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Randy Roberson:

Hey Facebook. 10 seconds.

Randy Roberson:

And good Wednesday morning, three minutes past 10 o’clock. We’re already up to 68 degrees at the KRIM Studios, and this morning on KRIM’s community spotlight, we’re once again going to be talking about the land at the end of the pipe. A lot of folks for years had known about it as the Northern Gila County Sanitary District, but we also want to know about it as the Green Valley Water. They’ve actually rebranded themselves, and we’re going to find out a little bit more about that. Forgive me, I lost my notes here, remind me of the name again. I apologize.

Garrett Goldman:

Green Valley Water.

Randy Roberson:

Yeah okay, and your name?

Garrett Goldman:

My name? Garrett Goldman.

Randy Roberson:

Okay, Garrett. I remembered the Goldman, I just didn’t remember the Garrett. Garrett, why did they go from the Northern Gila County Sanitary District to Green Valley Water?

Garrett Goldman:

Well, Northern Gila County Sanitary District, say that five times fast and you’ll understand.

Randy Roberson:

You’ll mess up at least twice.

Garrett Goldman:

Yeah, it’s quite a mouthful.

Randy Roberson:

Right.

Garrett Goldman:

There was actually, this project started out as a local project. We needed a new logo. The one we had was outdated and wasn’t readable, didn’t make a lot of sense, and as we got into that we just realized that there were issues with the name also.

Randy Roberson:

Right.

Garrett Goldman:

The first one is it has Gila County in it. We are not associated with Gila County. We are a standalone entity, under Arizona Revised Statutes Title 48. The second one is sanitary. In a lot of places in the country, sanitary means trash, and we were fielding several phone calls a week of people either wanting to set up their trash service-

Randy Roberson:

Can you get a dumpster over to my house?

Garrett Goldman:

Exactly or, “You missed our trash, can you come to pick it up?”

Randy Roberson:

Yeah, right.

Garrett Goldman:

We really wanted our own identity.

Randy Roberson:

Right.

Garrett Goldman:

The Green Valley Water, it came out of, we wanted a name that had a sense of place.

Randy Roberson:

Right.

Garrett Goldman:

If you go back into history before Payson, it was actually called Green Valley, so it makes sense.

Randy Roberson:

It’s a state-of-the-art plant, and I know that it’s been there for a number of years, but folks may not realize just how state-of-the-art this actually is, and Payson is very fortunate to have that here. One of the things that I know you’ve been looking at doing as an organization down there is, educating a little bit, the population here as far as what actually goes on down there.

Garrett Goldman:

It’s really quite interesting what we do down there. The treatment process itself, it’s a completely biological process, which means we don’t add any chemicals through the whole process. It is done by bacteria and was actually bacteria farmers if you want to think of it that way.

Randy Roberson:

So many of us think of, “Oh gosh, you got to make sure you use Clorox wipes in the kitchen to keep bacteria from your cutting board and stuff”, which is a good idea, but bacteria in this sense, actually is our friend.

Garrett Goldman:

It is our friend. We carry about 50,000 pounds of bacteria in our treatment process at any given time.

Randy Roberson:

Wow. That’s a bunch of bugs.

Garrett Goldman:

It is a bunch of bugs.

Randy Roberson:

Are there different kinds?

Garrett Goldman:

Yes, there are all sorts of different kinds. In part of the process that we do, we try to create an environment where we promote certain types of bacteria to grow. If they’re too young, they won’t treat the water. If they’re too old, they won’t treat the water. So we have to really tailor the process itself so that, that specific group of bacteria is present.

Randy Roberson:

Very interesting. With the education that you’ve been looking at doing, and before going on air today you mentioned that you had a fourth-grade class just yesterday out of the plant taking a tour.

Garrett Goldman:

Well, it was last week.

Randy Roberson:

Oh, last week.

Garrett Goldman:

They came out, we had 22 fourth graders tramping around the grounds in two different groups, it was great. Get to show them what we do and the importance of what we do.

Randy Roberson:

Right. Very interesting. One of the things that a lot of people may not realize too is not only is it a state-of-the-art plant that does a great job of cleaning everything out of the water so it can actually be reused, but you employ a fair number of people out there too. I mean, some nice paying jobs too.

