It really does all go to the same place in the endLearning the details of wastewater treatment isn’t high on most people’s priority list, but I decided to tag along with the Luverne City Council as it toured our facility Tuesday. I knew a little about it before, but for this week’s paper, I dove deeper into wastewater than I ever have. I discovered it’s actually a less stinky, more fascinating tour than I expected.Workers there see things most of us wouldn’t want to.Some people don’t even know where Luverne’s Wastewater Treatment Plant is (behind Redbird Field), but it’s worth knowing about, or at least appreciating a little. Going through the plant with Supervisor Al Lais, he pointed at a round, brown, slightly dehydrated object and said, "Oh, one got hung up on the screen there. See?"My heart skipped a beat, but by the second or third close-up, my guard was way down. Of course, Al points these things out very nonchalantly, as his index finger hovers mere millimeters above "it." It’s all in a day’s work for him, though. Wastewater treatment involves removing or neutralizing everything that comes to the plant via Luverne residents’ toilets.The long, scientific process means a dozen or more steps of sifting, sorting, sanitizing and neutralizing. Al supervises the facility, which is also run by Verlyn Van Batavia, Jim Rockman and Jesse Frey.Of course, there are probably lots of funny stories the crew doesn’t want to share, but they’ve found keys, vegetables, coins, a $20 bill, and even a set of dentures somewhere along the filtration system.They can tell whether the school served peas or corn too, because sometimes whole products get through the sanitary sewer system.They also see plenty of feminine hygiene products and used condoms.The whole purpose of the operation is to make the water clean enough to put back out into the environment. It’s discharged at a point where it’s almost clean enough to drink. Almost. All that work keeps the city up to strict state and national specifications, which are intended to keep our Rock River and our drinking water supply safe.In this extremely sanitized and high-tech world, someone still has to deal with … well … crap, and Luverne’s got a few good men on the clock to do it.