What did you want to be as a kid; a cowboy, a fireman maybe a banker? I bet none of you answered, I want to be a wastewater operator. The idea of working in wastewater is not appetizing to most people. Wastewater is smelly and let’s faces it you are working in other peoples waste. Still wastewater treatment is a necessity in our modern world. I spent over twenty years working in wastewater and water treatment all over the world. I had certification to operate any and every type of waste water treatment plant that has ever been built. I have operated plants, managed water departments, run bio-labs, and played wastewater superintendent on four continents. I’ll tell you for a fact wastewater was a good career. Let me tell you about the elegant art of wastewater treatment.

How is Wastewater treated

Wastewater treatment is elegant to me because in the majority of municipal wastewater treatment plants all that is needed to treat the wastewater is in the water. The most popular type of wastewater treatment plant is called an Activated Sludge plant. The treatment process is a biological process meaning chemicals are not required, living creatures do the work. I’ll walk you through the basic process.

Screening the wastewater

Wastewater enters a plant from the collection system. This every-thing from dish water to what gets flushed down the commodes. First it gets screened, this means exactly what it says. The wastewater will pass through some type of device designed to catch large objects. Generally this is anything over one inch. Believe me you would be surprised what makes it into a sewer system. I have seen everything from money to false teeth to entire bed sheets come into a plant. How some things make it I have no idea?

After the first screening the wastewater will flow through a grit chamber. This is just a box where the wastewater flow is slowed slightly to allow larger, heavier particles like coffee grounds, sand, and egg shells to settle out. This step saves wear and tear on the pumps later. In most plants the grit chamber is combined with a grease chamber. Solids settle and the grease rises to be skimmed (racked) off.

Primary wastewater treatment

The primary treatment for wastewater is simpler than the screening process. In this step the wastewater enters large tanks called Primary Clarifiers or Basins. In these tanks the water slows down even more and more solids are settled out. These solids from the wastewater are called primary sludge and will be pumped off for digestion and disposal. Normally about sixty percent of the solids will be removed from the wastewater in this process. After the wastewater passes through the primary all that is left in it is light biological waste and dissolved waste. The next step is where the magic happens.

Micro orgy in the wastewater

After the primary treatment the wastewater enters the aeration basins. These are long deep tanks that the wastewater gets feed to at a controlled rate and inside these tanks is a world that would have made Caligula blush. Microorganisms (Bugs) live in these tanks. The same bugs that originated in the wastewater. They are kept warm. Air is pumped into the tanks to keep the DO (Dissolved Oxygen) just right for them to breath and their favorite food our waste flows in at a steady rate.

For these bugs life is good. They eat and multiply, nothing else is asked of them and like the Caesars of old they party nonstop. In return for us providing them with this beautiful life they consume our waste and reduce it to basic chemical elements.

Finally water not wastewater

After the wastewater leaves the aeration basins it enters a finale set of clarifiers. Here once again. The solids settle out. The difference in this stage is that the solids are the reduced waste from our wastewater and the bugs that come out with the water. A small amount of this settled activated sludge is feed back to the aeration basins to seed the fresh incoming wastewater. The water that flows out is water. The only thing left to do is to disinfect the water with a little chlorine, ozone, or UV radiation.

In a properly operated wastewater plant the water that leaves the plant will be better than 99 percent pure.  This is cleaner than any receiving waters, the rivers or streams that receive the flow from a wastewater plant. Many cities are now recycling the effluent (out flow) from their wastewater plants for purposes such as irrigation. It requires an investment in infrastructure (pipes and pumps) but is a great means of recycling water and not wasting the energy used to clean it.

The Economics of Cancer Research

Cancer Research is and has been one of the fastest growing fields in the United States. With an annual growth rate projected in excess of 35 percent it is an economic force. With cancer providing a conduit for billions of dollars, the question is, can we afford to cure cancer.

Cancer Research Dollars

The United States Government spent 388,462,000,000 USD (US Dollars) on cancer related research in fiscal year 2012. The American Cancer Society added another 130.000,000 USD.  Many other more specialized organizations (Breast Cancer Society, Colon Cancer Society etc.)  add approximately 200,000,000 USD to Cancer Research spending. These Cancer Research funds help support over 3000 laboratories, research centers, and institutions of higher learning located in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. In excess of 100,000 researchers of Doctorial level are employed in these facilities. With a median salary of 76,130 USD, these cancer researchers have a major impact on their local economies.

Secondary Economics of Cancer Research

For every Cancer Researcher there is an army of supporting staff. These range from Research Assistance and Medical Report Writers to Janitorial staff and Receptionists. Each of these Cancer Research related positions, supplies a job and a salary that feeds the local economy. From the local grocery to the local mechanic every aspect of a community benefits from the dollars spent on Cancer Research.

Cancer Research; the business of Charity

Charities also play a major economic role in the business of Cancer Research. I will only detail here the role played by The American Cancer Society. I found 45 other, national level, cancer societies listed with the New England Hematology/Oncology, Associates but  The American Cancer Society is the largest and best funded of all the Cancer related charities. For the Fiscal Year 2010, The American Cancer Society showed total revenue of 956 million USD. Of this 956 million, 368 million was paid as direct salaries and 231 million in retirement benefits. These numbers reflect only the national organization.

Cancer an economic question mark

As you can see, cancer is an economic force to be reckoned with. Millions of people depend on Cancer Research for their daily bread. It is hard to ignore numbers as large as those discussed above. No mention has even been made about the cost of treatment; billions spent on medication, hospital, and doctor bills. With the amount of money being spent and the number of people dependent on cancer for their livelihood the question has to be asked; Can we afford to cure cancer.

