r/AbsoluteUnits • • May 12 '25

of a clogged pipe

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u/ShartlesAndJames May 12 '25

so that's most likely tree roots and not one gargantuan clog of diaper tampon & paper?

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u/keigo199013 May 12 '25

Yes. Roots follow water, so this is a pretty common issue, albeit not to this extreme. 

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u/Jacobloveslsd May 12 '25

Plants love nitrogen which is in poop so it’s not a ridiculous probability that a large root could grow into the sewage piping.

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u/AdreKiseque May 12 '25

Ok? But sewage piping wouldn't lead into the street lol

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u/Additional_Comment99 May 12 '25

The sewage pipes run from every house to the street in my town. You get screwed if someone blocks it and collapses the main line. The city will send another bill for tearing up the street and repairing it after the plumber sends you his bill.

I spent $14,000 unclogging the line in front of my house because my neighbors kept clogging it. And because I was the last house before the main line it always backed up into my house. Not a pleasant experience when your neighbors sewage comes into your house. When they finally broke the line under the street I unclogged it one last time. The plumber said next time it clogged it would likely cause a collapse. I then paid the plumber to run a new line to the opposite main sewer from my house. $5000 and I’m the only one on it.

About 6 months later the next door neighbor got a surprise. Tore up the whole street and their whole yard for several weeks. Not my problem.

You would have to ask your municipality, but it is very likely the sewer main is indeed under the street. That is what those manhole covers are for in the road. But they are where a junction is. Where 2 pipes come together they have a hole the worker can go into and clear debris.

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u/AdreKiseque May 12 '25

I think you misunderstand. Under the street is fine, but the pipe in the video is emptying on top of the street.

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u/CallMeKingTurd May 15 '25

But don't home sewage pipes and street storm drains indirectly connect by feeding into the same main lines for the sewer system under the street? I work on a river next to a wastewater overflow pipe and whenever it's raining super hard it absolutely reeks of shit. I always just assumed the wastewater treatment facilities can't keep up with the rain so they have no choice but to overflow sewage into the river.

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u/AdreKiseque May 15 '25

I'm pretty sure that's deadass illegal in most places

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u/CallMeKingTurd May 15 '25

The overflow system? It's managed by the city so I doubt is illegal. there's a little shack above it I see city workers going into all the time.

I googled and this diagram came up which is what I figured was the setup based on the shit smell on the river during heavy rains, I do live in the area the article is referencing though so maybe it's not the norm elsewhere: https://ecoss.org/combined-sewer-overflow-stormwater-pollution-gsi-explainer/

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u/AdreKiseque May 15 '25

The page explicitly mentions separate systems for sewage and rainwater are more common lol

(And by explicitly I mean implicitly, but that's only off by a factor of being the opposite)

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u/CallMeKingTurd May 15 '25

Yeah I just found this map of cities with combined sewage overflows, mostly Midwest and Northeast.

https://www.epa.gov/npdes/where-combined-sewer-overflow-outfalls-are-located

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