If you've been following the news from Christchurch in the past week (or my socials for that matter), you'd be aware that this week, we've been *plagued* by waves of a putrid poopy stench (that irritates the eyes and airways, and yes... aggravates asthma in folks like myself). The last time many of us were faced with this stench was for the first half of 2022, after the water treatment plant caught fire in late 2021!
That was 5 years ago now! Yet this, we suddenly have the same bloody problem again!
For additional context: No we are *NOT* in the "Eastern Suburbs" near where this plant and all the open-air "oxidation ponds" that the poopy water is pumped into are located, next to the Estuary / Eastern coastline lining the Pacific Ocean. Anything past the centrally located "Hagley Park" really cannot be considered an "Eastern Suburb" here, with places like Wigram, Halswell, or out around Burnside/Harewood where the airport is located certainly falling *well outside* the range where you'd expect to smell stuff like this!
Despite all this, and the problem first *really* rearing its ugly head city-wide (after having been a problem for months already in the areas surrounding the plant), the latest council update today says they are still "monitoring" the situation and hoping it miraculously improves - somehow... by itself... when hopefully some algae miraculously grows to fix it! WTF?!! 🤬
"Monitoring" (i.e. standing there with you hands to kept to yourself, scribbling away on a clipboard, while peering into the abyss / monitoring screens, staring at the charts) is about as much use as "thoughts and prayers" after yet another mass terrorist / gun violence incident... jeez 🙄
Seriously, the current approach to finding a solution just reeks of incompetence!
Also: It's just totally ridiculous that we've sat around for 5 years apparently waiting for insurance signoff to even *begin* the process of investigating + commissioning the start of rebuilding a replacement solution... which they're now claiming will take 3 fucking years to build and commission!!! That's nearly a decade too long! Again... if central government had teeth, they really should've taken steps to compel the insurance giants to have not let the process stall for so long (e.g. how about imposing some actual "taxes" + "penalties" +"fines" on them to force them to behave... we might be able to plug a whole bunch of apparent "budget shortfalls" this way!)
While there are probably some technical reasons why the following "Somewhat Obvious Layman Solutions" likely wouldn't actually work, I'd like to think that the thought of doing something similar has at least crossed *someone's* mind... (just it seems, maybe not anyone charge of managing this crisis? 😜)
Disclaimer: I'm a Software Engineer, and not a trained + certified ChemEng Engineer...
BUT, surely having *something* in the interim beats whatever the crap
we're doing now! I offer these fantasy "concepts" in the hope that it inspires someone with the necessary knowledge to actually logic-up a proper solution, for that's the most I can do about the situation currently...
Layman Solution 1 - Put a lid on it!
Can we not just, uhm... put a giant clear tarp over them, then uhm... nuke all the harmful bacteria (uhm... have you tried dumping a ton of concentrated bleach on it 😁), and then err... re-seed with the ones we want, then keep these covers on until we're sure that the situation is good enough to uncover them again?! 😜
(Oh, and keep multiple spare covers of the requisite size to reapply quickly should anything befall the destroyed covers...)
Layman Solution 2 - Temporary Modular Filters
Hack up a solution where we have *multiple* modular processing units, consisting of shipping containers packed with "large-crayfish baskets (or similar) of activated carbon chunks" that the shit-water is pumped through before entering each pond.
These baskets/cages would get *periodically* emptied (+ contents bagged/sealed up) + taken to landfill (or incinerated to help produce the required heat input to produce the next batch), then replaced with a fresh batch of activated carbon.
(The assumption here is that our temporary solution won't be as good as the conventionally "formally engineered" one, so in that case, let's just keep replacing the filter medium when it clogs - i.e. "pressure drop" / "mass transfer" rates go beyond useful values! Also, this whole setup is predicated around having a modular system that is easy to extend/scale-up relatively quickly vs building another giant concrete + metal + etc. structure)
As for deriving that activated carbon: I don't know what the feasibility of deriving it from green-bin waste is like, but that would be a prime starting point. (Also, IDK, but are "cabbage tree" leaves any good for this?)
As for who does the work of preparing the pellets + processing these baskets? Hehehe... I'd wager that we should put the prison population to work on that... *including / especially* all those juvenile offenders caught ram raiding and so forth!
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