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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| Minneapolis Sewers Turn To Blood |
| 2007-03-30 |
| A Minneapolis city worker is worried about blood in the sewer system because he said, while he was cleaning the system, blood sprayed out of a hole and got all over him. "We could tell it was blood, I mean large amount of blood," said Minneapolis Sewer Maintenance Worker Ron Huebner. It happened about two weeks ago in Northeast Minneapolis near a lab that does medical testing and dumps blood into the sewer. It is allowed but the city is now making changes to help protect workers in the future. "Blood just all over my face, in my mouth, I could taste it. It was terrible. I had it in my mouth and I kept spitting and I couldn't get rid of it," said Huebner. Huebner said he hasn't been sleeping much. He's worried about the blood that he swallowed when he was operating a jet machine to clean out the sewer. The Met Council said it was a mix of human and animal blood used in medical testing at this nearby lab. In fact, the company, R & D Systems, does have a permit to dump blood in the sewer system. However, Huebner wasn't protected or warned about the blood because his immediate bosses didn't know about. "We did not specifically know that this particular facility was discharging blood into the sewer system," said Minneapolis Public Works Deputy Director Heidi Hamilton. There have been some changes, including more coordination among city departments so key information in permits gets to the right people and there's more required safety gear. "We have changed the procedure to ensure they're wearing goggles or a face mask while they are above that manhole," said Hamilton. The Met Council is changing the permit to say that the city has to warn the lab it's coming to clean the sewer, and the lab has to stop discharging blood until they're done. R & D told the city the blood shouldn't present any risk, but Huebner's still worried. "I'm going to hope that nothing's wrong with me, but I don't want to see this happen to anyone else in my department," said Huebner. The Met Council issued the permit. When asked if it's safe to have blood in the sewers, the Met Council said it is no more harmful than most other wastes in the sewer. The sanitary sewer system is the appropriate place for this type of liquid wastes. There are other companies that have permits to discharge blood in the sewer system. According to the Met Council, there are about four slaughterhouses, about 20 hospitals, and about a dozen medical and pharmaceutical companies that have permits. R & D Systems did not return calls made to their business. |
| Posted by:Omorong Slomoger2729 |
| #9 Ship, pulpmills take ground-up trees, soak the chips in water and put this with several other chemicals (called black liquor and white liquor)into a vessel called a digester that is then put under pressure and heat. The smell from pulp mills is mainly sulfur dioxide. The water is drained off and in most cases is not cooled. This warm water coupled with the residual vegetable matter and sulfur compounds is hard to treat. It takes a lot of water to run a pulp mill and that's why they are located next to rivers. The waste water has to be cooled and treated in order to retyrn it to the river. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2007-03-30 20:12 |
| #8 Pulpmills 25000ppm ? Why is that? |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-03-30 19:25 |
| #7 And, if you are a first-born son living nearby, watch out! |
| Posted by: Eric Jablow 2007-03-30 18:35 |
| #6 "Blood just all over my face, in my mouth, I could taste it. It was terrible. I had it in my mouth and I kept spitting and I couldn't get rid of it," Would he prefer shit? |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2007-03-30 17:17 |
| #5 Discharging wastes, like blood, dairy, ground up fish waste, etc. is usually covered by permit. Wastes like these have high BOD (biochemical oxygen demand), which means that they put a higher demand on sewage treatment plants, or require bigger plants. In order to maintain the required treated wastewater quality, as stated in their operating permits, wastewater operators have to know what they are getting, and if they have the ability to treat it. Treated wastewater, depending on where you discharge it, has to be between 15 and 45 parts per million BOD, with total suspended solids down to about the same level, in addition, it must be disinfected with UV or chlorine to kill any remaining pathogens. BOD in normal wastewater is 350 ppm or 350 milligrams oxygen per liter of wastewater. Breweries 550 ppm Slaughterhouses: 2500 ppm Pulpmills 25000ppm |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2007-03-30 17:13 |
| #4 Dang! Forgot to turn my nic back. Apologies. |
| Posted by: xbalanke 2007-03-30 17:13 |
| #3 Ruh-roh! They better watch for frogs. |
| Posted by: Slineth Oppressor of the Infinitesmal8651 2007-03-30 17:11 |
| #2 Memo to self: Minneapolis is going to become a vampire tourism destination. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2007-03-30 15:49 |
| #1 Just so long as it wasn't pig's blood; that'd get the turbans in a knot. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2007-03-30 13:17 |