Riprap!!

We finally got the riprap project finished. It took a couple months to finally get it done (that's what happens when you hesitate, and have to wait on personnel, and have to wait on nature) but we got it in. Here's how it went down: After I designed the channel, we got it cut and dressed by the end of May.

Here's the dozer starting the dressing.

And the grader making it look pretty.

The roller finished the job till we had this nice looking channel

This would have been great and all, but as mentioned in the previous post, the heavens opened up and it rained, and rained, and rained!! It rained so much that it turned my nice channel into a slot canyon.

Well, a month later after going through the wettest June in who knows how long, we re-cut the channel and re-dressed it. The operators here are really talented and did a great job. After they made and dressed the channel again, we got the membrane in. We used some of the leftover geonet that we use when lining our cells.

We then started placing the riprap

We dressed it and made it look awesome!

Isn't it beautiful?

Rain, Rain, and More Rain

The heavens decided to open up! We've been getting random rain/hail storms that will hit pretty hard for ~15 minutes or so then stop, then hit 30 minutes later or so for 10-15 minutes. This wouldn't be as big of a problem if my riprap project were finished. We meant to finish it last week, but the failed drainfield put that on the side. I ordered the riprip and had it delivered, but it rained pretty hard before we could get it in.

Stocked Thick with Thistle

We finally got the two inch pipe junctioned into the pipe that used to go to the failed drainfield, and we closed of the flange to the drainfield. The new pipe travels about 3,000 feet around the old cell, along the south road, and down the active cell to the leachate pond. I surveyed where to place the pipe so that besides the first 6 feet, it would all be gravity fed. I'll post some pictures soon. I'm glad we finally got it going so we can keep pumping out the knockouts and help the engines more easily generate electricity. It got to where Esther and I were having to pump the box (see previous post for picture) every day to keep on top of it so they could work on the pipe. There is still some liquid in it, but I'm pretty sure it's just from the recent rain...especially since it doesn't smell like death mixed with garbage.

The other fun thing Esther and I get to do is...PICK WEEDS!!!! Not just weeds, but thistle!! How fun is that?... anyone?...anyone?...no?...nothing? Ok, you're right. Not so great. But important nonetheless. Thistle is a noxious weed, so we need to get rid of it. Some of them are pretty big, having bases that are just as thick as some of the couple year old trees I have at my house. Esther and I filled the back of the truck, but are just getting started. There are plenty more where that came from.

Joyfully digging out thistle