Tag Archive for: wastewater

the ballad of betty poop by steve anderson

h2o mp3: The Ballad of Betty Poop

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the ballad of betty poop by steve andersonJust when you thought Steve Anderson couldn’t top Dope in the Water and Fats Oils & Grease, along comes his newest awesome, original creation, The Ballad of Betty Poop, and we’re obviously thrilled to premiere it here!

Steve is a Water Resources Analyst at Clean Water Services in Portland, Oregon and has been known to whip out the guitar and play this educational number for visiting groups of schoolchildren. Not only do they get a great giggle out of it, but they learn something, too. Of course they do! Anyone who’s visited Thirsty in Suburbia for more than 5 seconds knows we’re BIG believers in the power of humor to engage and educate

Steve Anderson

So if you’d like to help kids (or adults) better understand water quality and how our wastewater systems work, spare them the earnest preachiness and Powerpoints. Instead play them this hysterical song following Betty Poop, Tom TP and G.I. Joe as they journey through the far-reaches of the wastewater system. You’ll make a much bigger impact, trust me!

Play the track

Lyrics: The Ballad of Betty Poop

Betty was a poop
Betty Poop was her name
Life in a bowl was kind of a drag
But Betty didn’t like to complain

TP Tom was toilet paper
He was Betty’s best friend
He wondered about the world outside
Where the sewer pipes came to an end

And then there was this G.I. Joe
He was just a plastic toy
He didn’t really belong in there
He was dropped there by a careless boy

Betty, Tom, and G.I. Joe
All shared the same improbable dream
To be outside and floating free
Upon a shimmering stream

Give it up, you toilet treasures!
It won’t happen ‘cuz it can’t
You’ll never make all the way to the river
Won’t make it past the treatment plant

There came a time when they had their chance
As a hand reached down to flush
The three of them started swirling around
They were headed down in a rush

But suddenly the water slowed down
It looked like they were out of luck
G.I. Joe was in a jam
He couldn’t move because he was stuck

Betty and Tom had made it out
They looked around for G.I. Joe
And then a plunger saved the day
Once again the water flowed

Give it up, you toilet treasures!
It won’t happen ‘cuz it can’t
You’ll never make it all the way to the river
Won’t make it past the treatment plant

The three of them, they had it rough
As they traveled down the sewer pipe
But they kept going, they wouldn’t give up
“Cuz you know they’re just not that type

When they made it to the treatment plant
They saw a bar screen – then they knew
Betty and Tom would pass on by
But Joe would never make it through

Now Joe was gone, and the water was calm
But the situation still was dire
TP Tom was sinking fast
To the bottom of a clarifier

Give it up, you toilet treasures!
It won’t happen ‘cuz it can’t
You’ll never make it all the way to the river
Won’t make it past the treatment plant

Betty made it to the aeration basin
So much smaller than she was before
Been through so much, but she didn’t know
There was still so much more in store

Air bubbles battered poor Betty
Until she melted right into the soup
That was the food for a billion bugs
Then there was no more Betty Poop

Now Betty and Tom aren’t totally gone
They have just settled down
They became part of the biomass
I guess they’re biosolid now

Give it up, you toilet treasures!
It won’t happen ‘cuz it can’t
You’ll never make it all the way to the river
Won’t make it past the treatment plant

Give it up, you toilet treasures!
It won’t happen ‘cuz it can’t
You’ll never make it all the way to the river
Won’t make it past the treatment plant
Won’t make it past the treatment plant
No, won’t make it past the treatment plant

Public Art and the Beauty of Sewage Treatment

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Most of us have a love-hate relationship with mandatory public art funding. Sometimes the results are seriously wonderful and sometimes they’re seriously silly…money well-spent, or money mis-spent.

Wooden walkway, mountains and outfall: Image of the San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution control plant by photographer-in-residence Robert Dawson (Robert Dawson via mercurynews.com)

This public art project in my view is seriously wonderful. Noted environmental photographer Robert Dawson has spent the past year as the “photographer-in-residence” at the San Jose/Santa Clara sewage treatment plant, a $65,000 project made possible by a city public art ordinance which sets aside 1% funding of selected capital improvement projects for public art.

This is a fantastic proposition as this plant, one of the largest such facilities in California, serves 1.5 million people who’d probably like to have a look at they’ve paid for, as well as what they will be paying for over the next couple decades as the facility embarks on a major 15-year renovation.

A strange conundrum for those who must convince the public to fund large water projects is the fact that most of the infrastructure is invisible to the public (until a pipe bursts). Out of sight, out of mind. Public art is a wonderful way to illustrate that there’s a lot more involved in this process after the dirty water goes down one’s drain.

Many believe that what’s needed to fix crumbling water infrastructure is more money and more engineering. For starters, I think we could use more artists.

Read more about this project and view more photos at mercurynews.com, via Aquafornia
See more of Robert Dawson’s portfolio, which includes the fantastic Global Water Project and Water in the West.

h2o mp3: Fats, Oils and Grease: Steve Anderson

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You loved Steve Anderson’s “Dope in the Water” mp3 and now he’s back with a followup! We’re pleased to present the worldwide premiere of “Fats, Oils and Grease”…written and performed by Steve and inspired by Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Call Me the Breeze.” I’ll bet this tune comes from the heart, because Steve is Read more

album cover art carney Music for Men Working

h2o mp3: The Song of the Sewer – Art Carney

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album cover art carney Music for Men WorkingToday we raise (or lower?) our glasses to the king of sewer workers, Ed Norton, as portrayed by Art Carney in the iconic fifties teevee classic The Honeymooners. The versatile Carney also recorded prolifically in the 1950s for Columbia Records, including the 1954 hit “The Song of the Sewer” sung in character as Norton.

