Rayburn Casey Hall is retired from a long career at the Moccasin Bend Wastewater Treatment Plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., where he started work in 1971. Today, he writes a blog at http://wastewaterplantoperator.blogspot.com. It includes a variety of items that fellow operators might enjoy -- everything from memories and stories to poems and prayers.
During his career, Hall worked his way up from laborer to plant operations supervisor. When he started, the plant capacity was 42 mgd. When he retired, it was 240 mgd. Why did he start a blog? "I have submitted my articles to national wastewater magazines without success," he writes in his profile. "One rejection said the articles about the grunts on the front line didn’t fit their criteria, and another said the articles were interesting, but they didn't have the space to print them. So I decided to create a blog to make my stories and poems and videos available to other wastewater plant operators and the public."
Items now posted include a letter home to mom and dad from a newly hired operator, a story about leading tours of the Moccasin Bend plant, and a story about the treasures to be found in the treatment plant screenings. "The rings, brackets, necklaces, knives, cigarette lighters, and coins were small enough in size and heavy enough to sink and settle out in the sewer lines before reaching the plant," Hall writes. "But the paper money, plastic credit cards, driver’s licenses, wallets and purses would go with the flow into the plant.
"Before the sewage entered the plant, there was a bar screen that screened out the trash before it entered the treatment area. Some of the paper money, wallets and purses would get trapped on the screen. An automatic rake and conveyor carried the trash to a Dumpster. Employees would rake the pile down every few hours and sometimes find as much as a $20 bill. It didn’t happen every day, but it happened often enough that we didn’t have any problems with the buckets running over."
Pay a visit to Hall's blog and you may find a few items that resonate with your experience in the business.
