less load & expense to maintain a healthy micro- eco-culture. -- the hardest part of this job (and other jobs here) is dealing with the sneaky, or outrageous, lies slander gossip rumors envy hate fear ignorance stupidity, and the arrogance to justify it... this is the -really- smelly slimy toxic shit. just look around... this is why we, as a community, are in poverty. you know who you are. why do you go on & on & on about my "experiments"? can't you find something more interesting to do than bug me? go watch tv or something? my "ill-fated" experiments with em were concluded by april 2007. since then, my production process has been consistent, reliable, viable, efficient, and effective for the lagoon and agricultural uses. that's what experiments are for. about all those "extra" gallons of activated em - we have many satisfied em users here. it's good in rv holding tanks, compost & gardens, even in laundry. eventually all of this em goes into improving our lagoon and the land at cos. the more the merrier, says mother nature. this was all explained here, almost a year ago -> http://homepage.mac.com/vansprouts/cos/lagunanews.html#em and of the 1 gallon of dormant em-1 "concentrate" ($50) we started in july 2007, there's about half remaining. which easily comes to less than $50 per year. -- a note about "someone's" "lagoon emergency" last october... the biochemistry of our lagoon is well within a normal operating range, and has been without exception since i accepted responsibility as our lagoon person. the famous 2007 october grab-sample was taken under momentarily very gross conditions (large toxic rv dump the day before), and from a different location in the pond than all other samples during the previous 3 years. even so, analysis for this sample was well within a normal operating range for our lagoon. (otherwise we would've heard about it from nm env in santa fe.) for reference, our friends at the new mexico rural water association (nmrwa) have kindly given us a copy of "Operations Manual: Stabilization Ponds" (that's our lagoon) published by the us environmental protection agency (that's the epa). according to info about testing procedures in chapter 2, even under the best and most consistent of conditions, twice-a-year grab-samples can give only a rough indication of lagoon functioning. other testing methods, much more frequent and detailed (and highly expensive), would be needed to come to such definite conclusions as some of our members seem to have reached by other means. -- my dear fellow cos members, i can't promise to give much more attention after this to the boy who cried "vinegar", but if you have any questions or concerns about the lagoon or em, please contact me personally by email, or come over and talk, and get a bottle of activated em. submitted with all due respect, chris vansprouts <vansprouts at mac dot com> lagoon maintenance co-ordinator city of the sun foundation http://homepage.mac.com/vansprouts/cos/laguna.html |
[top prev next] Date: Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:15:28 -0700 (MST) From: chris vansprouts <vansprouts at mac dot com> Subject: [cos lagoon] re: Lagoon statistics thanks for your feedback, july. i'm sorry if you or anyone else had a problem understanding these graphs of our lagoon test results: http://homepage.mac.com/vansprouts/cos/lagunareports.html i've tried to make it as easy as possible for -anyone- to understand these data, and this is about the simplest way that i know of. i'm sure the NM Environment Dept is perfectly able to understand everything in these reports. also please note, these are "data", not "statistics", since we have only 10 samples during a 5-year period of highly and randomly variable conditions... from what -anyone- could determine from this tiny amount of data, our lagoon is doing very well, and it has been within normal and acceptable operating conditions during the past 5 years. (it doesn't even smell so bad any more :) yes, interpretation of lab tests is highly technical, ultimately for NM Env to decide, not for mere mortals. that's why this webpage is titled "Discharge Permit Reports & Data for New Mexico Environment Dept" - i'm just a messenger. news & non-technical information for us mere mortals is available in the [cos] laguna encantada news, emailed about 4 times a year. to receive the newsletters directly, just send me your email address. past issues are archived here, and make great bathroom reading... http://homepage.mac.com/vansprouts/cos/lagunanews.html again, i will be happy to answer any further questions about this from anyone, as best i can, at our next board meeting this sunday july 6. chris vansprouts lagoon maintenance co-ordinator city of the sun foundation ------ Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:32:05 -0700 (MST) From: chris vansprouts <vansprouts at mac dot com> Subject: [cos lagoon] re: Lagoon results this is my ongoing official technical report on the operations and condition of the cos lagoon. this report is intended to be complete, accurate, and truthful for legal and scientific purposes. http://homepage.mac.com/vansprouts/cos/lagunareports.html if anyone is aware of any omissions, errors, or lies in this report, i would greatly appreciate being informed directly, immediately, and respectfully, so that i may correct it. thank you very much, chris vansprouts lagoon maintenance co-ordinator city of the sun foundation |
