The average person would be shocked to hear about the myriad of odd things found inside collection systems and water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs). Some finds seem so far-fetched they enter the realm of urban legend, but the stories are true. Wastewater treatment operators have found everything from gold bars to bicycles to killer bees in their systems. In the case of the Main Street Water Reclamation Facility in Gainesville, Fla. operators even found a 2.9 m (9.5 ft) alligator in the clarifier.
In November 2014, maintenance workers for the city of Pacifica, Calif., made their own unique discovery in the city’s collection system: a $1000 engagement ring accidentally flushed down the toilet by resident Lary Warren. Warren contacted the city to ask for assistance in finding his ring after he saw a news story about another WRRF that had successfully found someone’s jewelry, according to a news article in the Pacifica Tribune.
Brian K. Martinez, collection system manager for the city, said his crew got the call that Warren had lost his ring one afternoon. The crew then began to examine the sewer line connected to Warren’s home using closed-circuit camera. Martinez said they did it for about 4 hours during 2 days until they finally spotted the ring.
“We found the ring in the sewer main that serves the neighborhood,” Martinez said. “It was about 1100 feet [335 m] downstream of his house connection. It had traveled about four blocks,” he said.
Martinez said they used a 12.8 mm (0.5 in.), 27,580 kPa (4000 lb/in.2) jetter to retrieve the ring. Even though the ring had traveled a great distance, it was still in “perfect condition,” he added.
Martinez said he was personally able to give the ring back to Warren. “He stopped by to check on how things were going on the second morning … and we had just brought it up on the monitor. He was amazed,” he said.
This isn’t the first time the operators have found a ring. “We’ve found nothing at the plant, but in the collection system, we have found other jewelry though usually broken up,” Martinez said. “Once we unplugged a lateral from a laundromat that spilled many coins into the manhole it was connected to.”
— LaShell Stratton-Childers, WEF Highlights
Lost and Found: Send Us Your StoriesHave you found something odd or unique in your collection systems or water resource recovery facility? Or, did you help a customer find something they lost? Tell us what you’ve found in your wastewater treatment systems. Contact Jennifer Fulcher, WEF Highlights editor, at jfulcher@wef.org to share your story. |
March 3, 2015
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