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Whatever It Takes

Lance Loverink, MRWA Wastewater Technician
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Ever have one of those situations where you know you’re just going to have to do whatever it
takes to get the job done? As wastewater operations specialists I’m sure each and every one of
us has several of those stories in our carriers that have probably not been the highlights of our
careers!

In a community I was recently sludge judging at, an interesting experience came up in conversation.

Here is the scenario as the events took place. In September of 2016 a city had several interconnected
10.5 foot deep aerated ponds that were not staying level as they should have. The summer was
very dry and the flows reduced compared to a most years. The operations specialist started to
notice that the first pond began to rise on the rip rap. The second pond was beginning to lower.
The influent flows were staying the same but he also noticed his effluent flows dropping every
day. Well, you guessed it, the 10-inch equalizing pipe was plugged 10 feet under the water. The
operations specialist was just six months into the new job at this city and was not given any
breaks for his first difficult situation. Probing around with an extended iron pole proved to be
pointless as pond one continued to rise and temperatures dropped. The original thought was
that as the elevation in pond one increased, would the pressure just clear itself? Over the next
30 days it was clear something needed to be done. The next step consisted of a flat bottom Jon
boat and the extended metal rod to try and “sound” for it by clinking metal pole to metal pipe.
The boatmen tried a grid pattern as they seemed to aimlessly hunt for the elusive pipe, but to no
avail. The determination couldn’t be made as to the cause of the blockage, so a new plan arose.

The operations specialist called a scuba diving team and asked if they could help. The divers
eventually did agree to try and help. The next day the dive team and a contracted sewer jetter
met onsite. The two divers drew straws to decide who was going to be “the lucky one” to enter
the ponds. The aerators were turned off. The jetter truck team unspooled some jetter hose so the
diver could tote the hose end easily into the water. The plan was to find the end of the pipe and
just put the jetter head into the pipe without it being live as to prevent stirring up the sediments
to allow for better visibility and safety. The flow of the pipe was also considered. If the pipe
blockage were to be cleared, it would have significant flows. Everyone agreed that all equipment
was to be left off until the diver was out of the pond. The diver entered, and in just a matter of a
few minutes arose to the surface! He successfully found the end of a pipe in the second pond and
stuffed several feet of hose into the pipe. The jetter hose was charged and after several minutes
the flow could be seen and the wastewater was equalizing.

We have all had those situations that end up being plan Z to accomplish the goal, but the
inventiveness of us wastewater operations specialists has always been a highlight of my career!
We just do whatever it takes.

24 MRWA TODAY S SPRING 2021