[top prev next] Date: Wed, 03 Sep 2008 16:45:12 -0700 (MST) From: chris vansprouts <vansprouts at mac dot com> Subject: [cos] laguna encantada news & reports - gardening party sep 6 sat it's time for another lagoon gardening party! september 6 saturday 9-10am mdt, rain or shine... our enchanted wastewater lagoon is lovely this summer, and the gardening is getting much easier each time... after a couple months of gentle rain here, we have a nice carpet of annual indigenous weeds covering the banks. these are modest and well- behaved (unlike tumbleweeds!), self-seeding and drought tolerant, and will help prevent erosion. there are even a few patches of various native wild grasses starting to spread. with continued selective weeding, we can encourage beneficial (& legal) vegetation, and discourage the rest. surprisingly, there are only a few rare patches of tumbleweeds, and a few perennial bushy weeds from last time that need to be pulled. please bring a sun hat and gloves, and a trowel or something for digging small weeds. if you don't feel like working, just come and take a look! (i'll put up more photos too...) nature is amazing! -- if you haven't seen the official report i've put together for the New Mexico Environment Department this year, it's here: http://homepage.mac.com/vansprouts/cos/lagunareports.html not for light reading, this report is intended to be complete, accurate, and truthful for legal and scientific purposes. again, if anyone is aware of any omissions, errors, or lies in this report, i would greatly appreciate being informed directly, immediately, and respectfully, so that i may correct it. i've gotten rude and nonsensical criticism from a few members who haven't bothered even to look at this report, which has been on the web, noted in these newsletters, and posted in the community center for months. to these careless critics, would you please look before you leap, everyone thanks you. i've also given a lagoon update at every board and membership meeting for months (even meetings short of a quorum) to keep us current on the progress of our 5-year permit renewal. for cos members only, i've also compiled an archive of email correspondence concerning work on the lagoon since 2007 june, including every email between NM Env and myself. most of these emails were also cc-d to the cos office email, but i guess since there's so much spam from our own members, it's getting harder to find anything important in there anymore :) -- a few notes on our lagoon permit renewal (please see the work email archive for details) according to NM Env requirements, our lagoon must have a maximum capacity sufficient for the largest possible population here at any moment. our controversial past water bills and meter readings are a clue, but the deciding factor is the dreaded "bedroom count", which indicates a much higher maximum possible load on the lagoon (whether or not those bedrooms are occupied). our first permit, issued in 1986 for a 15-unit trailer park, gave us permission to discharge up to 4000 gallons of wastewater per day. our renewed and updated permit will give us an absolute maximum of 6000 gals/day for the next 5 years, and we also need to prove that our 35+ year-old bentonite clay liner is intact and not leaking wastewater into the ground water... i believe that our ancient clay liner -could- be in perfectly good condition because our lagoon is currently a very much alive bio-organic environment, which seems to be self-maintaining, and could be micro-biologically self-sealing like a natural pond. on the other hand, a bio-inert vat of toxic chemicals mixed with a few desperate bacteria might need a plastic liner. pond or vat? this can be -our- choice, if we in this community can quit a bad habit of bickering and chewing up the furniture. the most positive proof of an intact liner would be a monitoring well that normally fills with ground water, so the water can be tested to show there's no contamination from the lagoon above it. "historically" our monitoring well has been too dry to sample, which doesn't prove anything to anybody. so far, NM Env has been letting this go, but now they're investigating many dry monitoring wells all around new mexico, not only ours... they could easily require us to drill another monitoring well, -or- have mercy and continue to let it go, their choice. (our dry 200-foot monitoring well was built in 2003 for about $13,000) it -is- required in our permit that we have a certified wastewater technician operate the lagoon, and also take monthly measurements and samples 4 times a year from the lagoon and monitoring well. both susan maupin, our advisor from NMRWA, and naomi davidson, our lagoon boss at NM Env, have suggested that i should get this certification, which is ok with me if the community will cover my tuition and expenses, probably around $200, the same cost as two visits by our certified technician