So today my Environmental Science class went on a little field trip to our local Wastewater Management Plant in Trinidad, Colorado. It's not a huge class anyway, plus several students were absent so we went in an over-sized van driven by the teacher, with one guy trailing behind in his own car.
As soon as I got out of my History class, I headed towards the Davis Building where we were to meet and depart. I was the first one there and I felt sort of awkward so I alternated between fiddling with my notebook and pen and pretending to text on my phone until others arrived. When the van pulled up, those of us waiting were able to board and wait for the latecomers. For a few minutes, a few people gradually trickled in and we made small talk. I noticed that like so many other school-owned vehicles I've been in, this van had a worn-out look to it in addition to a strange smell and inexplicable holes in the seats and ceiling, like someone had been taken over by a raging case of cabin fever and had attempted to claw their way out.
Suddenly, there was a loud commotion and lots of shuffling. A large group of latecomers had arrived together, all athletic teammates, and as they were about to climb in, they made the discovery that the "shotgun" position of the van was vacant. Through a lot of pushing and shoving and swearing, a lone victor emerged and the rest, grumbling mutinously, squeezed in the back.
Soon after, we slid the van's side doors shut and departed. It was not a long drive but with eleven people in the vehicle it quickly got hot and stuffy and claustrophobic. We did our best to open the van's windows and turn up the air but it didn't help much.
"Fuuuuckkkkk...." one of the guys in the back whined. "It's so hot back here!"
The "shotgun battle" victor twisted around in his seat to look at us. "It's really nice up here!" he told us. He was answered with a chorus of "You bitch!!" from his friends.
None of us were exactly sure where we were headed, including the teacher, so we had to make one or two U-Turns and we got a big kick out of the facial expressions and arm gestures made by the guy in his own car following us.
We did make it however. Stepping out of the van, we were greeted by a huge whiff of, well, wastewater. Ugh. It was apparent that the plant was expansive, with many small buildings popping up here and there and lots of concrete tunnels and ditches and ponds. We headed toward one of the larger buildings, passing several of the ditches flowing with wastewater, and some little man-made geysers gushing the water up a little way into the air. I don't want to gross you out, but if you've seen Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, think about the chocolate river/waterfall and that's almost exactly what this wastewater looked like.
We were ushered into the building and we were relieved to find that it smelled strongly of Lysol, a welcome change. We all had to sign forms (the guy in charge explained by briefly stating, "It means if you fall in, you're on your own," and giving a pleasant smile) and then we were taken through the building where they showed us their computers and labs. Then we headed back outside and we were taken around the property.
The first building they led us to was basically a big drain where they catch a lot of the solids. I was at the back of the group with my usual, patient lab partner (I have yet to complete a lab without spilling something or breaking a glass tube) and it was a very strange sight: the students ahead of us casually entered the building but almost immediately ran right back out, most with their shirts pulled up over their faces, gagging and retching. The scent reached me just as one of the big, tough-looking athletes brushed past me looking nauseated and muttering, "Aw, damn!"
It was, without a doubt, the worst thing I've ever smelled. Honestly, I wouldn't even have considered I'd be very bothered by the smell of sewage- I've lived my whole life with dogs and cats and litter boxes and horses and donkeys and manure and I'd have thought it wouldn't bother me much. But, oh, that smell was so intense and disgusting that I also started to gag and had to run for it as well. Along with the guy leading the tour who worked there, only our teacher and one or two students could stay for more than a few seconds.
The tour continued around the property, with the smell increasing and decreasing depending on where we were and which way the wind was blowing.
Towards the end of the tour, we were outside looking at one of the cement structures on the property to move the wastewater- it was basically two swimming pool-sized cement structures side by side with a three-feet walk way between them.
My lab partner motioned to my notebook and pen that I had with me: "Write down in your notes that this place smells like shit," he told me. But I wasn't really listening. I was busy staring at that tiny, handrail-less walkway between the two swimming pools of excrement.
"You could not pay me to walk across that," I mumbled. He looked where I was looking and laughed. "Not during a strong breeze," he agreed.
I'm not a smoker, but I actually found a lot of relief when one of the students had a cigarette when we were leaving- that smoke smell was a nice change after the aroma of the plant.
To be honest, most of our conversation on the way back to school was about that wretched smell, but we all pleasantly agreed that none of us had been on a field trip for a long time and it was kind of nice.
I know most of this blog has been complaining, but it really was kind of cool to look around there, since that's what we've been studying lately. Plus, the labs were cool and we learned some interesting facts! Like, the human body can get used to anything! Even the smell of sewage.
Sarah
