Waste Water World

In this engaging episode host Lia Lamela sits down with Val and Emily, seasoned wastewater treatment plant operators and returning Sparky Life guests. They discuss the intricacies of wastewater management and highlighting the importance of flushing protocols. These women value their trade, emphasizing their contributions to safety, community, and morale in the workplace.

First Sparky Life Episode with Emily and Val Waste Water Operators
From Sewage to Superheros: The Waste Water Industry

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Music by https://www.purple-planet.com

Transcript

Lia (00:00:00) - I am so, so happy to have you ladies back on the Sparky life.

Emily & Val (00:00:05) - We are happy to be here.

Lia (00:00:07) - Looking stylish and gorgeous as usual.

Emily & Val (00:00:12) - Well, it's the weekend so you know we can write. We're not covered in pieces this time. Yeah. There you go.

Lia (00:00:21) - There you go. Okay, so I know that the. Listeners that had the amazing opportunity to listen to your. Women of Waste Water episode. Wow. They already have a little bit of a background, but for those that are tuning in for the first time, would you mind just filling everyone in, giving a little background on you beautiful ladies?

Emily & Val (00:00:52) - Sure, Emily. By all means. Okay, well, what is wastewater? Well, it's everything that you put down the drain. If you don't have a septic tank. Then it goes to a city or town or commission run treatment system where it goes to pump stations, which are pretty much just like little huts on the side of the road. You never think about, you never see them.

Emily & Val (00:01:15) - And, then it goes to a wastewater treatment plant where we start by removing solids like trash. What do you call them? Where? Mice. Where mice. You know, get the little tails. They get caught in things. Yeah. They're everywhere. You wouldn't imagine the type of things that we find coming through the treatment system. So after we remove inorganic solids, we start to, remove. Sellable solids. The stuff you think of when you think of wastewater type of stuff, and then you send it through a different tank where you add air and there are so many, so many steps. And then yeah, then you remove more solids and then oh my gosh, essentially whatever you put down the drain, it comes to us and we test it, we treat it and we make sure it's clean enough to go back into the environment. Not for drinking, not for drinking. For humans, at least you know animals can. They'll be okay, but it's just giving back to the environment. What needs to go back in there.

Lia (00:02:18) - Perfect. And what would you identify your titles? What do you say? It's a wastewater operator. Where do you guys fall regarding official title?

Emily & Val (00:02:30) - Official titles would be a wastewater treatment plant operator. Where we are, we're called operations specialists. Other places would call you a reclamation treatment specialist. Just a wastewater operator. I mean, they all go hand in hand. They're the same thing, but we all do the same thing.

Lia (00:02:47) - Okay. All right. Very good. Now, from when you guys started in this industry to where you are now, what kind of changes have you seen?

Emily & Val (00:02:57) - Well, Valerie has been in wastewater about. It's been 17 years as of March 4th.

Lia (00:03:04) - Almost two decades I know.

Emily & Val (00:03:06) - Right? Yes. Thank you, thank you. But I started out with like smaller package plants. And so I've seen a lot of different things throughout the career, just the different ways things are done, different flow patterns and so on, different treatment processes you can treat with bleach. And what is it, sodium by sulfite.

Emily & Val (00:03:31) - Yeah. Then you also have ultraviolet treatment. That's a huge one. That's my preference in disinfection. But going from smaller treatment plants to much larger ones just wow. In general by the size of pumps that move sludge, pumps that move just water itself, grinder pumps, things that shred all the solids that come in. I mean bar screens, sand filters, so many different things. And nobody has any idea what I'm talking about. Probably. And that's fine, except for those who understand the industry and that that's all well and good. The amazing things that this industry has is just you wouldn't be able to comprehend it until you actually saw it, because it's just something like you would never think of. You're like, whoa, what? Why membranes? What are you talking about?

Lia (00:04:18) - So yeah.

Emily & Val (00:04:18) - So like so as time goes on, we find more and more things that we want to get rid of and out of our water, whether it be PCBs, microplastics, PFAS. The public is becoming more aware of these studies being done.

