As we are constantly reminding people here at TTF, everything you put down a household drain, flush down your toilet, or drop in a storm drain on the street ends up in our sewer system. Depending on where you live, items dropped into storm drains on the street will either be combined with household wastewater and routed to a sewage treatment plant, or they will be deposited directly back into our waterways.
Today’s Inquirer has a great article about all of the things Philadelphia-area sewer workers have found in our sewer system:
Bracelets, diamond rings, money, toothbrushes, cell phones, dog bones – and even two guns recovered after a burglary – have been known to make their way into the Radnor Township sewers, said Mark Domenick, sewer supervisor.
“We are on call 24/7, 365 – every day,” he said. “Kids will throw anything down a hole.”
“We’ve had ducks,” Domenick said. “We go rescue them. We get a lot of them.”
Are there alligators?
“There could be,” said Tom Ferguson, plant manager at the Philadelphia’s Southeast Wastewater Treatment Plant. “People get tired of pets, and they just take them to the creek.”
Mostly, he said, Philadelphia sewer workers see trash – plastic bags, Budweiser cans, Wawa cups, candy wrappers – and catfish that swim into the plant during heavy rains. Occasionally a wad of well-worn bills will get trapped in a grate used to filter out the trash. The found money gets spent treating coworkers to lunch.
Read the rest of the article here and please, be mindful of what you put down our drains! Also, a HUGE THANK YOU to the men and women who keep our sewer systems running smoothly — and rescue animals along the way!