Garrett Goldman:

Yeah, we have 22 people on staff right now and they’re very qualified. Every one of them has to have certifications for it, and they are great staff.

Randy Roberson:

I’m assuming when we talk about a whole class of fourth-graders coming out there, I’m sure it was kind of interesting for them, but there’s got to be some kind of rudimentary teaching at that level that might be apropos as far as just what is a good idea, and or a bad idea, to flush down the toilet.

Garrett Goldman:

Yes. That was one of the major topics that we talked about. We like to refer to it as the three Ps.

Randy Roberson:

Three P’s.

Garrett Goldman:

The three Ps.

Randy Roberson:

I’m afraid to ask but go ahead.

Garrett Goldman:

I won’t let you have it. The three P’s is the things that should be flushed down the toilet. Pee, poop, and paper.

Randy Roberson:

There you go. That makes sense.

Garrett Goldman:

It does not include disposable wipes. The disposable wipes, even though they say they’re flushable, they cause a lot of our problems in both the collection system and the treatment process.

Randy Roberson:

And likewise, your sister’s dolls.

Garrett Goldman:

We actually have a collection of toys.

Randy Roberson:

Really?

Garrett Goldman:

They have been taken out of our headboards before they make it into the plant.

Randy Roberson:

Wow.

Garrett Goldman:

Mostly Hot Wheels, those types of things, but you’d be amazed at what you find.

Randy Roberson:

I’m afraid to ask about that, that’s for sure. Interesting though. Do the kids come up with some pretty interesting questions for the process?

Garrett Goldman:

The kids are great because of the questions that they have, you never know where they’re going to come from, but they’re always engaged and they’re really interested in what’s going on.

Randy Roberson:

Right. We talked about the bacteria, the different bugs that are involved in this, and you said how many pounds in the system at any one time down there?

Garrett Goldman:

About 50,000 pounds.

Randy Roberson:

Wow, and this isn’t something you add?

Garrett Goldman:

No, this-

Randy Roberson:

It’s naturally occurring?

Garrett Goldman:

It grows naturally. If a plant’s starting up brand new, you have to seed the plant, but then they just naturally reproduce and grow.

Randy Roberson:

So from the time fluid comes into the plant, until it is discharged, whether it’s reusable water that’s going back into the aquifer or wherever it ends up, about how long of a time period does that take to go through the whole process?

Garrett Goldman:

Right now it’s roughly about 24 hours.

Randy Roberson:

Only 24 hours?

Garrett Goldman:

Only 24.

Randy Roberson:

Wow. That’s amazing, and so these bugs, obviously we call them jokingly bugs, but I mean this bacteria aspect, really a critical ingredient in this process.

Garrett Goldman:

It’s the only ingredient that we have. Without it, the treatment process would not happen.

Randy Roberson:

I would think that a lot of people would be surprised to find out that there’s not, “I thought they pour in 90,000 gallons of bleach and they did this” and didn’t know this is all just natural biology going on.

Garrett Goldman:

It is biology, very intense biology because you have to really understand the environment that the bugs like to thrive in, and then you have to tailor the process to promote those.

Randy Roberson:

For people that are interested in finding out a little bit… Because I think the science behind this is to me, the most fascinating, but if people want to find out a little bit more about that, I understand that there’s a new website where you can get quite a bit of information.

Garrett Goldman:

Yes, so we just launched a brand new website. It’s greenvalleywater.org. All one word.

Randy Roberson:

Makes sense.

Garrett Goldman:

On there under the education tab, you will find a description of the process itself. There are videos that walk you through each step of the process, and there are also links there to be able to book tours.

Randy Roberson:

Very cool. Regardless of age and all of that, adults can go down and take a tour as well?

Garrett Goldman:

Oh yes.

Randy Roberson:

Very cool.

Garrett Goldman:

We do several adult tours a year. We’d like to see that increase. I think that the best way for people to understand what we do is to actually come out and see it.

Randy Roberson:

That makes sense, and about how long do these tours typically take?