Emily & Val (00:04:34) - And so they're demanding of politicians and cities to get rid of all of the things that we put in there. And so there's different technologies to figure out how to do it. It goes like all the way. It's like nano filtration, you know, like, yeah, it it's more than just reverse osmosis, as people put it, you know, or whatever. Yeah. So they're coming up with like different ways to clean the water, you know, with like carbon and all these different things. But so it's the ingenuity of the engineers and the people who are like studying the numbers that we give them every day. There's this new method of nitrogen removal called pandas. I don't exactly know. They're testing it out. It's a pilot process right now. We're not going to discuss. Let's not talk about that. Because because we're not fully in on that. So you can just cut that from yeah. You can just get up. We want to.

Lia (00:05:34) - Know about the new potential things that are out there.

Emily & Val (00:05:38) - And so do we. The thing is, though, that once you get a team of engineers talking about something and this is a very this is a major thing that's in the wastewater industry is you have engineers and they create these treatment plants and they create these processes, but they never ask the operator or the people are the people who are going to be performing the work, the maintenance, the treatment, the people who are actually going to be hands on in all up in there. They don't ask them. So then the next thing you know. We're sitting here dumbfounded, like, I don't get it. How does this work? And they're like, what do you mean? How does this work? And it's like, no, really, how is this supposed to work? Like, how am I supposed to work on this? If it's as one of our one of our colleagues gave a presentation, and the whole time he was showing engineers and operators like, here's a valve all the way up in the ceiling.

Emily & Val (00:06:33) - Come on, man, how is anyone going to work on it? Yeah.

Lia (00:06:37) - Okay. You hit on something so big, I totally got it. This is a running theme throughout skilled trades and Stem running theme throughout. It doesn't matter where you are in this world, where you are in the industry, there is a disconnect between engineers and the people actually in the trade. So electricians complain about electrical engineers all the time saying like, okay, maybe it works on your computer system, but in real life, yeah, I'm going to have a convention welcoming all the engineers and all the people on the ground and be like, collaborate, talk to one another.

Emily & Val (00:07:24) - Yes, friend?

Lia (00:07:25) - Yes. Be friends, be friends. What are you thinking? Why would you not consult the people who are actually doing the operation? Craziness. Yes, yes. You see? Yeah.

Emily & Val (00:07:40) - They have a piece of paper that says they know what they're doing.

Lia (00:07:43) - That shit's changing hard now. Do you see the swing like.

Emily & Val (00:07:47) - Yeah.

Lia (00:07:48) - It's no longer going to mean anything to have that piece of paper. It's totally going in a different direction. I mean, people are pulling their kids out of school, they're doing home schooling, they're doing special programs, they're doing Stem. Vocational schools are happening now. I wish I had that when I was in high school. Like, it's crazy. They have. I was talking to a gentleman who's in the skilled trades, young guy, and I'm like, how did you decide to do this? And he's like, I did a whole bunch of research and this is what's going to be booming and making the most money. And I can be an entrepreneur. He does HVAC and he's like the school, the high school that he went to had a program where they taught them business. They like actually had a business plan mock up and like came up with products or service and pitched it and then got to talk to CEOs about it. I was like, where was this when I was growing up?

Emily & Val (00:08:43) - Yeah, really so cool.

Lia (00:08:45) - So cool. Oh my gosh. So your industry obviously with AI and innovation, it's going to grow and expand and just get cooler and cooler basically. Yeah.

Emily & Val (00:08:55) - Because you know everybody poops.

Lia (00:08:58) - Yeah yeah. Well said. Well said.

Emily & Val (00:09:04) - Job security. It's never going to go away. Sorry people. Yeah. Even girls we do. Yeah. They never flush. So we are mice either.

Lia (00:09:18) - No no never never be your family.

Emily & Val (00:09:21) - Not my friends.

Lia (00:09:22) - Yeah.

Emily & Val (00:09:23) - Sorry.

Lia (00:09:25) - For those who don't know what that is. Basically it's the tampons ladies. Yeah. So do not flush your tampons. You are contaminating the water.

Emily & Val (00:09:36) - Let your rocket launchers, please. Or wipes and hair or. Oh my gosh. Yes. And, floss, dental floss. Oh.

Lia (00:09:45) - Dental floss.

Emily & Val (00:09:47) - It all, like, braids up together and turns into a giant. We call it rag. And, like, you know, there's grease balls. What are they called? Fatbergs and strippers. Yeah, it's just like, it's just everything.