It is not my intention to cast any disparity on any of the fine people who work every day to alleviate the suffering that cancer causes. They have my utmost respect. I know this suffering first hand. My sister died from cancer when she was 35. I watched her and my entire family suffer through three remissions and recurrences before we lost her. As with most things I don’t understand, I hide in study. This article is the result of some of what I have learned.

Read more from Gregory Lovvorn.

My dad is blind, I love my bicycle, and I am happy.

I really do love the bicycling life. I’ve always loved bikes, but I have also always loved driving.

I have in the past fantasized about giving up the car to do it all on a bike, but Atlanta is not the easiest city to do that in. Don’t get me wrong; if I moved back to Atlanta I’d make it work sans car, but it is a lot easier in L.A.

Kristina and I recently moved to Los Angeles. We planned on traveling the whole country but with an auto repair, the cost of gas, and the launch of the new market, greenlifestylemarket.com, it made more sense to got to LA and try the bike and bus way of life.

I’m one of those guys that have had over 50 jobs in my life. I say that as if there is a lot of us, but maybe not so much. I’ve rarely worked close to home, and when I did I only lasted a couple of weeks. Not because I didn’t like working close to home, but because I rarely lasted more than two weeks anywhere.

It’s an old story. The less stuff you have the happier you are. The more you exercise, the happier you are. The more fresh air you breath (can you call Los Angeles air fresh?), the happier you are.

Atlanta has a lot of hills, and it’s also so spread out. In Los Angeles I can ride for 100 miles. After 20 miles at a good clip, put a hill in my way and my legs are jelly. But I am getting better and better at hills. If I were to get a job here where I rode even 40 miles a day, I could bike that without a sweat if it’s under 80F.

Fortunately, my job is what I am doing right now at this very moment.

I ride an average of 20 miles a day. I beat traffic almost anywhere I go. It’s mostly flat, but if there is a steep hill and I’ve been riding all day, I won’t hesitate to hang on to a car for a break.

The morning after I got my bike, I road about 20 miles. The next day I could barely move! Until, that is, I slathered on some deep tissue oil and then barely got my leg up and over my bike for another 30 miles. BTW, Shillington’s Deep Tissue Repair Oil got me through it. Seriously, for sore muscles and injuries, there is nothing better!

I have fun with it. If I can’t pass them, I try to at least keep up with the cars. I am careful not to cause anyone else’s tension levels to rise too much as I carefully and methodically weave in and out of traffic while ignoring the laws that govern our roads.

Ignore is the wrong word. I certainly take the stoplights and other traffic signs and rules into consideration. And speaking of consideration, I really am careful not to cause other drivers to hit their brakes or go out of their lane unless absolutely necessary to my ability to stay alive. I will hop from road to sidewalk, continually choosing whichever holds the route with the least resistance at that moment.  And while I do run red lights, I do it carefully, without causing alarm or brake tapping from anyone.

I’ve been called reckless before. I disagree, but I am adventurous and I do not give a damn about laws (if you know my history you’d understand). So in this city where almost no one jaywalks and the only way people walk across the street is when the sign tells them to,  I get a lot of looks as I blow by traffic, running a red light.

In Atlanta, only tourists consider the crosswalk (whether it be at a lighted intersection or not) anything more than a suggestion.

I need to get a trailer for groceries and baby carrier. Either one of those items will certainly change my riding habits, but I think on most days I’ll still be faster than traffic.

Then I think about how my dad rode me on his bicycle. He was a carpenter. He made a little baby seat and put it on the back of the bike above the rear tire. My dad didn’t ride me because he loved bicycling everywhere; he did it because he was legally blind. He cannot see well enough to drive. He did at one point, but thanks to a lifestyle of drugs and crap food, he lost his vision at age 21 (if memory serves).

My dad, like me, loved to drive. We both used to race. We both got a lot of tickets. We both drove in a similar manner.

And bicycles are the only vehicles we own.

The difference is, I do it by choice. And he can’t get a driver’s license.

Well… Sort of by choice. It seems life did pretty much say “No car for you!”

I suppose I needed that to happen. And now, what’s happened? I am happier. Much happier. Life is so much better without a car. I should preface: Life is so much better without a car when you live in a temperate climate that hardly ever rains and always has tons of traffic with mostly flat terrain.

It’s an old story. The less stuff you have the happier you are. The more you exercise, the happier you are. The more fresh air you breath (can you call Los Angeles air fresh?), the happier you are.

And my dad is miserable. He didn’t have a choice.

My dad has made it very clear to me that he believes that the cause of his depression and anger are due to the fact that he has been dealt a short hand in life.

But that’s not likely his issue. I am reasonably sure that he is miserable because he chose drugs and alcohol over anything or anyone else most of his life. I figure he is unhappy about his whole life, but for the most part blames it on the loss of vision.

For all we know, if he didn’t stop driving maybe he would have killed someone with a DUI.  He is a man with a conscious, so I am pretty sure that would have made him feel worse than the lose of his eyesight.

Our way of being in this world is so similar in so many ways. But my dad is miserable with life, while I keep having better and better years.

I will try to remember this next time I feel I don’t have a choice. For instance, I run the wrong red light, and end up in a wheelchair. I will try to remember how much fun I have whenever I sit in a wheelchair. I go nuts! Obviously I have a thing for wheels. If I were confined to a wheelchair for a week or for the rest of my life, I like to think I would have fun with it. Hell, I know I would. It may not be my choice, but I promise you this, I would be known, in whatever town I am in, as, “That crazy dude that passes cars and bicycles, running red lights, all while evading cops in his wheelchair!