Garrett Goldman:

About an hour and a half to two hours. We’ll tailor the tour to as in-depth as you want to get.

Randy Roberson:

Very interesting. You have regularly scheduled tours, or do you just have to work into a set schedule, or how does this work?

Garrett Goldman:

We try to do our tours on the first Wednesday of every month, but if that doesn’t work for you, fill out the form, write in the time that does work for you, and we will accommodate you.

Randy Roberson:

Very interesting, and how long has the new website greenvalleywater.org, how long has that been up and running?

Garrett Goldman:

It actually just went up and running at the end of last week.

Randy Roberson:

Oh, wow.

Garrett Goldman:

So this is brand new.

Randy Roberson:

Truly brand new. Yes. Very interesting. How long have you been with Green Valley Water?

Garrett Goldman:

About three and a half years, formally. I worked with the District for over 22 years as a consulting engineer.

Randy Roberson:

Very interesting. When it comes to some of the places that I’ve been overseas doing relief work where there was just hardly anything sanitary anywhere you looked, it seemed like, I’m always amazed at what can be done to take care of… We’ve got 16,000 people living in Payson and the vast majority of that has a direct attachment to you.

Garrett Goldman:

That it does.

Randy Roberson:

How many gallons of fluid go through there a day, typically?

Garrett Goldman:

Right now about a million gallons a day.

Randy Roberson:

A million gallons a day. Of that, how many gallons then ended up getting back into the aquifers and things like that?

Garrett Goldman:

During the summer months, we pump everything that goes through the plant back up to Green Valley Lakes. Then Green Valley Lakes is used for irrigating the park itself, but there is a groundwater recharge component to that, and then from there we also dropped out at the big lake, and we have five different reuse customers.

Randy Roberson:

One is the high school ball fields?

Garrett Goldman:

High school ball fields and that includes the middle school multipurpose field. Payson Golf Club, the Woodland Meadows Lake at the end of LongHorn road.

Randy Roberson:

Right.

Garrett Goldman:

And Chaparral Pines Golf Course.

Randy Roberson:

Very interesting. I remember when a lot of this was being initially talked about as being truly cutting edge. There have been people from not only all over Arizona but really other parts of the world that have come here to see what you’ve been doing.

Garrett Goldman:

Yeah, we host several tours a year where other treatment plants come to look at the technology that we’ve implemented, to see if they want to implement it into their plant.

Randy Roberson:

When people come out there to take a tour, is there one thing, in particular, that seems to surprise some folks the most?

Garrett Goldman:

The clarity of the water when it comes out the backside of the plant test.

Randy Roberson:

Are there physical filters?

Garrett Goldman:

We do have one set of filters, and it’s after the treatment process, it’s a 10-micron filter that takes out anything big, but you can dip water out of the channel in front of that filter, and behind it, and not see much of a difference.

Randy Roberson:

I know when we had you on here once before, those sludge beds just across the road from the Green Valley Plant itself, you’re not using those as much they were being used?

Garrett Goldman:

No. Those were originally put in, in order to drive the sludge, because the bugs, in order to keep a certain age in them, you have to take a certain amount out every day.

Randy Roberson:

Right.

Garrett Goldman:

Otherwise, it just gets too old. The bugs that we would take out would go to the drying beds. We don’t do that anymore. Right now we are using a press to get water out of them, and then they go to the landfill.

Randy Roberson:

Okay, so all the solids that are extracted go to the landfill?

Garrett Goldman:

Yes.

Randy Roberson:

Very interesting. There’s got to be a lot of different things involved in those solids too, but a lot of that is broken down not only physically, but I guess biologically to maybe their basic components or something?

Garrett Goldman:

Yeah. It’s basically just dirt, right. It leaves. It has a musty smell to it. Does not smell at all other than like wet dirt, and when it does go to the landfill it actually aids the landfill in the decomposition process within it.

Randy Roberson:

Makes sense.

Garrett Goldman:

It has value there.

Randy Roberson:

So just helping it all turn into mulch that much quicker. That makes sense. As far as the future of Green Valley Water, I know that we have a fairly finite amount of land currently to build out on, but how much of an increase in population could Payson, or could that plant sustain as far as Payson’s growth?