Lyrics
Art Carney as Ed Norton, Sewer WorkerI work in the sewer,
It’s a very hard job.
You know they won’t hire
Just any old slob.
You don’t have to wear
A tie or a coat.
You just have to know
How to float.

Chorus:
We sing the song of the sewer
Of the sewer we sing this song.
Together we stand
With shovel in hand
To keep things rollin’ along.

I work down the manhole
With a guy named Bruce.
And we are in charge
Of all the refuse.
He lets me go first
While he holds the lid.
I’m telling you, sheesh…
What a sweet kid.
A funny thing happened
To Bruce yesterday.
The tide came along
He got carried away.
He come out in Jersey.
But it’s O.K. now.
Cause that’s where
He lives anyhow.
My father he worked
In the sewer Uptown.
I followed his footsteps
And worked my way down.
That’s how I began
In this here industry.
I just sort of fell into it.
Sheesh, lucky me.

Reverse Caption Contest: Wastewater Overflow!

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Not the usual “write a caption for this photo! Instead, let’s find a photo for this caption! I saw this headline yesterday on Water Technology Online and was immediately driven to pair it with a photo:

Equipment Malfunction Causes Wastewater Overflow

Equipment Malfunction Causes Wastewater Overflow

I think this is the perfect one! (Via blogs.momtourage.com)

Friday 5 UK Edition: Good Stuff You Missed This Week

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ONE: eBay Water Item of the Week:

A working water system…just perfect for tiny suburbia! This is a 1960s vintage toy sink, made by Casdon in the UK. Seller notes “The item is in very good condition and the box is OK but has lost one flap.” GBP 14.99

TWO: Weird Water News Item of the Week:

From UKPA: March 16, 2010: Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills has plumbed the depths with a torrent of filth – by trekking through a stinking sewer for a charity challenge.

The Radio 1 DJ was set the task of stomping through human waste in London’s Victorian sewer system for a mile by fellow radio host Chris Moyles.

Scott is being given a different “mile from hell” each day this week ahead of Sport Relief this weekend.

The afternoon presenter was kitted out with safety gear before descending underground with Thames Water’s chief sewer flusher Rob Smith, who has spent the last 20 years keeping London’s sewage moving. (screenshot from a hysterical video at bbc.co.uk/blogs)

THREE: Quotable Quote of the Week:

“That was one of the most bizarre two hours of my life – I’m sure I saw last night’s dinner floating past.”
Scott Mills, after his charity sewer trek.

FOUR: Water photo of the week:

Who Ya Gonna Call? by gazzat on Flickr (Taken in Budleigh Salterton, Devon, UK)

FIVE: Water Merch of the Week

Vintage Brit WWII propaganda on a modern Sigg water bottle, $28.00 from cafepress.com

Wild Recycling: Flush Away Cancer

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I’m always on the lookout for new ideas on how to recycle old toilets (like this and this) and “Flush Away Cancer” demonstrates wild and wonderful out-of-the-bowl thinking on creative loo reuse.

Traveling Toilet photo via www.wbng.com

Traveling Toilet photo via www.wbng.com

For the Tri-Town (New York) Relay for Life, one team has conceived the hysterical “Traveling Toilet.” to raise funds. For a $10 donation, the team will plant a brightly painted toilet on the lawn of your choice. The receiver of the “Traveling Toilet” either donates $10 to have it removed, or can send it to the next location of their choice for a $15 donation.

Sounds like a lot of fun, especially since all money benefits the American Cancer Society. And if you’re like me, you immediately began compiling a mental list of people that you WISH you could put on the receiving end!

Headlines that Make Me Say, “Huh?”

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South Haven officials, please get in touch. I believe I can help you unravel this perplexing mystery.

Which begs the question: are there environmental problems in heaven?

Lane County, how much of this is allocated for communications consultants? I know a good one and I’m pretty sure she can work within your budget.

As you might have noted by the image watermarks, all from failpost.com.

Austin, Beware of the Blob

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Austin Water Utility demonstrates that slimy, greasy, fatty subject matter can really get the creative juices flowing!  “Stop the Grease Blob” sounds like a band playing at Austin’s SXSW, but is actually a video from the city’s campaign to alert customers to the horrifying consequences of putting greases and fats down the drain. We love the screaming females and melodramatic music. Made me laugh (and snagged them an award.)

And if, like me, you imagine sewer blobs as more brownish and stinky-chunky, there’s also a campaign poster with a more surreal, scary-cute sewer savage. Repulsive, yet adorable!

Flush with the Success of Twitter

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Debugging the Twittering ToiletWow, Twitter is overloaded with crap! Seriously! One resourceful, twitter-hating hacker has conceived and built a toilet that tweets with every flush! (We previously blogged on a tweeting water meter here.)

Declaring it “more useful and relevant than just about everything else on twitter,” the inventor has posted detailed instructions in case you’d like to try it on your own. You can also follow the Web 2.0-water closet on Twitter (@hacklabtoilet) but it appears that “John” has been “down for repairs” since last summer. (Via an article on Huffington Post about High-Tech Toilets.)