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 pcnate
Location: Michigan
Gender: Male
mmmmmm... manhole...
 |  |  | Grand Rapids, MI Drain and Possible Sewer Connection
< on 6/26/2008 3:19 AM >
|  | | | I found a drain in Grand Rapids. It goes on for quite a ways as an interesting concrete oval-shaped drain. It passes near the city's district heating system, as evidenced by warm walls in some sections (which have attracted cockroaches) and also condensate drains into it in a couple sections.
Enjoy the photos.
At the end, I found what appeared to be a dam which separated the storm drain to what I think is a sanitary sewer line. I briefly crawled into this suspect line to get a few photos. Do you agree that this is a sanitary sewer? It seems like it is, but it didn't stink that bad, nor did I see any "turds," but the water was green with little white paper-like things in it, which seems like what sanitary sewer would have. Any comments would be welcome. Is this last section I found a sanitary sewer?
Above: This is looking out the entrance
Above: Typical view in the drain.
Above: Hot condensate from the city's district heating system shoots into the drain. In case you are wondering, I am unsure if the city's district heating steam pipes are contained inside an explorable tunnel system.
Above: The main, old concrete part of the drain ends at a junction here.
Above: At the junction, the storm drain continues here in a round concrete pipe (RCP). Its tricky to climb up to this.
Above: The other option is older looking and includes a dam-like structure that you have to crawl over to continue. My guess is this is a dam that prevents what appears to be a sanitary sewage from flowing into the storm drain unless the sanitary sewer line is overwhelmed. Thus, I am guessing these two pipes make up a combined sewer system?
This is what the pipe looks like on the other side of the dam. The air is warmer here, and a weird, thick fog hangs in the top quarter of the pipe. The "water" flowing in this pipe is greenish in color with white things in it. Sure looks like a sanitary sewer to me... only thing I didn't see was turds and such floating in it... I am not sure why this typical part of sewage was absent. It did not smell as bad as I would have imagined such a facility would have smelled, either. But this line was flowing fast and is "ventilated" by the storm drain, so maybe that helped. I did not explore this more than a few feet, because I was concerned about O2 issues, although I didn't have any problems in this area nearby the storm drain.
And yes, I found a few cockroaches! This is also in the line that is apparently sanitary sewer in a section with a manhole. I also saw a couple rats, but they ran away before I got a photo of them. Not sure if the presence of these creatures indicates anything about the O2 levels.
http://pcnateue.fortunecity.com |
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Macsbug
  
Noble Donor
Location: St. Paul, MN
Gender: Male
Safety First!
| |  | Re: Grand Rapids, MI Drain and Possible Sewer Connection
<Reply # 1 on 6/26/2008 3:46 AM >
| | | | Nice! Thats definitely a sanitary connection. About what height would you say the sewer tunnel is?
"Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it." |
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shotgun mario
 
Location: MSP
Gender: Male
MSP Elite™ Card-Carrying Member
| | | Re: Grand Rapids, MI Drain and Possible Sewer Connection
<Reply # 2 on 6/26/2008 4:11 AM >
| | | | looks good. Yea, I'd say that that was a mix of a separate and combination sewer (it terms of milwaukee drains), as it looks like the two are separate UNLESS there is a massive amount of water, then the sewage line spills over. Really cool.
Although I've yet to experience it, I think that that thick fog might have been methane, as from what I hear it forms white or yellow clouds in some drains (particularly sanitary). I'm fairly sure that rats can survive in low-o2 environments, and roaches in nearly o2-free environments. Cool find!
If you want to protect the locations you love to explore, don't talk about them online in public!
If you want to make exploring friends, send people private messages! Meet up in real life! Get off the internet!
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Ram23
Location: Cincinnati, OH and/or Queens, NY
Gender: Male
| | | | Re: Grand Rapids, MI Drain and Possible Sewer Connection
<Reply # 3 on 6/26/2008 4:21 AM >
| | | | I agree with the above posters, this looks like a combined sewer overflow; it's fairly popular in older cities or at least older parts of some cities.
As for cockroaches.. I have run into crowds of them a few times, I've killed a few in my apartments from time to time, but they still scare the crap out of me.
I've hunted and killed large animals, yet I run away from cockroaches like a little patsy. Even your photo will make it difficult for me to sleep tonight without imagining the things sneaking around in the dark.
Cincinnati UE Photos: http://zfein.com/photography |
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micro
  
