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 Glass
       
Location: Chicago
as one does
 |  |  | Twin Cities Sewer Article
< on 6/9/2009 1:35 AM >
|  | | | http://www.twincit...460?nclick_check=1
Name: Cindy O'Sell
Job: Sewer cop
Age: 37
Job description: Monitoring 600 miles of sewers
Working conditions: Dark, wet, filthy, with cockroaches the size of oranges, 16-inch rats, deadly gases and the worst smells in the world
Mission: Guarding the environment from the sewage of 2.6 million people
If Cindy O'Sell's job file truly were complete, it also would include this item: one of the best friends the Mississippi River has.
Dabblers in the green movement recycle cans or turn down their thermostats. O'Sell is a deeper shade of green — a professional pollution-buster.
She and other sewer cops are the reason the flushings, rinsings and drainings of millions can be made cleaner than the river itself — before being released.
This spring, O'Sell and crews from the Metropolitan Council are checking hundreds of miles of the putrid labyrinth beneath the Twin Cities, looking for trouble.
Poop? No problem. Cockroaches and rats? Fine.
Cyanide and mercury? Yikes!
Late last month, O'Sell checked on sewage seeping from a produce plant in St. Paul.
"You know," she said, smiling as she kicked a manhole cover back into place, "I really love my job."
But don't the smells bother her?
"Very much so," she said grimly.
WASTE TECHNICIANS
Sewer cops — they prefer the term "waste technicians" — sometimes talk about "clean sewage."
It sounds impossible, like silent noise or dark sunlight. But from the perspective of the Met Council, the feces and urine in domestic sewage are not problems.
They are, essentially, natural materials that can be handled by sewage treatment plants.
To O'Sell, "clean sewage" is free of chemicals and toxic metals, which most often come from industries and businesses.
Spokesman Tim O'Donnell said the Met Council monitors 600 miles of sewer lines — in addition to the 5,000 miles of pipe operated by the 105 cities in the metro area. The grand total is roughly the equivalent of a pipe from here to Rio de Janeiro.
The agency licenses 600 businesses with hookups to sewers in the Twin Cities. Licenses may permit a small amount of a pollutant in the sewage systems at certain times of the year.
For example, a produce wholesaler will wash dirt off vegetables and sanitize the plant — which puts dirt, soap and chemicals down the drain. Or an electroplating business will produce a toxic brew of lead, chromium, cadmium, copper, zinc and nickel.
Sometimes, the Met Council spots pollution at one of its seven treatment plants. Then it begins detective work.
They might notice changes in sewage color and track down a printing plant that has
Met Council Industrial Waste Technicians Don Winkler (L) and Cindy O'Sell raise an ISCO Automatic Sampler device from its spot in the sewage flow of a city sewer on Pine Street in St Paul Wednesday morning May 27, 2009. The device samples for strength levels of pollutants eminating from a company or companies in the area. (PIONEER PRESS: JOHN DOMAN)
discharged blue ink.
"We sometimes find oil in the water in one of our pumping stations," said Leo Hermes, manager of the Met Council's industrial waste and pollution prevention section. "Then we know something is wrong upstream."
Contrary to Hollywood scripts, big companies usually are not a problem. "They cooperate with us, not work against us," O'Donnell said.
Most of the monitoring is done at the source. Crews check sewage coming out of licensed polluters regularly.
Or they get proactive. In 2003, they persuaded dentists to limit the source of a serious pollutant — mercury from dental fillings. Overall, the Met Council has slashed heavy metals in sewage by 90 percent since 1980.
"People don't realize what an impact there has been. It is extremely dramatic," Hermes said.
STENCH — AND BEAUTY
Outside Northwest Fruit Co. in St. Paul, O'Sell pries open the manhole cover with a shovel, then lifts it with a pry bar.
Below is a shaft 12 feet deep, with a little water trickling in a trough below.
O'Sell and co-worker Don Winkler lift out a pod that looks like a cousin of R2D2 from "Star Wars." They put it on the pavement.
The machine slurps up sewage every 15 minutes, putting four samples into each of 24 test tubes over a 24-hour period, to be analyzed later for pollutants.
The gizmo is connected to a wire that measures acidity. That isn't a pollution problem, but acids can eat away at sewer pipes.
