I saw a river of poo running down the wall and I ran towards it

Photo by Ron Whitaker on Unsplash

Once upon a time, I used to be pretty squeamish. Apparently that has worn off.

I started working with my dad over 5 years ago. As an industrial electrician, I knew that his job was never particularly glamorous or clean. There were nights that he had to strip in the entryway and his work clothes had to go right into the washing machine before he was allowed to come any further into the house.

Large aggregate plants come with more than their fair share of dust. Take chunks of a mountain, crush it up, bake it in a giant kiln and then crush it some more. The end result of this process is various types of rock dust. Some of the dust is caustic and burns when it mixes with your sweat. Other dust is food-grade and you can literally lick it. Knowing the difference between the two is imperative.

Then I was introduced to the beautiful world of water and wastewater treatment. There is only a part of me that is being facetious when I use the word “beautiful”. Treating human waste is an incredibly intricate process that is a fine balance of science and automation. The requirements for releasing treated sewage back into the waterways are incredibly stringent and Environment Canada regulates the carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demanding matter; suspended solids; total residual chlorine; and…