A River of Sewage
On another trip below the city, sewer worker Jeff Kwami showed me how the city's sewage is kept *flowing smoothly. We went down a manhole wearing plastic bodysuits, gloves, and tanks of air. Everything around us was wet and slippery, as we climbed carefully down 12 meters and then stopped on a narrow concrete step. In front of me was a fast-moving river of sewage nearly two meters wide. It smelled *awful. I asked Kwami, "What happens if you fall in and you're not attached to a rope?" He said if you didn't pull yourself out, you'd *drown in the sewage.