General Info

In December 2010 I performed an experiment to collect bacterial count data of the affect of shooting sewer effluent through a high-pressure snow gun at below freezing temperatures.I did this project in conjunction with my local sewage treatment plant regarding the use of treated sewer effluent as a viable water supply for man-made snow. My dad and I made our own replica snow gun and shot out the effluent under high pressure/freezing temperature conditions in order to determine if that would affect the bacterial count/mortality rate. Forcing water containing microbial life through a high pressure/cold temperature device should theoretically cause a decrease in microbe levels, secondary to alteration of cell walls or some other biological disruptions. This process atomizes the effluent thereby increasing the exposure of the bacteria to the effects of high pressure and freezing temperatures. In theory this vaporization/freezing should show different results then freezing alone.

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Using water to create man-made snow and treating sewage effluent to make it safe and re-usable has been used for decades. However, the idea of combining these two methods has not been considered until recently. No tests have been done on the effects of sending treated sewer effluent, and the small amount of remaining bacteria, through a snow gun and seeing what the results would be. Therefore, I decided to do a few sample tests myself to see if any evidence or trends appeared in regards to this idea.