Scott Neal, Eden Prairie City Manager

Zen and the Art of Sewer System Maintenance

So I am sitting there watching that really smug guy from “Dirty Jobs” Mike Rowe do a show from the bottom of a Sewer Lift Station. He is scraping big hunks of (insert colorful metaphor) off the Lift Station Walls while a giant vacuum truck called a Vactor sucks it all up.

Now, these Vactors are all business let me tell you. I mean, they can suck a bowling ball (or your arm) up from depths of 30 feet! In fact, that’s our Vactor pictured below.

You know when they roll into your neighborhood too . . . windows shake, birds scatter, kids cry, and yes, even an occasional car alarm will go off.

Anyway, there’s Rowe, in his waders and raincoat, sewage pouring in all around him and he does this kind of slight dry heave . . . looks to camera and says,

“This is it, this is the worst, the worst thing I have ever done, right here.”

In case you missed that, Rowe was talking about Cleaning Lift Stations as the “Worst Job” he has ever done.

We have 22 Lift-stations! How about a pay raise?

You know, that whole business of celebrating the workers doing the dirty work so the rest of us can lead clean and civilized lives is a great concept.

And it is pretty cool seeing Rowe doing the things we do every day in Eden Prairie on National Television.

But there is more to this sewer business than just stepping in it, wading in it, and saying “Poo” like your ratings depended on it.

For instance:

1.  Did you know that Scientists chose Sanitation (sewage disposal and clean water) as the greatest medical breakthrough since 1840? A close second was Antibiotics, then came Anaesthesia, Vaccines and finally the Discovery of DNA structure.

Really? Sewage disposal over . . . DNA?

I guess it does make some sense when you think it through. I mean really . . . what good is DNA if you are dead?

2.  In one year alone the lack of sewage disposal, clean water and thus hygiene, accounted for over 1.5 million deaths worldwide from diarrheal disease.

3.  And for you anthropological folks let’s finish with a quiz:

According to Experts what key factor contributed more to the advancement or success of civilizations old and new? (insert jeopardy music)

A.  How far you could sling boulders the size of a small domestic cars with oversized sling shot’s

B.  Advanced medical knowledge such as blood-letting and leeches

C.  Power over the seas

D.  A working sewer system

If you answered D. you are correct!

So, while you are out there flying Mars missions, cracking the human genome and building microscopic nano-bots, just remember it would not be possible if your toilet didn’t flush.

Our work is done here.

Andrew works for the Utilities Division. Part of their job is ensuring that the wastes produced by 60,000 plus residential and business customers is routed (without incident) south of the Minnesota River to the Blue Lake Treatment plant in Shakopee. To this end, a good deal of time is spent cleaning, inspecting and servicing some 200 hundred miles of sewer pipeline, 22 Sewer Lift-Stations and well over 3,000 Sewer Manholes that make up the City of Eden Prairie’s Sewer Collection System.