Garrett Goldman:

Roughly that plan could handle up to 40,000 residents.

Randy Roberson:

Wow. More than twice where we’re at.

Garrett Goldman:

More than twice where we’re at. We do maintain a master plan over our entire boundary, and the plant is sized to be able to take flows if that entire boundary developed out.

Randy Roberson:

Are there other plants like this in Arizona?

Garrett Goldman:

There are other plants that are similar to it. That’s one of the amazing things about this industry, is there are not two plants that are exactly the same. We use similar processes, but it’s never exact.

Randy Roberson:

That’s fascinating. I mentioned that biology for the most part is very similar.

Garrett Goldman:

Yes, it is.

Randy Roberson:

Maybe just going about it in some kind of different way.

Garrett Goldman:

Different ways, and it all depends on what your ultimate goal is. Our goal is to be able to put water back up in the Green Valley Lakes. So we produce a class A+ reclaimed water, and that’s the highest cost of reclaimed water that is permitted by EDQ. Then some plants, just discharge it down to a Creek or a wash, and that has fewer requirements.

Randy Roberson:

Yeah. I’m curious when it comes to, just the physical location of the plant and everything, how does weather affect you? We’ve got the monsoon is coming and according to the national weather service, they say this year’s monsoon should be either at or above normal, which would be a great relief considering we had no monsoon last year, per se. Does that affect you when you get all of a sudden large flows coming down the wash there?

Garrett Goldman:

Not the wash itself, that doesn’t affect us, but we will see an increase in flows out in the system. We have manhole covers that allow some water in. There are some breaks and cracks in pipes that allow groundwater in. When we do get groundwater, we hope we get it this year.

Randy Roberson:

Right.

Garrett Goldman:

But we’re actively out right now. We’ve started a program where we’re repairing the collection system so it is here for generations to come.

Randy Roberson:

When it comes to stuff like that, where you have an inflow coming in like you say, through these manhole covers and stuff, are there other types of pollutants that can come in and kind of mess with the microbial mass as far as what you’re accomplishing biologically?

Garrett Goldman:

Yeah, most of that comes into people putting stuff down the drain that they should not be putting down.

Randy Roberson:

Yeah. What would some of the typical faux pas, for lack of a better term, be that you see people doing? Drainable or what?

Garrett Goldman:

The drain, all those things are generally safe because the concentration is so small, but things like antifreeze. Just because it flushes doesn’t mean that you should put it down the drain. There are places in town, the auto supply houses, that will take out for you.

Randy Roberson:

Right. Or you could always put it in your car. That could actually mess up the biology of what you have going on down there?

Garrett Goldman:

Yes.

Randy Roberson:

That’s got to happen periodically.

Garrett Goldman:

It does happen, and-

Randy Roberson:

You just see a fluctuation in different levels, and you have to compensate for that?

Garrett Goldman:

Yeah, we do. We actually operate a department of health services certified laboratory, that takes tests on a daily basis. We’ll do anywhere between 11 and 1400 tests a month.

Randy Roberson:

Is that all?

Garrett Goldman:

That’s it.

Randy Roberson:

Wow.

Garrett Goldman:

Two people.

Randy Roberson:

I got tired just hearing that.

Garrett Goldman:

We use that in order to be able to monitor what the process is doing and make adjustments.

Randy Roberson:

Right. Very interesting. Again, the science behind all this just fascinates me. I would think that it would have to be interesting. Any other types of chemicals and things like that, that you get confronted with once in a while that are a problem for the treatment plant?

Garrett Goldman:

Oil and grease are a big problem.

Randy Roberson:

If you’re getting rid of your 30 weight after an oil change, putting it down the drain that’s not what you want to do.

Garrett Goldman:

That’s even worse, but cooking oils.

Randy Roberson:

Oh, there you go.

Garrett Goldman:

Yeah, so when you cook your bacon, don’t dump that down the drain, please. It does a couple of things. First of all, it will coagulate. There’s a word for you.

Randy Roberson:

There you go.

Garrett Goldman:

And your service line-

Randy Roberson:

Gets food clots.