"It's 6.68," O'Sell says.
"That's good. Seven is neutral," Winkler says.
She reaches down and swings the pole to get the monitors in the right spot — right in the trough. They put the pod back, so it hangs on a rung of a ladder, and drag the manhole cover back into place.
Then, before their next stop, they pause to reminisce about life in the sewers.
"I have seen rats as big as cats," Winkler said.
O'Sell has seen plenty of those, but says "the coolest are the cockroaches." When she opens manhole covers in downtown Minneapolis, she said, she hears them scuttling away.
Then there is the matter of breathing. Sewers are notorious for noxious gasses. The most common is hydrogen sulfide, common sewer gas.
There also is carbon monoxide, the odorless killer. Flammable gases such as methane can collect, and the air must be tested constantly for lack of oxygen.
A scary moment, O'Sell said, is when she is deep underground and the air monitor starts beeping — a sign of bad air.
The most surprising thing they have found?
Beauty.
St. Paul's oldest sewer tunnels were built in the 1870s. Some of them are 15 feet tall, with arched ceilings — underground hallways lined with tiles of granite.
The worst smells, she said, are from sewers by hospitals; she isn't sure why.
The most surprising smells?
Sewer cops become accustomed to the foulest odors imaginable. Stinky becomes normal.
But when they check the sewers under plants making Softsoap or Aveda products, it smells — ewwwww! — good enough to wash your hair in. It just doesn't seem right.
Working on a team of environmental watchdogs keeps her morale high.
"The people I work with (at the Met Council) are nice," she said. Despite the stink, slime, animals and germs, she said, "It's a wonderful place to work."
Bob Shaw can be reached at 651-228-5433.
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DJ Craig
  
Moderator
Location: Johnson City, TN
Gender: Male
Break the Silence
| |  | | Re: Twin Cities Sewer Article
<Reply # 1 on 6/9/2009 7:19 PM >
| | | | Wow. Fascinating article. I'd love to job shadow her for a day or two! I'm surprised that she doesn't use or at least carry a SCBA.
Reminds me of something from the show Dirty Jobs.
"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go..." -Dr. Suess |
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whistlebait
 
This member has been banned. See the banlist for more information.
Location: Cincinnati, OH
Gender: Female
"There is no top. There are always further heights to reach."
| |  | Re: Twin Cities Sewer Article
<Reply # 2 on 6/9/2009 7:20 PM >
| | | | Cindy O'S(m)ell? 
"I occasionally play works by contemporary composers for two reasons. First to discourage the composer from writing any more and secondly to remind myself how much I appreciate Beethoven."
-Jascha Heifetz
-Little known fact, Serious Cat is the enforcer of Ceiling Cat |
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Glass
Location: Chicago
as one does
| | | Re: Twin Cities Sewer Article
<Reply # 4 on 6/9/2009 9:55 PM >
| | | | She could put you under citizen's arrest, if she could catch you, which she couldn't. That is to say, she is a 'sewer cop' only so far as maintaining pollution laws and so on. She's not busting drunk drivers or trespassers from the safety of a manhole.
[last edit 6/9/2009 9:56 PM by Glass - edited 1 times]
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EatsTooMuchJam
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Gender: Male
Squirty "Stickybuns" von Cherrypants
| |  |  | | | Re: Twin Cities Sewer Article
<Reply # 6 on 6/9/2009 10:41 PM >
| | | | 15 feet tall with granite? Hmm. I'm not sure I've sen that one...
"The large print giveth and the small print taketh away."
-Tom Waits |
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TCdrainer
Location: ur moms house
Gender: Male
| | Re: Twin Cities Sewer Article
<Reply # 7 on 6/9/2009 11:10 PM >
| | | | Posted by shotgun_mario
if she's a 'sewer cop', I wonder if she could arrest anyone she ran into that shouldn't be down there...
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PM sent.
"Reality is an illusion created by a lack of alcohol." |
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Krenta
Location: Saint Paul, MN
Nope, wasn't me.
| | Re: Twin Cities Sewer Article
<Reply # 8 on 6/10/2009 8:43 PM >
| | | | Posted by shotgun_mario
isn't a citizens arrest applicable only for a felony?
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No. In Minnesota, basically, you can perform a citizens arrest for any offense you yourself directly witness, misdemeanor or felony (this is how security guards are able to "arrest" for things like trespass or petty theft), and you can perform a citizens arrest where you have reasonable cause to believe a felony has been committed, but not in your presence. (Most of the time, you can't legally perform a citizens arrest for a misdemeanor not committed in your presence.) There are a few exceptions to this, one of which is the "deputization" clause - if a peace officer instructs you to arrest someone, you can do so, regardless of whether the cause is a misdemeanor or felony, or whether you witnessed it. (You can't actually be deputized in MN, but if you see someone running from the police, and the officers shout something like "stop him!", it's, legally speaking, game on, if you happen to be a track star who likes making flying tackles, or something.)
For what it's worth, I suspect that if the "sewer cop" met you in a sewer, all she'd do is strike up a conversation about... sewers. Unless you're holding a hatchet, covered in blood, and going all horror-movie on somebody's corpse, anyway.
Have Speed Graphic, Will Travel. |
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AnAppleSnail
Location: Charlotte, NC
Gender: Male
ALL the flashlights!
| | | | Re: Twin Cities Sewer Article
<Reply # 9 on 6/10/2009 11:22 PM >
| | | | Posted by Krenta
For what it's worth, I suspect that if the "sewer cop" met you in a sewer, all she'd do is strike up a conversation about... sewers. Unless you're holding a hatchet, covered in blood, and going all horror-movie on somebody's corpse, anyway.
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Just once I'd like to encounter another explorer in a drain. I guess Raleigh isn't conducive to that, though - or maybe I just don't spend enough hours in them! And that would be an interesting conversation to have...
Achievement Unlocked
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Gatsby
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Gender: Male
Like all UER people, I've only explored your mom.
| | Re: Twin Cities Sewer Article
<Reply # 10 on 6/11/2009 2:32 PM >
| | | | Shit, I wasn't aware of a female sewer worker around here who spent so much time in the sewer! That's awesome! I'd like to spend some time with her and ask questions/be asked questions.
Side note, I'd like to ask questions/be asked question by any sewer worker around here.
FUN!
I only listen to 104.7 Poop. I'm always in deep shit, so I may as well listen to poop. |
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siologen
Location: Melbourne, Australia.
I Go Where The Drains Are
| | | Re: Twin Cities Sewer Article
<Reply # 11 on 6/11/2009 4:07 PM >
| | | | Posted by Krenta
No. In Minnesota, basically, you can perform a citizens arrest for any offense you yourself directly witness, misdemeanor or felony (this is how security guards are able to "arrest" for things like trespass or petty theft), and you can perform a citizens arrest where you have reasonable cause to believe a felony has been committed, but not in your presence. (Most of the time, you can't legally perform a citizens arrest for a misdemeanor not committed in your presence.) There are a few exceptions to this, one of which is the "deputization" clause - if a peace officer instructs you to arrest someone, you can do so, regardless of whether the cause is a misdemeanor or felony, or whether you witnessed it. (You can't actually be deputized in MN, but if you see someone running from the police, and the officers shout something like "stop him!", it's, legally speaking, game on, if you happen to be a track star who likes making flying tackles, or something.)
For what it's worth, I suspect that if the "sewer cop" met you in a sewer, all she'd do is strike up a conversation about... sewers. Unless you're holding a hatchet, covered in blood, and going all horror-movie on somebody's corpse, anyway.
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Getting sliiightly offtopic, but, ive never understood how a citizen could arrest someone, without the nearby presence of a lol, 'peace officer' as the cops are called... if a private citizen physically detains you, are you not allowed to press charges for assault? Sure, you can't tell the cops to 'go get fucked' but surely you could do so to yer average Joe Bloggs. Stuff like this doesnt stand in Australia or Europe, n ive always wondered about it...
Big Drayyynes!
http://siologen.livejournal.com Blog |
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Krenta
Location: Saint Paul, MN
Nope, wasn't me.
| | Re: Twin Cities Sewer Article
<Reply # 12 on 6/11/2009 9:45 PM >
| | | | Posted by Gatsby
Side note, I'd like to ask questions/be asked question by any sewer worker around here.
FUN!
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The men and women down at St Paul Public Works are mighty pleasant, and most of the folks who deal with sewers are all too happy to talk to people with an interest in their profession. Oh, and the various folks who deal with groundwater/wastewater issues at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency are also extremely friendly, as well. They aren't going to give up any great secrets about how to get into places and so on, but a lot of them really like what they do, and are really happy to encounter new victims to share their favorite stories and anecdotes with. 
Minneapolis is a whole other story, and as always, YMMV...
Posted by siologen
Getting sliiightly offtopic, but, ive never understood how a citizen could arrest someone, without the nearby presence of a lol, 'peace officer' as the cops are called... if a private citizen physically detains you, are you not allowed to press charges for assault? Sure, you can't tell the cops to 'go get fucked' but surely you could do so to yer average Joe Bloggs. Stuff like this doesnt stand in Australia or Europe, n ive always wondered about it...
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Yes, but, to be fair, have you looked at how fucked the justice system in the UK and elsewhere in Europe is?
In the US, if a private citizen detains you, you can press charges for assault, or "unlawful detention". We're lawsuit-happy here; you can sue for anything, if you so choose. The catch is that if the person doing the arresting had "reasonable belief" - though the standard of proof varies between states, I believe - that you were committing an offense, they have legal immunity, and your lawsuit gets dismissed fairly promptly. Don't despair; you can still file a civil suit for emotional distress or some crap like that, though. And, at least in Minnesota, you are allowed to use "reasonable" force in the course of making a citizen's arrest.
By the way, in some states - I don't think Minnesota is one of them, but I might be wrong - you can be charged with "resisting arrest" for non-cooperation with a civilian performing a citizens arrest, but that's the extent of it. (No "obstruction of justice" or "assaulting a peace officer", for example.) You can still very much be charged with assault or even aggravated assault, of course.
I'm not sure how it is in other states, but in Minnesota, the powers of "citizens arrest" are pretty much limited to detention only, and you must turn the arrestee over to the authorities as promptly as possible. (The case law is evidently quite convoluted, but apparently there is some precedent that failing to turn an arrestee over to the authorities voids the legal legitimacy of the arrest. This is why the police get called to all kinds of penny-ante shoplifting offenses - nobody's going to press charges over a $1 candy bar, and you don't need the police to issue someone a no trespassing order - but if you don't turn the shoplifter over to the police, even as a formality, you may be "unlawfully detaining" or even "kidnapping" said shoplifter, which tends to be frowned upon...)
I should point out that except for security guards, the actual use of citizens arrest here in the States is exceedingly uncommon. Just because you can, doesn't mean anyone actually does - and the general consensus among peace officers is that you shouldn't, either. Too many people with knives, guns, or other weapons, and who aren't afraid to use them, and the odds of a lawsuit, however frivolous, are just too high.
Have Speed Graphic, Will Travel. |
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Krenta
Location: Saint Paul, MN
Nope, wasn't me.
| | Re: Twin Cities Sewer Article
<Reply # 13 on 7/2/2009 5:35 PM >
| | | | Nevermind that this is the midwest section, since this is a Canadian website, for anyone who might care, the CBC in Toronto recently aired a program on citizens' arrests, Canadian style. The link is a small podcast MP3 of the program...
Have Speed Graphic, Will Travel. |
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ToXiC
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Gender: Male
Original Jackassary.
| |  | | | Re: Twin Cities Sewer Article
<Reply # 14 on 7/3/2009 8:15 PM >
| | | |
YAAA FTW!!!
[last edit 7/3/2009 8:16 PM by ToXiC - edited 1 times]
Savage Hooligan |
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pNINJAz
Location: St. Paul MN
Gender: Male
Momento Mori
| |  | | Re: Twin Cities Sewer Article
<Reply # 15 on 9/10/2009 4:08 AM >
| | | | you know, just the other day i ran into a group of explorers in the Labyrinth. you can imagine the suprise of getting beamed by a headlamp. at first i hid, but when i realized it wasnt a cop, i came out to see just who it was. we had a chat. She spoke of a meeting for newbies going on this week. If only i knew where this was.
Nevertheless, i can only think of one scarier thing thats happened to me while exploring.
Wherever you go, go with all your heart. |
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