The big story
One city’s fight to solve its sewage problem with sensors
April 2021
In the city of South Bend, Indiana, wastewater from people’s kitchens, sinks, washing machines, and toilets flows through 35 neighborhood sewer lines. On good days, just before each line ends, a vertical throttle pipe diverts the sewage into an interceptor tube, which carries it to a treatment plant where solid pollutants and bacteria are filtered out.
As in many American cities, those pipes are combined with storm drains, which can fill rivers and lakes with toxic sludge when heavy rains or melted snow overwhelms them, endangering wildlife and drinking water supplies. But city officials have a plan to make its aging sewers significantly smarter. Read the full story.
—Andrew Zaleski
We can still have nice things
A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet 'em at me.)
+ These kind wildlife workers in Virginia really went above and beyond to look after an orphaned fox kit.
+ This version of Smells Like Teen Spirit is banging.
+ Techno, techno, techno! Why Berlin’s clubbing culture has been placed under Unesco protection.
+ Enjoy a bit of John Denver this morning, for no reason other than it’s a wonderful song.
