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I am thinking something in the water is affecting their brains. First the gun ban and now this.





SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. � City officials are hoping to harness the power of dog doo. San Franciscans already recycle more than 60 percent of their garbage, but in this dog-friendly town, animal feces make up nearly 4 percent of residential waste, or 6,500 tons a year - nearly as much as disposable diapers, according to the city.

AP File Photo

Within the next few months, Norcal Waste, a garbage hauling company that collects San Francisco's trash, will begin a pilot program under which it will use biodegradable bags and dog-waste carts to pick up droppings at a popular dog park.

The droppings will be tossed into a contraption called a methane digester, which is basically a tank in which bacteria feed on feces for weeks to create methane gas.

The methane could then be piped directly to a gas stove, heater, turbine or anything else powered by natural gas. It can also be used to generate electricity.

Methane digesters are nothing new. The technology was introduced in Europe about 20 years ago, and more than 600 farm-based digesters are in operation there. Nine are in use on California dairy farms, and chicken and hog farms elsewhere in the United States also use them.

Neither Norcal Waste spokesman Robert Reed nor Will Brinton, a Maine-based recycling and composting consultant, knew of anyone in the United States who is using the $1 million devices to convert pet waste to energy. But Brinton said some European countries process dog droppings along with food and yard waste.

"The main impediment is probably getting communities around the country the courage to collect it, to give value to something we'd rather not talk about," Brinton said. "San Francisco is probably the king of pet cities. This could be very important to them."

San Francisco - the city named after Saint Francis, patron saint of animals - has an estimated 240,000 dogs and cats.

Some experts believe methane digestion must become more attractive economically before it gets popular. Landfill space is relatively cheap, and natural gas and electricity also remain fairly inexpensive.

Reed points to San Francisco's groundbreaking food composting program, which began 10 years ago, as proof an unusual idea can work in this forward-thinking city. A Norcal Waste subsidiary collects 300 tons of food scraps per day from homes and restaurants and converts it into a rich fertilizer sold to vineyards and organic farms.

"Now, the city's asked us to look at dog waste specifically," Reed said.

Because animal waste contains disease causing germs, composting it at home with yard waste and food scraps can be unsafe. http://www.kgw.com/environment/stories/kgw_022106_life_Dog_Droppings.4e25d98e.html
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In HIS Service

Well collecting would be a crappy job. I know my sibs and I always tried to avoid the scoop duties.

I wonder why they are'nt playing around with their own feces? I mean as fuel.

That many condoms would clog the digester.

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Not to mention the AIDS medications killing the culture.

Sneers aside- why the heck not???? Maybe they'll get it down where we can fill up our car tanks with dog doo and cruise away!

..........$hit happens,

GTC

Yeah, and it would be the second time I crapped in someone's gas tank- but that's another story.....

IIRC its not uncommon practice nowadays for the larger municipal sewage treatment plants to capture the methane produced by the sludge digesters.

And used condoms are about the most common foreign items washing downstream with the sewage flow, accumulating on the entry screens. These screens typically empty into dumpsters, resulting in entire dumpsters filled with used condoms that have floated for severage hours in sewage. All in all one of the more disgusting sights you'll ever see <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />.

Birdwatcher

You�re exactly right Birdwatcher. At many large Wastewater plants it is common practice to use digester gas (mostly methane with several other more noxious gasses thrown in for fun) for fuel to provide power and to provide heat that is added back to the digester to make the wastes stabilize faster.

Every wastewater treatment plant, big or small has a screen as the first treatment process. Many condoms get caught there but the most obvious thing normally found in large supply are tampon applicators. We call them �Aggie Whistles� (sorry to all you Aggies out there). How many tampon applicators does it take to supply the world? Isn�t there something on the box that tells women not to flush those things? The really bad job in a small plant is when the screen has to be cleaned with a garden rake. That job is usually reserved for the FNG or whoever the boss is mad at at the time.

Interestingly enough condoms are biodegradable and will break down fairly quickly. But the tampon applicators seem to last forever.

We should buy stock in Pooper Scoopers!

Mother Earth News was BIG on animal waste digesters for farm (commune?) use a lot more than 20 years ago. Old water heaters and shock dampeners made great digesters. Gas routed back under the tanks was burned to keep the heat up on the farm-tank-farm.
art

I think they missed the boat just a bit. They should be using Bovine Feces...San Francisco has the world's largest supply

See? The things ya can learn on the Campfire ("I'll take Sewage Treatment for 500 Alex" <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />). I took the tour many years back, at the time at that plant someone upstream was flushing hundreds of plastic top ramen wrappers every day which came floating down high and dry on the top of it all to pile up against the screen.

Waterguy, so what's the deal on the gravel tank? (next chamber in line where pebbles and such settle out). The plant employee was telling us that is where jewellery can sometimes be found.

Birdwatcher

I'm pretty sure I remember reading an article recently about San Francisco planning to treat their sewage water to the point where it was going to be pumped back into the water supply system... I bet somebody behind this plan owns a lot of stock in bottled water<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Things have progressed at most plants where the sedimentation tanks that collect rocks and grit have been automated. In most plants the grit is sent directly to a dumpster after separating the grit from the organic material (it still stinks). If you have the patience and the stomach for it you could sift through the dumpster & find some goodies. It would be like panning for gold in a septic tank though. It may be worth the trouble every now & then but mostly it�s a crappy job. I�ve only seen one person make a real find this way, and that guy wasn�t right anyway, if you know what I mean.

I have personally found several bills in denominations from $1.00 up to three $20.00 one time on a manually bar screen. The folding money washes up fine but you still get rid of it pretty quickly because I can�t force myself to carry it in my bill fold. I have heard stories of people finding wads of $100.00 bills but I don�t know the validity of the person telling the stories.

Waterguy....a friend of mine has a really fine Hydraulics shop, and has to venture into the bowells <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> of municipal waste treatment plants.....he's always Bit$hing and moaning about the "Muffin Monster" machinery.....what the heck is a "Muffin Monster"

The subject arose while we were trying to sort out a hydraulic problem on a Garbage truck....in high Summer Arizona climates......that was a bit rank......and we had to disinfect ourselves with liberal aplications of Cuervo, and our tools with Clorox.

Ain't life a gas, sometimes?

GTC <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Wastewater recycle is more common than most people think. Most of the recycle done is indirect and not widely advertised. At Cedar Creek Lake here in Texas I have been at wastewater treatment plants and visited their outfall and could see the intake for a potable water treatment plant within several hundred yards. This is not uncommon around the world. Every drop of water that my plant discharges improves the quality of the creek it is discharged to. The wastewater permit at my plant requires me to discharge water to a higher quality in regards to metals (i.e. mercury, arsenic, zinc etc.) and most other pollutants than is allowed in approved drinking water. My plant makes up over 40% of the dry weather flow to a Corps of Engineer�s lake that is used by two drinking water plants.

El Paso Texas began several years ago directly discharging into the same aquifer that they draw drinking water from. The re-charge is done miles from their drinking water wells and it is estimated that the water will take years to travel from re-charge to well head.

Manhatta, KS (home of Kansas State Univ Wildcats) discharges their treated effluent into the Kansas River (Kaw) which is upstream of Lawrence, KS (home of U. of Kansas Chickenhawks).

Some there believe that explains alot... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

I want to thank all you folks for your enlightenment!!!
It was amazing.<=>
m

I am now so very, very, veeeeerrrrryyyyy glad my water comes from snowmelt...


Scott