The Waste Water Treatment Plant, seriously.

A tour of a wastewater treatment plant? What does this have to do with organizing?

Pretty much nothing-BUT it did fulfill my interest in the life-cycle of, ahem, …things. Sometimes you realize many of the items you’ve purchased and spent good money on, are destined for landfill.

Well, whenever we eat something, a lot of that something is destined for the waste water treatment plant and I wanted to check it out. It was FASCINATING!! Truly, my attention was engaged for the entire 2 hours. Plus I got to wear safety goggles and a helmet the whole time!

I went to my local waste water treatment facility in Contra Costa County, and was completely shocked that I wasn’t the only person on the tour. There were more than twenty people, all just as curious as I. After a short, descriptive film, we split into two groups and began our trek at the far end of the treatment plant. We wound through the 144 square mile facility, following the incoming wastes’ treatment process. We saw the big seperators, and the little ones and the UV sanitizers and a four-story furnace that slowly burns waste and captures the steam energy to use for the plant. Talk about recycling!! If you’re curious about the whole process you can check out Contra Costa’s educational video for more detail.

While I’ve retained little of that detail, I’m still glad I went. It’s important to think holistically and concretely knowing, via seeing, what happens after I flush makes me feel better. It also strengthens my resolve to never use micro plastics or flush anything but what I’ve produced.

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