Hi folks,
Yesterday was a bit of a cliffhanger for us at the WTP
We weren't sure how we were going to load Activated Carbon, with the conveyor motor stuffed
Well, in the end, we got a 100 tonne crane in
Removed the hatch from the top of the 50 tonne silo, harnessed up for a full day of working at heights, and climbed on up
Each 500kg bag was lifted to the top of the silo and moved into position over the open hatch
I had the job of opening up the underside of each bag and getting the extremely fine powder to flow out through the bottom
It was hard, dirty work
The powder refused to flow any quicker than an hourglass egg timer under it's own weight
The first few took a lot of coaxing
It's like talcum powder, but dark black
Like the Activated Carbon you might have inside an aquarium filter, but much finer
We tried a bunch of different techniques
Mostly involving brute strength and ignorance, as a co-worker likes to say
Kicking, punching and forceably poking the bag with a solid piece of timber to try and loosen up the substance
It didn't help that the bags were stacked two-high to a pallet, and every bottom bag would be compressed beyond all reason
Around the fourth bag, the rigger had the awesome idea of cutting a hole in the side and poking a long-handled shovel through to the bottom, working it around as it went down
Then, when it was flowing, digging the stubborn powder from the edges into the middle, until the bag was empty
We got seven bags emptied before lunch
That's 3.5 tonnes
And in the afternoon, another 15 (7.5 tonnes)
For a total of 11 for the day
While we were doing this, getting covered head-to-toe in black powder and worn out from all the shoveling, my co-workers were busy sourcing a replacement motor
Turns out we didn't have a spare
Why oh why didn't we have a spare?!
(Oh yeah, the constant downward cost pressure from two decades of privatisation of the metropolitan water supply, constant reductions in staffing and budgets, and the top-down imposition of just-in-time inventory management systems upon critical infrastructure built originally by a rationally-resourced municipal government department and since overtaken by privately-owned multinational corporations has made it that keeping a well-stocked inventory of spare parts is considered wasteful spending.)
This is CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE. The Water Supply, for millions.
...
A country's water supply is more important than private profiteering
...
So by day's end, we had confirmation that a new motor for the loading system was sourced and would most likely be here by tomorrow
So, we just have to wait and see...
There's enough in the silo now to last a couple of days, and I'm thoroughly exhausted
So I'm signing off!
See ya
P.S. I rode my bike to and from work today
...
Good choice lol
Bye!