Emily & Val (00:09:59) - Yeah. Please do not flush wipes. Do not flush your feminine hygiene products. Do not flush dental floss. And don't flush hair either. Condoms.

Lia (00:10:08) - Condoms?

Emily & Val (00:10:10) - Yeah. Oh, everyone's supposed to flush them. Think we call them party balloons?

Lia (00:10:13) - Yeah.

Emily & Val (00:10:16) - After a while, you know, when they're in the water and they get, like, a little bit of air in them and they're floating. They just, like, blow up and you're like, yeah, all right. Somebody had a good time.

Lia (00:10:27) - It's nice to.

Emily & Val (00:10:27) - See that they're being safe though. Yes. Very true. But that's not our business.

Lia (00:10:31) - Yeah. It's great to know that like in a small way you can really make a huge difference in a very small way. Just taking the time to wrap that in a toilet paper and throw it in the garbage is a huge difference to like how we clean our water in the environment. And I don't I don't think people understand that impact. They really don't. I know I did it when I was younger and I'm like, oh, don't throw the tampons out of the toilet.

Lia (00:10:58) - I'm like, why? Beep yeah, it's right there. I got to get rid of it. Like, yeah, you know, like not thinking about. Treatment centers, not thinking about the environment, not understanding where does it go, where does it go?

Emily & Val (00:11:16) - And along with that you also have like fats, oils and grease. We call them fog. And a little bit of grease does go a long way. Dawn dish soap does not treat it. It just as the commercial says. Don cuts grease out of your way. That's all it does. It just moves it to the side. It doesn't treat it. And so you can use hot water all day long, but after it goes three feet under the ground, it's cold again and solidifies. And then that causes such huge problems in the treatment system altogether. So please inform your viewers or your listeners to not flush that either. Even milk has fat in it. But I mean, really, what are you going to do with milk? You gotta dump it down the drain.

Emily & Val (00:11:55) - So where are your compost bin? You. Are. I just listened to our previous podcast on my drive over here, and I was just like, oh man, I am hard on the compost. I mean.

Lia (00:12:12) - That's not a bad thing.

Emily & Val (00:12:16) - Well, you know what? Before I had cats. Haha. I only had to take out my trash every two weeks because like, my trash was lighter. It wasn't stinky, you know, it was just whatever. I wasn't recycling. And so now I have cats. I have to do it once a week. But I recommend anyone who throws away a lot of trash. Don't put it down your garbage disposal. Put it in your backyard. Yeah. Environmentally sound. Emily. Oh, yeah. Did you come up with a, theme song for us? Because no wastewater? Oh, no. Oh, wastewater? No.

Lia (00:12:54) - I feel ThunderCats in the background. I feel ThunderCats like.

Emily & Val (00:13:01) - Wow. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Lia (00:13:04) - Planet women of wastewater.

Val (00:13:07) - Yeah, yeah! Hahahahahahaha!

Emily & Val (00:13:14) - For fun.

Lia (00:13:15) - Yes!

Emily & Val (00:13:16) - Good times, good times. Okay, going.

Lia (00:13:18) - Back to the wastewater industry, teach me something that you do that I wouldn't know about.

Emily & Val (00:13:28) - Well, let's see, there's so many different things. One of them, I would say. All right, here's a good one. I'll dragging a pump.

Lia (00:13:36) - Deriving a pump. Okay.

Emily & Val (00:13:38) - So as Emily was saying, you know, people will flush all kinds of solids and organics down the drain, whatever. You know, sometimes we'll pull out like a full set of underwear or something. You know what I'm saying? It's.

Lia (00:13:51) - I'm kidding.

Emily & Val (00:13:51) - You're kidding. No. Why? Why and.

Lia (00:13:56) - How? Why and.

Emily & Val (00:13:58) - How? How. Hey, hey, people who work near jails, they've gotten, like, full mattresses. Stop it. No I won't. I've been told stories about this because they have such high pressure toilets up there. And so from what was explained to me was that, you know, the prisoners would try to stop up their toilets so they could get out of their cell for a while or something.

Emily & Val (00:14:26) - So they would shove their mattresses down. And they're, they're such high pressure toilets that they would get sucked down and stuck in there sometimes and then actually come out at treatment plants. Yeah.

Lia (00:14:37) - Holy moly.