Garrett Goldman:

Yeah, you get food clots or the industry term is fatberg.

Randy Roberson:

Fatberg.

Garrett Goldman:

Fatberg.

Randy Roberson:

I like it.

Garrett Goldman:

There was just a story that the city of London, and I can’t remember how many tons, but it was over a mile long. This fatberg was in one of their major sewers, and the only way they could get it out is they have to go down in the sewer because it’s big enough that you can put people in it, and physically remove it by hand.

Randy Roberson:

Yeah, I’m not sure that that would be a job I’d want.

Garrett Goldman:

I don’t think I want it either, but-

Randy Roberson:

“What’d you do today?” “Oh, I got rid of a big old fatberg.”

Garrett Goldman:

Our system is a lot smaller. Our biggest pipe that we have that goes into the plant is 36 inches, and then it goes down to six inches. Most of your service connections to your houses are four inches. So as the oils and greases from cooking build up in that, you risk clogging your service connection, and if it does make it into our line, then we have to go out and maintain that, we have to clean them and clear that oil and grease.

Randy Roberson:

These fatbergs, do those have an effect on the chemistry that you have going on at the plant as well?

Garrett Goldman:

They do. The oil, just naturally it is lighter than water, so it floats.

Randy Roberson:

Right.

Garrett Goldman:

That will affect the way that the bugs do their treatment.

Randy Roberson:

Wow. I just find the whole thing fascinating. Now to start, if you had a plant like this, starting from scratch, the day before day one, I would imagine that you have to grow some of these bugs ahead of time? Or can you buy a bag of Acme bugs to throw in there? How does that work?

Garrett Goldman:

Generally what you would do is find a plant that’s similar to yours and-

Randy Roberson:

Just get some from them?

Garrett Goldman:

Just get a load of their, what we call mixed liquor, which is-

Randy Roberson:

Mixed liquor there’s another term, man.

Garrett Goldman:

That’s the bacteria mixed up in the flow.

Randy Roberson:

Right.

Garrett Goldman:

And we would bring out, put it at the start of it, and then let it naturally start to grow.

Randy Roberson:

Mixed liquor. I love it. I’d like to meet some of the people that came up with these terminologies originally. Is that a liquid, or is it like a semi-solid?

Garrett Goldman:

It’s a liquid.

Randy Roberson:

Okay. So you got a tank truck that’s going to come and get a whole tank truck of mixed liquor?

Garrett Goldman:

It would just be a pumper truck and come and you dropped it down to the plant that you’re borrowing from, and then go put it into your own plant.

Randy Roberson:

Oh, very interesting. As far as getting things up and running, to begin with, you could really get it rolling in pretty short order?

Garrett Goldman:

It doesn’t take too long to get it running. A matter of days and it would be operating.

Randy Roberson:

You mentioned that you can handle a population of up to 40,000, which is looking pretty good as far as the future for Payson. Is that, something that if all of a sudden, in my opinion, heaven forbid we did have this huge build-out and we had 40,000 people, is it just a matter of adding on another wing to that plant?

Garrett Goldman:

No. The plant itself is actually constructed to handle those feet.

Randy Roberson:

Okay.

Garrett Goldman:

We have three treatment trains that are identical, sitting right next to each other. Right now we only have to operate two of them. As population increases and flows increase then we will bring the third one on the line.

Randy Roberson:

Very interesting. I think as far as the classes in school, I think people owe it to themselves to consider getting out there, and these teachers, and getting their kids. I mean, what a great little lesson in science to be able to talk about all the chemistry involved. There’s just a whole bunch of different science in different directions that you could talk about there that I think would be pertinent, or go along in correlation with various teaching curriculum. If people want to find out more about that and they’d like to maybe sign up, how do they do that?

Garrett Goldman:

Go to our website, under the education tab there’s a book a tour, I believe, and you can just fill out a quick form. It automatically sends to us, we’ll be in contact with you to set up the time and date.

Randy Roberson:

Just look at greenvalleywater.org, and you can get all your questions answered right there. You said this website just went online here a week ago.

Garrett Goldman:

Yeah. Late last week.

