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The article focuses on the use of a shop vacuum and duct tape to control the heavy foam accumulation at the Village of Andes Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) in Delaware, New York. The foam problem was attributed to an overgrowth of nocardioform bacteria and in the warmer months of the year, the plant's sequencing batch reactor (SBR) surface is covered by viscous foam. The problem started in 2005 and through 2007, staff worked on various methods to control the foaming, including solids inventory, spraying of chlorinated water and scooping of the foam by hand. The plant's current operators Shane Boice, Ed Budine and Al Sebastian, came up with the idea of attaching a polystyrene block to the nozzle of a shop vacuum.