Emily & Val (00:14:39) - Because the prisons actually have their own separate treatment plant from the rest of society. Really? Yes. Not each one. Not every not all of them, but.

Lia (00:14:48) - A lot of them. The one that.

Emily & Val (00:14:49) - I was talking. The big ones, I guess. Yeah. Where there's I can't, I can't get the location, but. Yes. Well, we got out all locations around here.

Lia (00:14:58) - Yeah, yeah. Okay. So dragging.

Emily & Val (00:15:04) - Yes. So do.

Lia (00:15:05) - I do.

Emily & Val (00:15:06) - Well, depending on the type of pump, let's go with the easier one. Emily actually has a video of one that she did on TikTok.

Lia (00:15:13) - Oh my gosh, can you please send it to me pretty please? Please. Yeah.

Emily & Val (00:15:17) - So it's a centrifugal pump, which means it's in the water really, really fast with the impeller on the inside.

Emily & Val (00:15:25) - It's got two holes and it sucks the water in and shoots it up a pipe really quickly. But where it's coming from, what it's pulling from is usually a secondary clarifier. And that's where a lot of solids and stuff that go and they settle well, rags get through. And that's like, again, all the inner organics that get like bound up by floss or hair or just themselves and it'll get stuck in the impeller or the loops and you have to take off an inspection plate. And you get to open up and look right inside and then dig your hand up in there. You pull out a baby's breath. Like, I mean, seriously, like I'm talking like, the size of an infant. Like, this is how big the balls of rags can be. And they'll get stuck. They can get stuck in. They're pretty hard core. And you're sitting here like, push and pull and push and pull. And it's as an electrician, you probably you understand the amps and the hertz and all that.

Emily & Val (00:16:24) - although I don't understand it to your extent, I know what to look at. And so we know what to look at. So, if the numbers got too high on there, then, we knew that the pump was working too hard. Something was clogging it.

Lia (00:16:37) - Yes. Okay.

Emily & Val (00:16:40) - That was the heart to the answers. but but Hertz okay. Yeah. So I thought so. Like it was supposed to be around like 3436. But it never got up to like 39, 42. We knew we needed to to take that off.

Lia (00:16:51) - So are you geared up like you. You're not bare hand in that I mean. No.

Emily & Val (00:16:56) - So I wore like nitrile gloves and we each were one of them was cow birthing. So like that inspection glove we get up in there. Yeah. Yeah. So we were like pretty much forearm shoulder deep in that. That's why we need the small hands, remember. Oh.

Lia (00:17:13) - Oh there we go. Yeah.

Emily & Val (00:17:15) - Yes. High fives women. Yes. Yeah. So the rags would fill up about that whole glove.

Emily & Val (00:17:23) - We just turned it inside out when we hold it and like and tie it up. So that was about, you know, once a day. But we also had other issues going on in the plant that accumulated to that problem. So yeah. So that's how you do that. I'll send you the video. We put everything back together and then started up again.

Lia (00:17:39) - Very cool, very, very cool. Now I know that there are several different pathways to take if you want to get a position like this. And I know that in the beginning, the starting salaries, the little rough. But you can advance to a point of a pretty substantial salary depending on where you're working and what you're doing. Correct. Can you talk about some of the different pathways, how to get involved? I want to be a wastewater operator or specialist. Where do I go? What do I do?

Emily & Val (00:18:18) - Well, they don't post ads in the newspaper anymore. Showing my age here. And that's okay, I don't mind, I'm old, but nowadays, really, you can just go online.

Emily & Val (00:18:30) - Indeed. But I don't think CareerBuilder. Maybe. I would say indeed. So I mean, when you're on, indeed, you should really just be looking up like jobs near you. You know what I mean? Like, look to your location, what you're comfortable traveling. Because with wastewater, you might have to answer alarms. You know, when it storms, you might want to be able to be close to where they are, you know, like you need to know if there is a large utility around you or whether or not it's just, you know, six man crew or something. So it really depends on where you are. Are you in the boondocks or are you in the city? Because the more people, the more poop.

Lia (00:19:10) - The more people, the more poop.

Emily & Val (00:19:16) - so, yeah, indeed. LinkedIn, you know, you look up wastewater, you look up operations, Department of Public Works. Usually you would want to go to your local government website, state website, city website, County.

