Resource 7

Working in the sewers ¹

It takes about 5 years to fully train someone to work in the deep sewers of Melbourne. It is a complicated job, requiring a whole range of skills from engineering to gardening. Gardening comes in handy when lawns have to be relaid and fences rebuilt after digging up sewer pipes.

Working in the deep sewers is also a very dangerous job if you are not properly trained. Poisonous and explosive gases can build up in the pipes, they are slippery, and you can be knocked off your feet by tangles of rags or swept away by the fast currents. There are used syringes, snakes in summer and heaps of red-back spiders all the time. You might expect that there would be lots of rats in the sewers, but sewer inspectors seldom see them.

What does a Deep Sewer Inspector do?
Underground surveillance cameras can surprise and be surprised!
Underground surveillance cameras can surprise and be surprised!

David Kelly worked for many years a Senior Deep Sewer Inspector with Melbourne Water. When David goes into the sewers he always carries his SR45 breathing apparatus. The SR stands for self-rescue and he has 45 minutes of oxygen supply. David and his crew carry a gas meter, which measures the amount of oxygen and dangerous gases in the sewer. If the gas meter alarm goes off, the work crew put on their SR45s and leave by the nearest access hole. Usually the least experienced in the work crew climbs the ladder first.

On his inspections, David wears waders, a buoyancy vest and a safety helmet with a lamp. Sometimes he even uses an aluminium boat, but the boat has to be pushed because any sparks from an outboard motor could cause explosions. Because sewers are dangerous places, David never goes into sewers on his own but is always accompanied by his fellow workers.

One day, he was working in the deep sewers when his friend Billy was knocked off his feet by a fast-moving tangle of rags. As he was swept away, Billy grabbed onto David's arm. 'Help!' he yelled. 'OK', said David, 'but no more Irish jokes!' (David originally came from Limerick in Ireland.)

When sewers that are too small to enter have to be examined, David and his fellow workers use an underground surveillance camera. This is mounted on a small electrically powered buggy which David can control from the surface. The camera runs up the pipe, its head swivelling from side to side, looking up each of the small connecting sewers in turn. David can see what is happening on a TV screen and record the inspection on video or take still photographs. On one inspection he was surprised to see the face of a rat appear on the screen. 'It must have been curious to see who the stranger was in its territory!' he said.

Task

This task is called SRREP. During it you will:

  1. Skim the article above. Take 20 seconds. You cannot read everything, so look for clues, such as photographs, keywords and the language used.
  2. Describe what the article is about in fewer than five words.
  3. Now reread the article. Read it more carefully this time. Try to describe each paragraph with a word or short phrase. Write these in your book.
  4. Reread each important paragraph again. This time write a sentence which sums up each paragraph. Together, these sentences will be your draft summary.
  5. Now you can evaluate your work. Discuss and compare with your partner.
  6. Was this article easy to read?
  7. Does your summary cover all of the important parts in the article?
  8. Can you make any conclusions from this article?
  9. Organise your information and write a good copy.

¹ Based on an activity from: Keith McTaggart and Paul Saddler 1993, Flushing Dunnies, Melbourne Water and Science Teachers Association of Victoria.