Yes, you can use an inline TSS probe in the aeration basin. Being able to have constant monitoring feed of the basin TSS is the way to go because you can see deviations in a trend. If the mlss is slowly dropping, you likely have an equipment failure of RAS pumps, or mixers... Your solids are selling somewhere. Or your losing a ton of solids in the effluent... I prefer to have inline tss probes and run mlss daily.

There are solids that will burn off, and there are solids that will not (metals and the like) the difference in VSS and nVSS gives you an understanding of your organic solid load.

Good point! Thanks for the correction. In fact, I got more than that wrong. MLSS would require a lot more information to calculate , aeration tank volume etc. The drying method was for total solids. Thanks for watching!!

A lot to explain there. You may want to read up on that. PH is very important not just in the effluent back into the receiving stream, but also the treatment process. Microorganisms like a certain pH range to do their job properly.

Is DO not on your DMR to report? Our permit states we have to meet a specific mg/l of DO as well as pH.

Athens WWTP No the DO is not on our permit, I was wondering we have TSS, CBod, BoD, and NH3

Feed Your Faith That is a little strange. During the re-permitting process, sometimes the DEP will add/subtract things to test for. But DO, in my experience, has always remained. And it’s important to aquatic life that the DO is enough for you receiving stream.

Canuky Alwert Absolutely..your right! There is always better and quicker ways of doing things. This is just the method we stuck with over the years. We do not need instant results, and we can continue doing other things around the plant while we wait. And no more buying filters hahaha. Thanks for the comment.

Wilson Wilson We do not have to report alkalinity, so we don’t have any hard lab samples. But...using the test strips we have, we average around 80-100 ppm if I remember correctly.

Wilson Wilson I wouldn’t say it was better...only convenient for us as the sludge judge is always readily available. The sample is homogeneous so either way it will work.

Kickstart51 Yahoo Hey thank you for the info!! I recently attended a class presented by smith and loveless. They suggested to use a non hardening silicone for gasket assembly to the pump. I think grease will work just as good Thank you again, I will try that!

Hey you bet, we are in this together. We only have one earth to protect, & again thanks for the great video.

TurtleboyTom thanks for the comment. Your right. A scoop would work and we have used those also. The sludge judge is always located nearby so we just use that. We use this also to check sludge depth in the opposite basin. One tool instead of two.

I figured it was for convenience. Thanks for the reply!

@@AthensWWTP Sorry to give you this 2 years late, but try and use the scoop and not the sludge judge. Your mixed liquor should not include the blanket that will have formed on the bottom. It will give you a false reading, saying your MLSS is higher than it actually is. Just my two cents.

@@AthensWWTP I had no idea that tool was called a sludge judge lol. I started my job at a wwtp and I've used that same tool to check the sludge blanket in our secondary clarifiers

PHAN THÀNH it’s called a core sampler. Or commonly called a “sludge judge”.

Thank you! Glad you like it!

Water and Wastewater Courses Thank you!! It means a lot!

also, with your sludge settling that low, what are your MLSS typically ranging?

ecafsinep thank you for your comments. There are many different ways to dry solids. We do it this way because it's simple and we don't have to mess with crucibles or filter paper. Another words, less time in the lab so we can attend to other duties. The down side is the 8 hours it takes to dry the solids. Our mlss changes pretty often due to our location being in a college town and the weather changes. Right now with college out and very warm weather, we are running around 1700. Normally lower, but we are only running one basin right now due to cleaning.

hey, thanks for replying! so you can still run MLSS through vacuum flask/funnel and filter? if so, wouldn't the furnace ignite the filter?

Claire Huang Thank you very much!

Juanfran Mar Thank you!

Margaret Wilson Very little. Most of it ends up in our sludge tank. We will have to deal with that soon.

Margaret Wilson thank you for the question. The settleometer test shows us visually what's going on in our activated sludge process. We look at it like, is it settling too fast,too slow? Is it compacting well? Is there a lot of suspended solids on top of the blanket? Just things like this the assist us in running the plant.

Can you tell me what does the centrifuge tell you about the sludge?

Margaret Wilson we don't generally use a centrifuge much. It gives you a percent volume of sludge. We find it doesn't really help us much.

tekle betre You can look for the Sacramento manuals. They will help a lot.

RAHAT A SIDDIQUI Thanks for the question. I'm afraid I cannot answer that for you.

Adham khaled 😂😂

UnderWaterFilms Haha. Yes...hungry now??

stnicholas54 No doubt!! Haha.

Matt McGhee Thank you. Do you have a video of your plant? Would love to see it. We are fascinated with other facilities and appreciate those that are in the industry.

LIZZY RUFUS Thank you. Sorry for the late response.

SAMMIsLIFE this presentation didn't go into detail about the activated sludge process. Technically, bacteria ate all the poop and turned it into nutrient rich sludge.

DJPhreaky Correct. The activated sludge process is what treats the bacteria. We wanted to keep this video simple and short. Explaining the activated sludge process would be lengthy and really needs it own video.

What about the chemicals in the water? They just leave that crap in there so then it turns the fish gay..

Seeking Truth Chemicals? And the fish are fine.

Athens WWTP Dont be ignorant find the facts...

Jesse Daniel Basically....yep hah.

🤯

🤣🤣 awesome comment lol

Finalfantasy Girl LoL

Jesse Daniel LoL

Sludge that is applied to farmland, or even golf courses, and home gardens come in two flavored: Class A bio solids and class B bio solids. The only difference between them is the level of fecal coliform, which is lower in class A. Class B bio solids may be applied only to land where crops fed to animals are grown. No restrictions apply to class A. The solids we are spreading are in fact a class B bio solids. They are full of nutrient-rich organic materials and are beneficial to plants. This field is used for harvesting hay for cows. It is not used on crops for human consumption. The "fertilizer" you buy from a box store is a class A biosolid and yes it comes from human waste also.

+Athens WWTP the animals are most likely used for food products such as eggs, dairy or meat, whatever the animal eats is what the product is based off of lol if its eating shit then you get shit flavored meat.

+joey lenseigne he said the fields are used to harvest hay for cows. Cows aren't eating the poo. They are eating hay that is fertilized with poo. The poo is made up of organic nitrogen and other important nutrients for plants. It's been used for thousands of years.

yum lol

If you are sick,it's not because of this program. Biosolids are strictly regulated when being applied to crops. Check out the regulations in your state and see what is the standard. Every state is different, and the feds have another set of guidelines. I worked over 24 years in wastewater treatment plants. These people are some of the most amazing and dedicated public servants you will ever meet. Most people don't realize that treatment plant operators have.a special section of laws that apply to professional behavior. We can be imprisoned for not doing our jobs correctly. Not many other jobs have criminal code sections regarding job duties. Most people in industrial/modern society don't know how to spell cholera, let alone know what it is. No badges, no sirens, no guns. every single person is dependent upon these people doing the job right, every day, 24/7.

Luke Fazza Thank you for the compliment. Sorry for the late response.

There are many words for it. The proper term is "WasteWater", but sometimes we just like to call it poo.

Athens WWTP poo is the best term