Emily & Val (00:19:29) - County usually is where a lot of people start. One of my major suggestions would be to go to your local community college, because more than likely they're offering a workforce training. So I know that like up where I am here, they have electricians courses like electrical 101, 102, whatever. And then it's like, we'll put you on the path to start this career or HVAC. They and for us we have Em set and they do all environmental training. And that's part of our local community college. So anything environmental they have to do with and then they start doing more workforce stuff as well. But that would be my major suggestion. If somebody wants to get started in any kind of trade would be. Check your local community college. Yeah, because they have tons of resources like networking committees, boards and stuff. There's so many niches, you know, the open doors for you.

Lia (00:20:31) - Very cool, very cool. What do you think more women would bring to this industry?

Emily & Val (00:20:38) - Ha ha. Cleanliness.

Lia (00:20:40) - Cleanliness.

Emily & Val (00:20:43) - I mean, it kind of goes without saying safety and housekeeping, honestly. Just because like when we say housekeeping, that's another safety term. Yeah. You know, with not so much like clean up and wipe the counters. No, let me pick the shit up off of stairs. Yeah. You know, I don't want to trip and fall over all this nasty shit. You know what I mean? Especially if I'm carrying stuff, you know? So, But anyway, women bring a sense of, like, community to be real. Like the morale having one of us to just, like, talk about cool stuff with them, like, but but, like we always bring it back. Yeah. Like, you know, it's so much more in depth than just, like, cars or football. It's like we ask about, like trips you've taken or your family. Yeah. So like that gives people a sense of like, I can talk to this person if I have a problem.

Lia (00:21:35) - Yeah, women are better at building relationships.

Lia (00:21:38) - So.

Emily & Val (00:21:39) - And food. Oh, she feeds the heck out of us. Food. I like feeding people. It's what I like to do. I like to cook for your coworkers.

Lia (00:21:52) - Is that it? Okay. Yes.

Emily & Val (00:21:54) - Well, I offer stuff to everybody. It's like, hey, I made jerky last night. You want some? but there's a lot of camaraderie. Camaraderie and, like, like, little quirky things. Like, I put, like, a little plastic duck in the bathroom. She hung up. Christmas decorations, you know what I mean? Like, so, like, more like relaxed, having a girl around because, like, dudes aren't so like, oh, like, we're we're men and stuff, you know, I don't go, yeah, yeah. It's more like, hey, like, so let's dry off our jacket in front of the heater because it rained, you know, like, type of, like, motherly. Oh, God. Oh, that sounds so weird, but, like, nurturing.

Lia (00:22:30) - Very nurturing. Nurturing. Compassion. That's what I'm hearing.

Emily & Val (00:22:37) - Understanding. And, yeah, I think there'd be less, like, a high tension. you know, so many people, like, want want to solve the problem and not talk about the problem.

Lia (00:22:47) - Oh, yes.

Emily & Val (00:22:49) - Yeah.

Lia (00:22:50) - Yes. Yeah. That is a common thread. That is a common thread.

Emily & Val (00:22:55) - And one thing I will say though, just make sure they know you're taking. I know you're taking because. Oh my God, it's annoying.

Lia (00:23:03) - Yeah. Like I know I'm here.

Emily & Val (00:23:05) - I'm just being cool with you. I'm not, like, trying to, like, go that route. Thanks. I'm your coworker. Nothing more. Yeah. Not at work to be cute. I'm here because I'm smart, not because I'm cute.

Lia (00:23:20) - we've talked about that a lot on the show. Like, it is a common thread that unfortunately, in a lot of male dominant spaces, I don't know why or how the the culture or society has changed where they believe it's acceptable to try to court when your coworkers.

Lia (00:23:44) - It is never acceptable. You shouldn't go down that route. You should try to keep things professional. It's a professional setting and it is common that we walk that fine line of if. We're nice. Are you too nice that they're taking it as flirting? Yeah. If you're not nice. Are you a cold bitch? It's emotionally and mentally exhausting navigating that. It's like I just am a coworker. Just like you. Like we should be able to function easily on this level, and it should not be solely my responsibility to convey to you this message. Like you, you should fucking get it.

