Scarborough Sanitary District Tours and Education
I want to extend an open invitation to all to come tour our District facilities; I have conducted tours to all age groups, kids through adults.
The Sanitary District is operation budget is approximately a $3 million per year. Each year we convey and treat over 425 million gallons of wastewater from which we remove approximately 95% of the pollutants from the wastewater for less than 1 cent per gallon, thus protecting our beaches we all so much enjoy. We are a 24 hour, 7 day a week operation that runs silently in the background and I suspect very few ever give it any consideration unless there is a problem.
There is a wide skill set that is needed to run a wastewater treatment facility and consequently many potential career opportunities. There is probably something of interest for anyone who has a chance to tour our facility. Just some of the subjects we touch on in our operation include:
- Science: Our operators have to understand the biological component of wastewater treatment to manage our operation to ensure that we meet our permit limits while doing it in a cost effective manner. Not only do we need to do it for the “liquid” side of our treatment process, we need to manage our composting operation which when complete is beneficially reused.
- Technology: Computers play a huge role in our operation. They start and stop equipment and processes, monitor and record our operation, and send out alarms when things go wrong. During off hours, an on-call operator is notified via a beeper and if he does not respond, the computer will start calling other operators. Without computers, our cost of operation and risk of failure would go way up.
- Maintenance: We have 2 full time mechanics that are responsible for maintaining all of our equipment and vehicles. In addition, to equipment maintenance, we need to maintain our collection system piping network (over 65 miles) including manholes (greater than 2,000), while keeping our grounds looking good.
- Emergency Response: As with any organizations, things break when you least expect them. To reduce the impact to the environment, we need to be able to respond quickly, assess the situation, identify materials equipment needed, and call in any additional workforces needed to complete the repairs, all without putting our staff at risk.
- Engineering: There is a lot of engineering that goes into maintaining and upgrading a large facility such as this. Depending on our needs, we either utilize in-house staff or hire a consultant.
- Management: Facility management not only includes the day to day operation of the facility, but also managing and preparing for the repair and replacement of our assets, developing a rate structure that is fair and equitable, and planning for our future.
I personally greatly enjoy conducting tours; what we do is so important to our welfare. Please feel free to call us to arrange for a tour.
David Hughes, PE
Superintendent
Wentworth School STEAM Night
The Scarborough Sanitary District presented at the Wentworth School’s STEAM night on March 3rd. We had the use of an Eviroscape Model that simulates storm water run-off pollution, an effluent identification contest where the students tried to identify treated wastewater amongst several other water samples, a microscope set up to view the microbiology used in the treatment of wastewater, and fun stickers for the kids. Pictures below:
AP Environmental Field Trip:
On April 8th, Albert McCormack’s Scarborough High School’s AP Environmental class, toured the Scarborough Sanitary District’s Wastewater Treatment Facility. The tour went great and the kids had some great questions. The teacher promised to be back next year and was going to suggest the tour to other teachers including those with an engineering focus.
We need you to not flush wipes
Wipes use Flyer