Massive EPA + OSHA violations at Faulconer Construction and UVa in Charlottesville

I'm still looking for the code on the EPA There's a great website where it explains in common legal terms what anyone should know anyway.... spilling thousands of gallons of raw sewage into the ground is NOT COOL. It is also NOT COOL to work in a ditch line that is filled with caca water... although the level went down before we got in there look at homeboy's pants legs to see where it got up to.... up to your ankles in caca ain't no jive kids.... and yes, it's just flowing right on down into the ground...

Great thanks to Ms. Degen at the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality for turning me on to the Legislative Information System website - what a resource!

To get to the meat of the matter go to "Code of Virginia - statutory law" -> "Table of Contents" -> "Title 62.1 WATERS OF THE STATE, PORTS AND HARBORS." -> "Chapter 3.1 State Water Control Law" -> "62.1-44.5 Prohibition of waste discharges or other quality alterations of state waters except as authorized"

Perhaps I am mistaken, however I do not recall anyone asking about dumping a couple thousand gallons of raw chemical sewage into that ditch, then again, perhaps I'm just a dumb construction worker and they did get permission...

That's enough for today, tomorrow we'll get in to Virginia Administrative Codes including my new favorite "9VAC25-790-360. Water quality and public health and welfare protection"

Nothing brings folks together Part II - Sewer drainage

Nothing brings folks together like sewage running 30' under the roads.

Seriously - it's great stuff. Your remains of the day sail away - traversing mystical terrains - off to a better, less in your face kinda places. Places where it's ok to be a stinker. Well it isn't entirely magic. A lot of it happens because people work hard to make it happen. As discussed previously - underground sewer systems have existed for thousands of years - and it beats many alternatives such as caca en la calle - spanish for "The bathroom is any and everywhere" or "Welcome to Tijuana." Is it a great solution? No. From far below it blows on high. It costs millions of dollars to install these systems, and at the end of the analysis you're losing all of that potentially valuable organic fertilizer. The Aztecs recognized this and were keen to collect all of the stuff and sell it back to the population as fertilizer....

Oh well. Maybe one day. In the mean time we're making certain that the stuff goes underground and arrives safely to a central destination.

Sewer lines are the most difficult lines to set - the tests are rigorous to ensure a proper seal on every section, pressure and vacuum tests are basic along with a host of other tests. Our recent work led us almost 30' below the earth to lower an existing sewer line 2/10s of a foot - roughly 2.5 inches.

Technical Specs
All lines are required to pass a ~5-10 minute pressure test. 10 psi is applied inside the line using a flowthrough plug on one end and a solid plug on the other.

The manhole must pass a vacuum test of -10 bars Hg for one minute without dropping a pound

Mandrel test - all the PVC must have a mandrel sent through to ensure that no warpage has occurred during the backfilling of the ditch

Andy Fitzgerald at the center of CAS and ITE development

Andy Fitzgerald, aka Fitz, aka Cue Ball - 'cause he calls all the shots - aka dip lip - cuz he drools on hisself - has developed UVa's utility infrastructure for the last eighteen years - way up on the UVa Grounds underground - an expert in sewer, storm, duct bank, water, chilled water, steam tunneling and then some.

Z-forms, flow throughs, and other tools of the trade

(btw that little yellow thing is our multi gas monitor "sniffer" making certain no toxic waste is in the air...)

Twice our z-form shields collapsed. We had a ten foot unshielded dig under a steam tunnel, and a typically dry sewer line decided to rage during our replacement of the existing pipe creating a three foot deep soup of caca straight from the chemistry building. S*&! happens. When you're tying in to an existing sewer line, however, it may happen in the form of a river. And when it happens behind the UVa Chem building, you just hope that the undergrads remember to put their hazardous waste in the proper disposal bin... So fierce the raging river that our three inch pump made not a dent, and a four inch diesel line was required... All in a days work. We gotter' done and got outta there before four PM.

Well at least the 4" Godwin pump (see bottom right) is working and the sewage swamp is low enough to walk around safely.

Setting the pipe - Dan you are the man for getting under that steam tunnel - yes we use chemical detectors aka sniffers... yet it stinks, especially the pipe glues for PVC.

Whattup Harley - we got real flow :)