Our second full day in Hameelina took us on a whirl wind tour of the local water district, sewer treatment facility, waste management and a new Rotarian meeting.
Being shown the well pump. The dome cover helps insulate the pipes. These wells go down about 20-30 meters to the aquifer.
Because the water is so clean the well facility only has to up the ph balance with some CO2 filtration and here, the ultraviolet screen.
Apparently large bunnies roam Finland. I would love to see one!
Steve photo bombing our photo as we walked out to view their water redistribution site. They pump water into ponds, rivers and lakes as well as have pipes that cover the forest. All this to return the water back to the aquifer where it can be used again. They also mentioned that they try to have the water underground as much as possible in case of another Chernobyl. These measures mean that they should have time to pump water underground where it will be safe from any nuclear fallout.
Us girls with Timo and the other water engineer, Henri.
Sewer treatment plant. Lovely water coming in to be filtered and cleaned.
Some of their older holding tanks which they pump oxygen into. The oxygen reacts with the microorganisms to break down the waste. The water will go through further processes to remove all the particles.
More holding tanks that are used to help the large particles to fall to the bottom of the tank. These are put into a silo and heated for about a month. Then the particles are pilled up near the faculty where they compost for two years, creating heat (which in the summer is so warm they have to be careful of combustion).
Next stop was the waste treatment center.
We had to don hard hats and vests to enter the ethanol facility. This is a new process that they contract with an oil company to change bio waste into fuel.
Hameenlina penitentiary. This building was used in the late 19th century until 1993. The design was based off of a Philadelphia prison. Finland has not official executed a criminal since 1825 (excluding war deaths). We toured this building and the Hameenlina city museum next door. I thought both were very interesting.
Last on the agenda was the new Rotarian meeting at Robert's Coffee. Timo and the incoming president welcomed the new members and gave information on rotary.
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