Randy Roberson:

Let me see, I’m trying to, as we speak, pull it up here. There we go. How long did they work on this, do you know?

Garrett Goldman:

This has been in process for about two months, coming up with a new website.

Randy Roberson:

The quality of our services is the same, it’s only a name change. All the people are still the same out there, and it was still doing a great job. It looks like if you’re interested in the idea of possibly a job out there at Green Valley Water, you can apply for a job online. You have different Green Valley Water news releases there. Your chance to take a tour, and then there’s also a tab that says, get a permit. What do we need a permit for?

Garrett Goldman:

Well, if you’re doing any type of construction that would be connecting to our system, we require a permit so that we can make sure that it’s per our standards, and that it doesn’t adversely affect the system.

Randy Roberson:

You can even pay your bill online.

Garrett Goldman:

You can do that.

Randy Roberson:

And report a problem.

Garrett Goldman:

You can do that.

Randy Roberson:

How often do you have problem reports?

Garrett Goldman:

We don’t have a lot of problem reports, a few a month. The main reports that we get, sometimes we do have backups happen. We ask that people call us. If you think that your toilets flushing slowly, call us, let us check our main lines first and make sure that it’s not a problem in our lines. Then we will give you some guidance, and at that point, you would have to call a plumber if it’s not our problem.

Randy Roberson:

Do you have little flow gauges along the route that you can just look at, or do you actually have to physically go out and test things?

Garrett Goldman:

We physically have to go out and look at a manhole and the area that we’re experiencing an issue and visually inspect our lines.

Randy Roberson:

Very interesting. I see on your website too, more information on that before you flush, remember the three P’s, pee, poop, and paper. I like that you guys are creative. You can find out a whole lot more about the whole Green Valley Water treatment process, and again, Green Valley Water keeps the town of Payson and surrounding areas, beautiful with its wastewater reclamation, treatment, and reuse. When was the plant first brought online?

Garrett Goldman:

The first plant was brought online in 1972, I believe.

Randy Roberson:

Wow, and still doing things the same way or?

Garrett Goldman:

No, there was a pretty major upgrade that was done in 1983. We’re still basically using the same technology or the same process that was put in, in 1983. There’s been a lot of upgrades to it since then.

Randy Roberson:

It seems like with just about everything, certainly in the radio business and in just about every line of work, there’s been a lot of advancements as it pertains to new technology, innovation, and that type of thing. Is that also the case when it comes to water treatment, or is biology pretty much biology and it works, and y’all stick with the same thing?

Garrett Goldman:

The biology is basically the same, but how we do it is completely different. All the way from, we have to introduce air into our treatment process to give oxygen for the bugs to grow. Back in 2015, we installed high-efficiency turbo blowers. They help our ratepayers be able to save money because it’s less electricity. This process is needed there. Things like that, we have a solar field.

Randy Roberson:

Yeah, I remember you mentioning that. You really are keeping up with the latest technology. Roughly what percentage of the operation out there is powered by solar?

Garrett Goldman:

During the summer months when the sun is high, about 50%.

Randy Roberson:

Wow. That’s got to be a huge saving.

Garrett Goldman:

It is a huge saving.

Randy Roberson:

Very interesting. Well again, if you’d like to find out more just go online to greenvalleywater.org and you can get an awful lot of questions answered there. They offer regularly scheduled tours on the first Wednesday of each month from 9 to 11 and can set up other fun things for you as well. So again, check it out at greenvalleywater.org. Thanks, Garrett Goldman for coming down and being with us, keep us posted. This is fascinating stuff.

Garrett Goldman:

Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

Randy Roberson:

You bet. Thanks for coming down, and thank you for tuning in and listening to this morning to the community spotlight on KRIM.

Randy Roberson:

Got some great tunes coming up from Paul Simon, The Lovin Spoonful, Pure Prairie League, and America, but right now, a quick look at RIM country weather.

Randy Roberson:

Just like that, quick half-hour.

Garrett Goldman:

It is, it’s the quickest half hour of the day, right there.

Randy Roberson:

I’ve heard that a bunch of times.

Garrett Goldman:

I bet you have.

Randy Roberson:

I mean maybe if we’re doing our job.