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Fatberg the size of four buses likely birthed poo balls that closed Sydney beaches – and it can’t be cleared (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works to c/world@lemmy.world

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A giant fatberg, potentially the size of four Sydney buses, within Sydney Water’s Malabar deepwater ocean sewer has been identified as the likely source of the debris balls that washed up on Sydney beaches a year ago.

Sydney Water isn’t sure exactly how big the fatberg is because it can’t easily access where it has accumulated.

Fixing the problem would require shutting down the outfall – which reaches 2.3km offshore – for maintenance and diverting sewage to “cliff face discharge”, which would close Sydney’s beaches “for months”, a secret report obtained by Guardian Australia states.

“The working hypothesis is FOG [fats, oils and grease] accumulation in an inaccessible dead zone between the Malabar bulkhead door and the decline tunnel has potentially led to sloughing events, releasing debris balls,” the report concludes.

“This chamber was not designed for routine maintenance and can only be accessed by taking the DOOF offline and diverting effluent to the cliff face for an extended period (months), which would close Sydney beaches.”

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[–] SpongyAneurysm@feddit.org 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

How do you know so much about waste water treatment and why are you so optimistic about what could be done?

I've got a relevant university degree, and I'm way less optimistic about most of these topics.

For example:

Muds can be harvested for digestion, in order to produce methane for generating electricity. Depending on the scale, it can be used to power the plant alone or to inject into the wide power grid.

This is usually not a net gain. Wastewater treatment plans consume more energy than can be harvested from the wastewater. The only WWTP I know that claims to produce more than they require for operation can only do so, because they accept additional organic material from a nearby slaughterhouse into their sludge fermentation stage, which is a bit of a cheat.

The same plant is btw also burning their treated sludge because it contains too many pollutants to be used in agriculture.

[–] qyron@sopuli.xyz 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I work in the field and some units can in fact produce enough gas to self sustain operation. It is about choosing the right process and the adequate machinery.

Newer systems, with SBRs, do tend to produce a lot less muds. Older systems, like the one I spend more time on, produces a great deal more of muds.

A midsize city around where I live is currently undergoing viability studies to implement a digestor. They are trucking off-site 30 metric tons of dehydrated muds for composting every two or three days. If the muds could be digested first, they could cut back a good deal on the energy bill.

Other places are installing solar panel arrays and considering batteries next.

[–] SpongyAneurysm@feddit.org 1 points 3 days ago

Do you mind sharing which part of the world you're in?

I made my degree in Germany (and Switzerland for a small part) and there are a few assumptions that come with that. We mostly have combined sewers here (i.e. wastewater and rainwater runoff through the same pipe) and local regulations of course.

Maybe you have different circumstances where you live?

Also on a side note: I consider solar panels as a kind of a cheat as well, because they are not in any way reliant on the water treatment process and could be installed regardless and fed into the grid. Though the dual usage of the area is much appreciated and using their energy at the source is a good idea.