Emily & Val (00:24:31) - A while ago, I was working at a certain plant and the new person I was working with, like we got along really, really well and he was like, man, I can be friends with you. That's cool. And he's like, I can be friends with you. That's cool. And so for his birthday, I got him like a SpongeBob mug because he absolutely loves SpongeBob. And my husband at the time was like, you know, he's going to think you're flirting with him, right? And so I looked at him and I said, I want to make sure you understand I'm giving you this mug because I think you're really cool, and I want to be your friend, but I have absolutely no interest in you.

Emily & Val (00:25:04) - And my husband wanted me to tell you that. wow. What did he say? He was like, okay, that's cool. Thanks.

Lia (00:25:16) - Yeah. Like, I really hate the mug, I know.

Emily & Val (00:25:20) - Oh, and we've been friends ever since. I still talk to him every now and again. It's cool. Yeah, and it's like he totally got it. He was like, nope, no problem.

Lia (00:25:28) - That's great that he was on that level. I've experienced not a lot of that. And I'm not alone. I'm not alone by a long shot. No. So I can't say that this is specific to skilled trades and construction cultures or Stem culture. I feel that this happens in corporate as well. The only reason everywhere. Everywhere. But the only reason I feel that it's more so in that in that space, in construction and Stem and skilled trades, is because there's less females. So then if you're if you're the only female there, you know. Sorry I'm sorry.

Emily & Val (00:26:15) - It's like very it goes up.

Emily & Val (00:26:17) - You know what I'm saying? Like they're just like. Yeah. Radar. Like you told I stand out. Oh, my gosh, I can't help it, I exist. Oh, yes. Ponytails, tits and vaginas. Yeah. That's our nickname for ourselves. TVs, baby. Got all that? Oh my gosh. Okay. Sorry. You're on TV too.

Lia (00:26:47) - I am, I am. I am honored to be that. What would you tell women who want to get started in this line of work?

Emily & Val (00:27:05) - Bring it on. It's up.

Lia (00:27:07) - Yeah.

Emily & Val (00:27:09) - Yeah, yeah. No, I mean, like, there's really nothing to be scared of. Like we've perfected it to the point of being safe. Honestly, like, yes, some of it is dirty. It might be smelly, but, like, it's important and it's safe and it is never going away. You're going to make a difference one way or another. So much for making a difference. People think I'm mad, but I'm making a difference, It's important.

Emily & Val (00:27:33) - Oh my God. And like, I didn't like my tone right there. Yeah. No, no. But really, women don't understand how powerful they am and how smart we are and how we think about different things than men, because we have a different we've have had a different perspective our whole lives. You know, and whether it be organization or running a crew or.

Lia (00:27:58) - Building others up, we're, we're big on cheerleading and lifting others.

Emily & Val (00:28:02) - Up. Yes. Actually started a new location on Friday and I was behind the, superintendent and he was like, I gotta start somewhere. I said, you can do it. You're doing a great job. I was like, dude, that was really great delegation. I like what you did. And he's like, yeah, I guess it's a start. It's a baby steps, man. Baby steps. So just in case you're not, you're not aware I'm here to be your cheerleader right now. Yeah. And then, of course, I had to do the strike a pose where I was like, let's go.

Lia (00:28:33) - Yes, yes, I love it, I love it.

Emily & Val (00:28:38) - I love how her body language. Yeah. Good times. Good to know we're going to make it.

Lia (00:28:42) - All right, ladies, thank you so much for coming on the show again. You're a pleasure and joy as usual. I see nothing has changed.

Emily & Val (00:28:51) - My mother. Yes.

Lia (00:28:53) - Shout out. Shout out to Marmaduke.

Emily & Val (00:28:55) - Shout out to my mother, Dawn, for raising me to be who I am today. Do your job and do it well. If it weren't for her, I would not be as awesome as I really am. She might be a little batshit crazy every now and again, but she's still pretty damn awesome.

Lia (00:29:11) - Hey, aren't we all?

Emily & Val (00:29:13) - That's where I get it from. Duh.

Lia (00:29:15) - Yeah.

Emily & Val (00:29:17) - Yes. I have to say hi to Doc and Peggy. Thanks, guys. Never too late to get your shit together, right? I don't know, it's just fun. Cool. Well. Thank you. Thank you again, Leah.

Emily & Val (00:29:33) - It was fun.

Lia (00:29:34) - Thank you.