We've heard all kinds of plans for "reuse" of wastewater from making snow at ski resorts, to heating buildings, to treating it to potable standards and pipe it irectly into drinking water aquifers. The latest development in sewage reuse is to turn sewage into energy. EnerTech Environmental, an energy research a development company based in Atlanta, GA, has received venture capital funding from Citigroup's Sustainable Development Investments, the Masdar Clean Tech Fund, CNM and Nimes Capital to develop five plants that will convert human waste into renewable energy. EnerTech is a pioneer in the sustainable energy development field. The company has engineered a specific technology it calls SlurryCarb which replicates the natural process that creates fossil fuel from organic material. The process of using sewage or garbage for energy isn't entirely a new concept. For example: methane traps at landfills have been around for years. The true innovation of SlurryCarb is the entire process of removing water from the waste and being able to use what's left as fuel for energy generation. My only question would be is that since the energy source is carbon based does are the same sort of greenhouse gases produced when the sewage based fuel is burned. Are the gases released potentially worse, i.e. methane, than carbon releases from fossil fuels? Nevertheless, with approximately 301,139,947 people in the US, and with our tendency to overeat, it's a safe be that "fuel" will never be in short supply. You can't say that about fossil fuels. And if sewage is burnt for energy than that means it's not being dumped in our rivers lakes and oceans - and here at the Slog we can't argue against that.

Now the Spills of the Week:

KenMucky: An environmental response team was on the scene Tuesday of a fish kill in Fayette County, Kentucky. Firefighters said a malfunction at the East Hickman Creek pump station released raw sewage into Lexington creek, but officials said there hadn't been any report of an overflow at that station (because there's no need for the utility or the public to know about such things!!). Wildlife officials say they found dead fish a few miles downstream, but say there is no threat to drinking water in Lexington.
- January 8, 2008:, WKYT - Lexington, KY

Lake Smells-Some-More: A computer glitch caused 60,000 gallons of partially treated sewage to flow into Lake Elsinore. The wastewater had been through primary and secondary treatment, but was dumped into the lake before undergoing a third stage, said Greg Morrison of the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District. "It was totally disinfected," he said. The second stage of treatment killed the bacteria but "It has a tremendous amount of buildup of phosphorus," he said. It was totally disinfected, just totally full of sewage.
- January 8, 2008: KNBC TV - Los Angeles, CA

Messy Move In: A couple from Houston, TX who recently relocated to Charlotte, NC raised a stink about their new living conditions. Raw sewage flooded their house and backyard. "It's like walking up to a port-o-john on a construction site and you open the door," said Lisa Martinez describing the smell. Martinez, and her husband Robert, moved in last month. The sewage problems started days before Christmas, but the house remains a mess. "The entire living room was flooded. The kitchen area, under the Christmas tree, the presents were (too). It was just nasty, raw sewage laying everywhere," said Lisa.
- January 8, 2008: WCNC TV - Charlotte, NC

Polluted - Not Diluted: Heavy rains overwhelmed Salem, Oregon's sewage treatment infrastructure foricing the sewer authority to divert raw sewage away the treatment works and straight into he Willamette River. Public works employees opened the gates of the North River Road diversion structure shortly after noon. The sewage overflow lasted several hours.
- January 9, 2008: The Statesman Journal - Salem, OR

Sewage Doesn't Sleep-A sewage tanker crashed into the South Fork of the Eel River north of Redway Tuesday, spilling about 1,000 gallons of raw sewage and 50 gallons of diesel fuel. The driver of the Roto-Rooter truck told the California Highway Patrol that he fell asleep around the Hooker Creek overpass, then the truck hit the guard rail and plunged into the river around 12:15 p.m. The 2,500-gallon sewage tank leaked about 1,000 gallons into the river, and the truck's fuel tank spilled about 50 gallons of diesel. A second pump truck arrived on the scene and pumped the remainder of the sewage out of the wrecked truck's tank. The North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board and the state Department of Public Health warned users of the river. The river is swollen and fast-moving with recent rains.
- January 9, 2008, Times-Standard.com, Times-Standard, Eureka, CA

Not Crying Wolf: Grass Valley, CA residents where advised to avoid Wolf Creek after a raw-sewage spill on Monday. The amount of sewage spilled into the creek remians unknown. The Health Department directed the Department of Public Works to post warnings at the creek after the spill was discovered Monday afternoon. Public Works crew repaired the clogged line that was damaged by tree roots.
- January 9, 2008: The Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, CA

A Toilet is not a Washing Machine: Articles of clothing were deemed the cause of a clogged sewer main causing a major sewage back up into several homes in Princeton, MN. Twelve hundred gallons alone flowed one of the residence (YUM!). "It was like a cork, moving down the line," said public works superintendent Tom Mismash Monday morning. Clothing, like socks, t-shirts and towels are found in sanitary sewer lines on a regular basis, Mismah said. Gives a whole new meaning to hiding one's "dirty laundry."
- January 10, 2008: Princeton Union Eagle - Princeton, MN

Elk in Need of Help: A broken pipeline has been spewing wastewater since Thursday into the Elk River in Noel, MO and will continue to do so until engineers figure out a way to either reroute or reconnect the pipeline, city officials said. The break in the 6-inch cast-iron pipeline connecting Noel's wastewater treatment plant to a lift station a half-mile away was discovered Tuesday night. The lift station, located south of the river, has a normal rate of 140,000 gallons per day. The infiltration of floodwaters increased the flow rate to 1 million gallons per day. "There is no way of stopping it at this point," said Larry Bice, Noel's wastewater superintendent. "We are trying to figure out how to bypass it."
- January 10, 2008: The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO