Posted by Jared Shepherd 
As your trusted authority for all things poo and pop culture, we considered it an obligation. When BuzzFeed posted a “How poo obsessed are you?” quiz, we wondered—based on our areas of expertise—exactly how we’d fare in the final tally. We believed it would be irresponsible of us not...
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If you watched Reading Rainbow as a kid, or if you’re still tuned in to today’s incarnation of the PBS classic, then this episode proves the theme song’s line, “I can go anywhere.” Host LaVar Burton takes a trip to and through a wastewater treatment plant. And while some...
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Cleveland has amazing water resources. And while they are so visible that they are easily taken for granted, there are also unseen resources that help make sure our lakes, rivers, and water quality are protected. This moving #MyWaterLegacy video from the Water Environment Federation was shown at WEFTEC—a huge...
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How can wastewater treatment plant workers spend hours around sewage and not get overwhelmed by the smell? Former Treatment Plant Operator and current manager Christen Wood gets that question a lot, and she said it’s all science.
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Chicago can have its green river. Water Quality and Industrial Surveillance Investigator Kelsey Amidon shows us how we go green (green dye, actually) to protect water quality. Fluorescent dye helps our investigators trace the source and destination of flows in our streams and sewers, and the glowing-green dye is...
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We don’t think this is the Force George Lucas or J.J. Abrams had in mind. Still, clean water wouldn’t be the same without it. Our own treatment-plant Jedi Christen Wood shows us how force and the rarely-seen sludge “explosion” helps keep a sewer line clear and gives the Death...
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It may not be a Star Wars galaxy far far away, but when astronauts are far from home, water is a life force. Astronaut Chris Hadfield shows us how the water flows on the International Space Station, featuring a closed-loop treatment system in which the water astronauts use—even their...
Read More Posted by Jared Shepherd The melodious tones of James Earl Jones’ golden pipes grace the narration track of this Cuyahoga River documentary from 1978. This clip features JEJ reading text from an infamous Time Magazine article that followed the 1969 river fire. (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s); if (d.getElementById(id))...
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Some of the access tunnels in the bowels of the Southerly Wastewater Treatment Plant in Cuyahoga Heights date back to the plant’s grand opening in 1928. Operator Christen Wood took us for a quick tour of the sprawling and sometimes spooky underground system, just in time for Halloween.
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Back To The Future‘s Doc Brown and his illustration of the time-travel-enabling flux capacitor. The future has arrived. As the past. In the present. Thanks to a toilet. October 21, 2015 has been declared Back To The Future Day, a day of ’80s sci-fi nostalgia, the date to which...
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