from deming. my current status with NM Env is "operator in training" pending certification. if our careless resident hypercritics don't buzz off, i'll also want my stipend increased to whatever the treasurer is getting... and be sure to vote in october for what -you- want! :) btw, naomi said very clearly last summer, and again this summer, that NM Env does -not- have any specific agreement, arrangement, or requirement with us to use EM (Effective Micro-organisms) in any particular amounts, or at all. whatever works, and it's working. they are tired of hearing about it, and so are we. end of topic. we are now in the Public Notice period for our permit renewal. this began july 17 when all our paperwork was "administratively complete", and normally goes for one month after we've completed notifying all our neighbors (which isn't quite done yet). if there are any complaints from our neighbors, the Public Notice period may be extended for public meetings and discussion as needed. for this renewal, our most tedious task may be mailing public notice flyers to every property owner within 1/3 mile of our wastewater treatment facility, which some members have guesstimated at hundreds. if you hear any complaints from our Foundation Secretary, this might be the reason. it may seem a bit boggling to many here, but it is a fact that our neighborhood has grown in population and density, and we have many more close neighbors than we did 20 or 30 years ago! and it seems we need a little catching up to find out who they are. again, i'm just a messenger. NM Environment Department rules, and they know the whole territory very well. my advice for our community is to be very polite, simply do whatever they say, and get those hundreds of flyers mailed asap. this is the easiest & cheapest way through this renewal, and any grownup in the real world will tell you it's really not a big deal. after that's done, we'll have the next five years to figure out something better (if we can remember to put it on the agenda). -most- fortunately for us and our neighbors, our lagoon no longer exudes the overwhelmingly disgusting smell for which we were famous only a couple of years ago... hope to see you at the gardening party this saturday! chris vansprouts lagoon maintenance co-ordinator city of the sun foundation http://homepage.mac.com/vansprouts/cos/laguna.html "...we are not making ice cream here..." from Chapter 5 Wastewater Treatment Ponds, Wastewater Systems Operator Certification Study Manual (New Mexico Environment Department, 2005) |
[top prev next] Date: Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:34:05 -0700 (MST) From: chris vansprouts <vansprouts at mac dot com> Subject: [cos] laguna encantada - sep 21 meeting notes dear cos members, i'm happy to report that the lagoon/sewage discussion meeting on sunday september 21 was peaceful, rational, and informative! for the full 90 minutes of audio, please go to: http://cos2.dyndns.info/talk/latest.html also here are a few more notes of mine, in addition to dewey's which are printed & posted in the community center. we still need further info on some details, but the following points of general consensus in our discussion seem important: 1 for the long-term, it seems well beyond our community's financial means and social responsibility to maintain and operate our own sewage lagoon, 2 for the long-term, we have legal options for composting toilets etc, also at large bureaucratic expense (both inner and outer), 3 it may be possible, without political issues, to connect with the columbus sewage system as a simple business entity, as we do now with our water supply from columbus, 4 it may be possible to connect with columbus without installing our own sewage lift station ($10k's?), if columbus must install their own lift station(s) anyway for their customers north of us, 5 if we don't connect with columbus within the next 5-year permit period, we -will- be required by NM Env to completely overhaul and/or replace our lagoon ($100k's?). as reported last summer in the 2007 july 10 laguna encantada news: > in case you haven't heard, we passed our two state lagoon > inspections in june. we will be renewing our wastewater > permit for another 5 years with our existing bentonite > clay lagoon liner. during the next 5 year permit period, > we are expected to connect with the columbus village > wastewater system as they extend northwards and beyond > cos. (either that, or buy a new liner, i guess) 6 switching from our lagoon to the columbus sewage system won't happen immediately and may take years, so we need to continue our lagoon business as usual until the connection with columbus is complete. (also see 2008 sep 3 laguna encantada news) fyi, chris vansprouts cos lagoon maintenance co-ordinator http://homepage.mac.com/vansprouts/cos/lagunanews.html -- other references... lagoon work email archive: http://cos2.dyndns.info/talk/lagunawork.html audio archive of the sep & oct board meetings & others: http://cos2.dyndns.info/meetings/latest.html NM Env Discharge Permit 431 draft, July 17 2008: http://homepage.mac.com/vansprouts/cache/nmenv080717dp431draft.pdf [top prev next] |
