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Trap will reduce snail removal Mail Tribune/Jim Craven The city is spending $500,000 on a snail-trapping system to keep out the snails that plague the Medford water-reclamation plant. Millions of these tiny snails must be cleaned from the plant by hand every year � and their shells piled in mounds shown in the background. Wastewater workers scoop billions a year By Jessica Smith Workers at the regional wastewater treatment plant are tired of scooping up snail shells. Twice a year, crews drain the wastewater plant�s aeration pools, climb down with shovels and haul out loads of popcorn kernel-sized snails. They dredge about 100 cubic yards � think billions and billions � of the little creatures a year. The whole process takes about a week. But a new half-million-dollar snail-trapping system should mean less shoveling for plant workers. "We�ve always had a problem with the snails," said Jim Hill, who heads up the city�s wastewater reclamation division. "But now we�re having a more difficult time." The problem starts when snails are washed down sewer drains in Medford and five other cities that get their waste treated at the Medford plant. The snails eventually take up residence at the plant�s trickling filter system, where the sewage is sprinkled over a plastic grid that helps separate nutrients from the water. There, the tiny critters grow and live. "They latch onto the plastic and they eat all the slime," said Hill. "Yucky, but true." Eventually, the snails are funneled into the aeration pools, where diffusers pump air into the sewage for further treatment before the water is released into the Rogue River. Sometimes, sand-colored snail shells float atop the swirling, simmering water. Mostly, the little crustaceans settle at the bottom of the pools. "You�ve got all these snail carcasses rotting down in there and it creates a real problem for us," Hill said. When the snails decompose, they spread bacteria the treatment system can�t eradicate. "It has a definite impact on the quality of our treatment," Hill said. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA