Manhole Covers

FROM THE PREFACE Wastewater collection systems are dynamic, not static. There is no single maintenance method, equipment, or technique that works best. Keeping an open mind, trying new techniques and technologies benefits sewer system operators. No two collection systems are alike. Maintenance staffing, skill levels, equipment, budgets, age and complexity of the system make each agency unique. However, collection systems do have many traits and problems in common. Based on inventory and analysis, problems are identified. Defects may then be prioritized, and corrective maintenance operations put into effect. Preventive maintenance techniques can be applied to all collection systems. Preventive maintenance is cost-effective; it strives to prevent problems from occurring rather than reacting to difficult situations and "putting out fires." This book examines problems shared by all agencies: roots, grease, deterioration, hydraulic inefficiencies and structural defects. New solutions to age-old problems are applied: TV inspection and video interpretation, rehabilitation analysis and trenchless technologies. Computerized maintenance management and GIS softwares are discussed. Jetting, line cleaning and exciting developments in nozzle technology are included. Roots and chemical root control foam, wastewater control and grease are major topics as well. Wastewater Collection System Maintenance shares insights drawn from operator experience, trial and error, successes and failures in the field, interviews and years of research and studies. A user-friendly rating and evaluation system is explained and applied to field conditions. Equipment operation and maintenance, and "tricks of the trade" are also discussed. As cities grow, new systems are extended upstream from older sewers. Many of these core drainage basins are now under capacity and in need of capital improvement projects. There are approximately 600,000 miles of sanitary sewers in the country. Nationwide, there exists a huge backlog of sewer pipes that need rehabilitation. Replacement would cost many billions of dollars. Maintenance operators are entrusted with the care and feeding of an aging sewer infrastructure.

They lie underfoot, embellished and gleaming. They seal off and provide entry to an underground world of conduits, water mains, power lines, and sewers. They appear by the thousands in our cities, but very few people ever look at them or think about them as art. At once completely ordinary and totally unexpected, manhole covers present an infinite variety of design in the commonplace as well as a record of defunct utility companies, forgotten business firms, and obsolete foundries. Manhole Covers documents this singular form of urban industrial art and its place in American culture. Mimi and Robert Melnick first revealed their obsession with street hardware twenty years ago in a remarkable little book called Manhole Covers of Los Angeles (1974). Printed in a small format and a limited edition, it quickly went out of print and is now a scarce collector's item. But that was just an introduction to their larger project, which has come to fruition in this book of 200 photographs and an extended narrative documenting manhole covers throughout the United States and discussing the history of their use, manufacture, and function. A subject that at first seems straightforward and commonplace becomes redolent and poetic in the Melnicks' hands, for their hieroglyphic reading of manhole covers reveals a chapter of urban history that can only be recovered from the logos and markings of these early disks. There are square lids, convex lids, perforated lids. And the older ones wear an astonishingly diverse range of anything-but-blank faces expressed in raised crosses, waffle grids, cut-out diamonds, radial stars, floral patterns, and honeycomb treads. The diversity of design corresponds to an equally diverse typology of form and function, as indicated by their evocative labels: handholes, vents, coalholes, grates, lampholes, storm drains, steam covers, meter lids, traffic buttons.

Septic systems for handling sewage have to be maintained but little information is available on the subject. This manual explains how they work, the potential problems that owners often encounter and how to repair them when they go awry.

The Doors? Jim Morrison was right. People are strange. Very, very strange. All the proof you need is found in Another Weird Year, a wacky jaunt into the depths of the weirdest, oddest, and most completely outlandish news stories that?strangely enough?are 100% true. After all, who in their right mind could make up this stuff?? A Chilean prisoner accused of murder escaped from jail to meet a few friends for drinks at a local bar. Later that night, he returned to the prison and demanded to be let back into his cell where he fell asleep.? Peter Holden of Washington, D.C. eats an average of two McDonald's meals a day and has eaten at 11,000 of the chain's 13,500 North American locations. On one 54-day business trip, he managed to visit 124 of the golden-arched restaurants.? A Chicago man was accused of killing his roommate after the pair got into a heated argument. The fight?which included weapons such as an ashtray, a pair of pliers, and a fire extinguisher?was over who had the bigger portion of chicken.This collection of items from news sources around the world has it all: accounts of botched crimes . . . crazy animal stories . . . tales of incredible luck (both good and bad) . . . and stories that feature just plain ol? fashioned stupidity.Those who follow the nightly news won?t want to miss the bizarre news delivered in Another Weird Year. It's the perfect book to keep you laughing on a long trip or when you just need to put the insanity of your own life into perspective.

Response and tactics for common calls, incl. carbon monoxide.