VIDEO: “Police of the underworld,” Vienna’s sewer brigade of 1934

• Posted by Jared Shepherd
• 7336 Views
• April 18th, 2014
• in Miscellaneous
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The city of Vienna once had a police squad specifically trained for sewer patrols. This 1934 British newsreel showcases the “canal brigade” of Vienna, Austria, braving the bowels of the city, a common hiding place for criminals at the time. Most interesting to us was the squad’s frequency of...

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ENTERTAINMENT: #Watermen series will take reality TV to a new low, and it looks filthy.

• Posted by Jared Shepherd
• 5032 Views
• April 15th, 2014
• in Miscellaneous
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Reality television is about to hit a new low: Sewers, and the team who keeps things flowing. United Utilities—one of the UK’s largest water and wastewater service providers—will star in a six-part documentary series called “Watermen: A dirty business” on BBC2 starting today. United Utilities will be tweeting along...

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Wedding at a wastewater treatment plant? Hyped headline, but points for creativity.

• Posted by Jared Shepherd
• 4746 Views
• April 14th, 2014
• in Miscellaneous
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Oh for goodness sake. A beautiful education center near a wastewater treatment plant mentions the phrase “wedding reception” and suddenly the media thinks they’re inviting couples to say their nuptials waist-deep in poo. See for yourself. King County in Washington operates the Brightwater Center, an education complex and community...

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VIDEO: Could this really be 1,000 miles of toilet paper?

• Posted by Jared Shepherd
• 4345 Views
• April 6th, 2014
• in Miscellaneous
• No Comments

Woah that’s a lot of toilet paper. It happened at a soccer match in Belgium. While we have absolutely no idea how much toilet paper this actually is, let’s make a few calculations and take a guess. Let’s say this was one corner of Cleveland Browns’ First Energy Stadium,...

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BASEBALL: Burn on, big river. Burn on.

• Posted by Jared Shepherd
• 7647 Views
• April 4th, 2014
• in Miscellaneous
• One Comment

Cleveland, baseball, and Randy Newman are forever linked. Ever since Major League hit the big screen in 1989, Newman’s song “Burn on” (1972) has come to be synonymous with Cleveland, the Cleveland Indians, and the start of summer. For us and our responsibility to protect Lake Erie, it means...

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VIDEO: And you thought you’d never be interested in how a pump station works.

• Posted by Jared Shepherd
• 4465 Views
• March 18th, 2014
• in Miscellaneous
• No Comments

For most people, wastewater treatment just happens. It’s not something many think about. One thing we’ve enjoyed on our social media channels is the ability to bring the real-world work behind cleaning dirty water right in front of people’s eyes. Sure, we’re biased, but we think it’s amazing, and...

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TIPS: 10 unexpected uses for vinegar for cleaning, unclogging, and cats (Video)

• Posted by Jared Shepherd
• 4414 Views
• February 4th, 2014
• in Miscellaneous
• No Comments

From eliminating garbage-can odors to clearing clogs, vinegar has a lot more uses than just cooking. More importantly, it can eliminate the need for hazardous chemicals that can affect your plumbing and our environment. For more healthy home tips, check out our “A healthy environment starts at home” handbook,...

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WEATHER: Melting snow, heavy rain, flood warnings in the forecast

• Posted by Jared Shepherd
• 4878 Views
• December 20th, 2013
• in Miscellaneous
• No Comments

With snow on the ground and heavy rain in the forecast, be prepared. Some of our local Cleveland weather friends are predicting several inches of rain likely this weekend. With snow still standing on the saturated ground, it is possible that the rainfall could affect areas prone to flooding....

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VIDEO: 1928 school film shares how to treat sewage, how to set rat traps, and how not to catch malaria, typhoid, or the bubonic plague

• Posted by Jared Shepherd
• 4655 Views
• December 5th, 2013
• in Miscellaneous
• No Comments

Throwback Thursday is an opportunity to harken back to a time when we used the words “hence” and “typhoid” in daily American conversation. The 4-minute clip above is from a 20-minute 1928 educational silent film called “Health and Hygiene” which focused on the causes of common diseases and their...

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PIC: Ask an engineer how a combined sewer works. Here’s what you get.

• Posted by Jared Shepherd
• 5130 Views
• December 3rd, 2013
• in Miscellaneous
• No Comments

“It’s a little messy around the edges,” Joe said, referring to his sketch of a combined sewer regulator. I would have described it as intricate, then again, I’m not Joe. Joe Jira is a Geographic Information System Analyst in our Engineering department, and Analyst doesn’t give his enthusiasm for...

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