Farm Planting a big success!
13/07/09 16:49 Filed in: Farm News
A big thankyou to all those planters who braved a
day when we really all felt like staying in
bed. There are now 750 plants in the ground
which will make mincemeat of the North-westerlies
that we were battling on the day. For those
who couldn’t make it see the attached photos to
see the transformation.
A special thankyou to the Clampetts for their fabulous soup van which makes such a wonderful warm addition to our planting days, and to the soup makers Gillian, Jackie, Francois and Elizabeth. Also, how can I say enough about those folk lugging mulch – the mulching finished at 4 pm so it was a big day. I hope our plants are grateful and reward us well.
And won’t we enjoy the rain this week that much more!
Jenni McGlennon
Farm Planting Day 2009
A special thankyou to the Clampetts for their fabulous soup van which makes such a wonderful warm addition to our planting days, and to the soup makers Gillian, Jackie, Francois and Elizabeth. Also, how can I say enough about those folk lugging mulch – the mulching finished at 4 pm so it was a big day. I hope our plants are grateful and reward us well.
And won’t we enjoy the rain this week that much more!
Jenni McGlennon
Farm Planting Day 2009
From the 'Sludge Desk' at the WWTP
02/07/09 15:02 Filed in: Services
News
A few numbers about water and
sludge:
It was July 2003 when the first house in the Village was completed and the owner moved in.
On 30 June 2009, we had 56 houses completed and occupied. This means that approximately a third of the homes are now built.
In 2003, we were told that it would take approximately 10 years before we needed to get the 60kL sludge tank in the Waste Water Treatment Plant emptied. We have, however, managed to fill this tank in 6 years, and emptying it this week has cost us nearly $5,000.00
As the number of completed houses is increasing rapidly, including the 24 Cottages due for completion in Aug/Sept, it is likely to be a lot sooner than another 6 years before the sludge tank next needs emptying - probably around 2 – 2.5 years. Once all the houses are built, we could maybe be looking at sludge removal once yearly.
With the associated costs of this process in mind, should we be looking at encouraging something like composting toilets, which would take pressure off the WWTP and keep the waste on site for possible use. We will still need the WWTP but it would be cheaper to run with less sludge in the system.
Should we be asking the BDC to strongly encourage composting toilets in all newly submitted plans?
Would anyone like to put their thinking cap on and do some outside-the-square thinking about dealing with sludge and its costs?
And to finish with - a big statistic: In the six-year period July 2003 to 30 June 2009, we have collectively pushed 10,300,000 (ten million three hundred thousand) liters of water through the WWTP (10,300 kL).
John Heij - for the WWTP Team
It was July 2003 when the first house in the Village was completed and the owner moved in.
On 30 June 2009, we had 56 houses completed and occupied. This means that approximately a third of the homes are now built.
In 2003, we were told that it would take approximately 10 years before we needed to get the 60kL sludge tank in the Waste Water Treatment Plant emptied. We have, however, managed to fill this tank in 6 years, and emptying it this week has cost us nearly $5,000.00
As the number of completed houses is increasing rapidly, including the 24 Cottages due for completion in Aug/Sept, it is likely to be a lot sooner than another 6 years before the sludge tank next needs emptying - probably around 2 – 2.5 years. Once all the houses are built, we could maybe be looking at sludge removal once yearly.
With the associated costs of this process in mind, should we be looking at encouraging something like composting toilets, which would take pressure off the WWTP and keep the waste on site for possible use. We will still need the WWTP but it would be cheaper to run with less sludge in the system.
Should we be asking the BDC to strongly encourage composting toilets in all newly submitted plans?
Would anyone like to put their thinking cap on and do some outside-the-square thinking about dealing with sludge and its costs?
And to finish with - a big statistic: In the six-year period July 2003 to 30 June 2009, we have collectively pushed 10,300,000 (ten million three hundred thousand) liters of water through the WWTP (10,300 kL).
John Heij - for the WWTP Team