Public Works Blog

The nation’s leading wastewater trade magazine, “TPO or Treatment Plan Operator,” featured the city of Boise’s Twenty Mile South Farm (TMSF) biosolids application site in the March edition (see page 12).

We try to stay away from self-promotion in this blog, but for our wastewater operation, this is a big deal. Plus, it’s great to see an unheralded sustainable effort garner some well-deserved national publicity.

The 4000-acre farm on South Cloverdale Road receives the “biosolids” from the City’s two main wastewater treatment plants. The treated biosolids are one of two end products of wastewater treatment that can be recycled as soil supplements. The other product is water. The water is treated and released into the Boise River.

The biosolids are trucked to the farm four times a day in trailers holding approximately 25 tons per load. The biosolids are applied to the fields for growing crops that are eventually sold to farmers for silage and food for livestock. The crops are primarily alfalfa, corn, and small grains.

The “TPO” article goes into depth about the history of Boise’s biosolids application, the farm operation and explores future TMSF expansion. Biosolids Program Manager Ben Nydegger (seen on the right with Farm Manager Steve Evans) does a great job as spokesperson. Along with Ben, all of the TMSF staff is highlighted as part of the five page article.

You‘ve probably never given a second thought to the evolution of waste removal.  The story offers fascinating insights into the development of city life and into our collective human history.

New York City recently collaborated with architects and urban planners on a study called Active Design Guidelines.  Aimed at identifying what would make the urban environment more inviting and supportive of physically active lifestyles, the study includes historical info on NYC and how and why services and infrastructure evolved over time.  Here’s a glimpse into New York City of the 1850s:  “The streets were filled with rotting garbage, dead animals, and overflowing human and animal waste. Hogs, dogs, and other animals ran wild in the poorer neighborhoods. The city had little incentive to curb the hog population, as these scavengers were the only effective street cleaners.”

Thanks to filthy streets, contaminated water supplies, and overcrowded tenements, New York City was plagued with epidemics of tuberculosis, cholera, and yellow fever.  In 1850 the average age of death was a mere 20 years and 8 months.  One in every 38 NYC residents succumbed every year, compared to 1 in 65 in much smaller Lowell, Massachusetts.  What did them in?  Tuberculosis, cholera, typhus, dysentery, lung inflammation, or convulsions.  Malnutrition also took a huge toll and no doubt contributed to the high rate of stillbirth.

Trash removal, wastewater treatment, and delivery of clean drinking water are largely invisible in our lives.  Yet they are critical underpinnings that make vibrant good health possible even in densely populated urban environments.  Our predecessors never had it so good.

Pamela Williams has been a solid waste coordinator for more than a decade with the City of Boise Public Works Department. She is a waste reduction guru and is a master of planning recycling and waste collection for big events. Call her at 395-7886 or send an email to pwilliams@cityofboise.org.

Are you ready for springtime? The garden catalogs have arrived and the hours have flown by while I look through the pages picking out new plants to try. Daydreaming about sunshine and a pretty landscape help me survive these long, dark, cold and snowy days. I have also been thinking about how I can reduce, reuse and recycle in my own landscape. What actions can I take to reduce water, energy and wastes from my yard and garden? It seems like a good time for new resolutions to implement changes outdoors in my landscape. The Water Efficient Landscaping classes offered by United Water Idaho, Boise City, and the Ada County Extension are a good place to start. Every year I find new ideas to implement in my own yard.

My home is nearly 18 years old and the trees are tall and many of the shrubs are overgrown or at the end of their time. Today my yard has lots of shade which is a blessing in the middle of the hot summer – reducing evaporation from the plants in the landscape and shading my home from the hot sun. The shade has brought new challenges – many of the original flower beds thrived under the hot summer sun and now look sad. It’s time for an update and a new plan – and of course there are always new plants to try! Using Xeriscape principles for reducing water and wastes, I am developing a new landscape plan. I am keeping in mind the changed conditions in my yard and looking at the opportunity to further reduce the amount of water used to irrigate and maintain my yard and garden.

One idea that I am considering is based on Rosalind Creasy’s book “Edible Landscaping”. Rosalind suggests that vegetables and edible plants be incorporated into your landscape not placed into separate “vegetable gardens”. By zoning the water requirements and incorporating edible plants into those areas where they will get the proper amounts of sunlight, I could have a much more productive vegetable garden. Think lavender and roses, or cucumbers climbing a trellis behind daylilies.

Evelyn Hadden has inspired me to think about “Less Lawn, More Life”. We spend a great deal of time, money and water on turf and do we really spend the same amount of time enjoying our turf? When my children were young we spent hours on the lawn – throwing a softball, kicking the soccer ball, and playing croquet. Today, the lawn just looks back at us as we fertilize, mow and water. Maybe it’s time to reduce the amount of turf and use non-traditional plant materials – a thyme lawn or native grasses. I certainly could reduce our time spent mowing and caring for the lawn, save money and conserve water if I changed some of the turf to low water and low maintenance plants and landscaping. I would also reduce the amount of wastes that would have to be composted or put into the trash. Seems like a winner and I could use more time to relax, read a book and enjoy my yard.