Gender: Male
Slowly I turned
| | Re: Grand Rapids, MI Drain and Possible Sewer Connection
<Reply # 4 on 6/26/2008 4:38 AM >
| | | | The fog you see is just because of the humidity and has nothing to do with methane of H2S or anything like that. Sewers (especially larger ones) tend to be a bit warmer and muggier than storm drains mostly because a lot of the water's coming from showers, dishwashers, laundry machines, etc. Bodily waste only accounts for a small percentage of the flow. Maybe 5% or so. Because of that, you're unlikely to see much that resembles shit because it gets broken down so much over the course of its journey from the toilet to the sewer.
And now you know.
Cool photos and write-up though. Looking forward to seeing more.
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pcnate
Location: Michigan
Gender: Male
mmmmmm... manhole...
| | | Re: Grand Rapids, MI Drain and Possible Sewer Connection
<Reply # 6 on 6/27/2008 12:56 AM >
| | | | Thanks so much for the comments and valuable information! The storm drain section is perhaps around six feet at the tallest part of the oval. The sewer section was at most perhaps four, 4 1/2 feet... quite cramped... it would be slow to move through for any distance.
http://pcnateue.fortunecity.com |
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Ram23
Location: Cincinnati, OH and/or Queens, NY
Gender: Male
| | | | Re: Grand Rapids, MI Drain and Possible Sewer Connection
<Reply # 7 on 6/27/2008 2:54 AM >
| | | | To add to micro's comment, it's true that the cloud is probably just water vapor, nothing dangerous. It's also probably good to take note that most of what is in a sanitary sewer actually comes from industrial uses (depending on your area of course) and could be a bit more risky than, say, a suburban sewer. However, remember that for the average home almost HALF of all water down the drain comes from toilets.
Cincinnati UE Photos: http://zfein.com/photography |
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Freak
Location: Usually Alaska, now MSP.
Gender: Male
Hypocrite
| | | Re: Grand Rapids, MI Drain and Possible Sewer Connection
<Reply # 8 on 7/3/2008 1:32 AM >
| | | | Looks like a nice system, I like the shapes. I've run into a few sewers that were low-oxygen, it's really hard to tell without a gas meter or watching people turn funny colors and hyperventilate. If the sewer is pretty close to the surface and has a lot of manholes or connections to drains like that, the air is probably OK (plenty of circulation), but if you reach a section that's relatively airtight and/or has stagnant rotting matter, the air can get bad fast.
Turn off the internet and go play outside.
http://spamusement...hp/comics/view/137 |
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David_Random
Location: Denver CO
Gender: Male
| | | Re: Grand Rapids, MI Drain and Possible Sewer Connection
<Reply # 9 on 8/17/2008 6:54 AM >
| | | | I've passed that tunnel opening a couple times but never got around to exploring it, thanks for doing the hard work for me lol.
if your interested in another tunnel entrance, there is a huge one in the wall next to the bridge st. bridge. on the opposite side from where the tunnel is there is a ladder going down to the platform under the bridge, it's a pretty big platform, once down there you can get into the tunnel, I've been in it once but only traveled a bout an 8th mile in, it looked to go on forever though.
but be careful exiting the tunnel, it's a little slippery, one of my friends slipped and fell into the grand river on the way out
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David_Random
Location: Denver CO
Gender: Male
| | | Re: Grand Rapids, MI Drain and Possible Sewer Connection
<Reply # 10 on 8/17/2008 6:56 AM >
| | | | p.s. have you ever gotten into the tunnel system that starts in highland park ?
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