I am excited about improving my landscape and trying new approaches that will reduce wastes and conserve water and energy. I plan to document the changes I make this year in my yard and I will share them as the year progresses. In the meantime, I plan to keep reading gardening books and dreaming about springtime!

(Written by Public Works Solid Waste and Groundwater Programs Manager Catherine Chertudi. The self-proclaimed “trash queen,” Catherine has worked at Public Works as an environmental steward our our precious resources for more than 25 years. She can be reached at 384-3912 or chertudi@cityofboise.org.) 

The picture above is a real winter beauty:  trash and recycle carts sitting at the edge of the street in a [mostly] snow-cleared spot, lids closed, and the carts are 3-feet apart.  Perfection!

Do you see what I see?

Welcome to our crash course in winter – no pun intended.  For most of us living in Boise, winter is not long enough or snowy enough until we have to “interact” with it in our regular lives.  The infrequent and short bursts of winter make for diluted memories of how to drive in snow, shovel snow (and not break your back doing it), retrieve the mail, or put out the garbage in snow.  For the purposes of this blog, our focus is getting the garbage out.

The best part about Boise trash and recycling services is that there is no such thing as a snow day or snow delay (at least not in recent history).  Service runs as scheduled, to the best of our abilities, which means you still need to get your trash and recycling out before 7 A.M.  on your regular service day.   The newer automated service (launched in 2009) has made it easier for us to collect your trash and recycling in winter since we no longer have to hike across slippery streets, climb snow banks, or hand carry 60-pound trash cans and bags between the curb and truck.  As long as your wheeled carts are near the street, we can grab them with the collection claws and dump them with minimal risk of winter-related injuries.

Of course, trash and recycling collection depends on you bringing your carts to the street by 7 A.M.  It’s much easier (and safer) to get your carts to the curb if the path is free of snow and ice.  While it isn’t always possible to clear away all of the snow from your point of collection, we do insist that you bring your carts to the edge of the street or right-of-way for service, to a level place at least 3-feet away from any obstacles such as parked cars, utility poles, or mailboxes.  We encourage you to help your neighbors who may be less able to navigate their trash/recycling carts in the snow.  Don’t forget to bring those carts back to the house after collection!  City code mandates that carts may not sit at the curb for more than 24 hours (alleys have different rules).

If you live on a cul-de-sac, it is especially important that all of your cars are parked in the drive-way and not on the street.  Garbage and recycling trucks are difficult to maneuver around small cul-de-sacs even on hot summer days.  Slippery, snow-covered roads, parked cars, and narrow cul-de-sacs can be especially challenging.  Your mail carrier will appreciate the additional space to get around too!

Enjoy the snow while you can; winter is not here for long.

(Written by Megan Durrell of the Public Works Department. Megan is a program coordinator for the solid waste program. She is a trash, recycling and waste reduction guru. She loves to talk trash! She can be reached at 388-4712 or mdurrell@cityofboise.org.)

Ready or not, the staff at the City of Boise Public Works Department (our formal name) is ready to tackle the world of blogging. I know you’re probably asking yourself, “Is the world of sewers, trash and recycling collection, and geothermal heating really that interesting? I mean, really, as long as I flush and it goes away, isn’t that all that matters?”

The answer is YES – on both fronts!

The public perception of Public Works isn’t that sexy. My counterparts in Police, Fire and the Parks departments probably get contacted by the media more in a week than I do in a whole year. Frankly, most folks in Public Works don’t really mind the lack of interest. We are an unassuming group of hard working citizens. We are proud of the fact that what people really care about is when they flush it goes away. If no one says anything, than we did our job well.

Sure, we issue news releases. They are informative and explain the who, why, what, where and when. We have a myriad of programs. The list includes Curb It (trash and recycling), the Boise WaterShed Environmental Education Center (wastewater and water conservation education), geothermal, air quality, stormwater protection and a bevy of other sustainable efforts and programs.

When we talk about these programs we tell the “nuts and bolts.” News releases are supposed to be sharp, well written, and to the point. That makes it easy for the media. But they don’t always tell a story,  share an opinion, or a thought on the topic.

So, “TA-DA!”, this blog is our foray into storytelling. Our opportunity to go beyond the press release and, dare I say, have a little fun. Authored by myself and other members of the Public Works staff, this blog will share insight, opinion, and I’m sure plenty of facts. (The apple can only far so far from the tree.) We have a simple goal for our blog:

“An informative blog from Boise Public Works telling the stories of interesting events, programs, businesses, people, places and happenings in the community.”

In Public Works, we take great pride in the fact that our sewer system protects public health, our environmental programs ensure a more sustainable future, and our geothermal system provides energy savings to businesses in our community. We are going to share that pride with you. We are going to share links to good environmental information, share our stories, and give you a deeper glimpse into community events and programs. Also this year, we are going to share Boise’s infrastructure history (sewer, water, power) as part of the Sesquicentennial – or, as it’s much easier to say – the Boise 150 celebration.

So sit back and we hope you enjoy learning more about “What’s in the Works.”