Question - Yellow Slime, UK Nov18

[tallginge]

It's got three legs innit .......i'm not going near that bag or any of my kit until i'm feeling better......

 

[Ojay]

It's got three legs innit .......i'm not going near that bag or any of my kit until i'm feeling better......

Your turn for the arse s00p, I swear that place was out to get us

 

[tallginge]

Quite likely - i'll report back in the morning Yeah it got us alright - about four times, we joked about taking a brolly didn't we?

 

[Relay]

It's got three legs innit .......i'm not going near that bag or any of my kit until i'm feeling better......

You been in sewers and feeling unwell? I think there’s a serious health risk the community need to acknowledge.

But this is my last post on the matter.

There was an article I read about biofilms and there is approx 20nm layer in all drains. Everywhere.

Gonna read these posts shared on the previous page. Sorry guys; I think contamination and cross contamination is a part of the community ... at least keep this post till I’m done reading these articles.

Tallgimge, if you’re ill get checked out before your bacteria/ etc build biofilm matrix.

 

[tarkovsky]

hmmm......

Marital status: ‘Married to the drain’

Re: TG’s tripod bag, it’s been incubating something for a while.

 

[tallginge]

You been in sewers and feeling unwell? I think there’s a serious health risk the community need to acknowledge.

But this is my last post on the matter.

There was an article I read about biofilms and there is approx 20nm layer in all drains. Everywhere.

Gonna read these posts shared on the previous page. Sorry guys; I think contamination and cross contamination is a part of the community ... at least keep this post till I’m done reading these articles.

Tallgimge, if you’re ill get checked out before your bacteria/ etc build biofilm matrix.

Thanks for you're concern, pal, i'm pleased to confirm i'm feeling fine and a lot better than yesterday. Ojay will soon elaborate further on where we've been and what conditions were like, etc. Lets just say they're not all like that one. Despite my bag being 'a bit mucky' I take all reasonable precautions to keep it and other detritus covered equipment out of my mouth, I now wear a mask if it'll be steamy and I always wear gloves. Them ladders and handrails have more than a 20nm layer on them. And this thread isn't going anywhere.....

This is the quote I was looking for. Can't say it's wholly accurate but you get the idea

"Strange to say," the journalist Henry Mayhew wrote of them, "the sewer-hunters are strong, robust and healthy men, generally florid in their complexion, [mostly] between 60 and 80 years of age, who have followed the employment during their whole lives. The men appear to have a fixed belief that the odour of the sewers contributes in a variety of ways to their general health."

 

[Relay]

All I’m saying is; whatever pathogens end up in storm drains, sewers and CSOs, given the right sources of nourishment will survive.

Some of these sewers were built as plague relief.

Some of these pathogens never see light, who here knows whether light would cause biofilms to spore?

All it takes is one cell to build a colony and these yellow slimes; These ones v - I struggle to believe are spraycrete.

Be safe people -‘d don’t just throw your clothes into your mums washing pile. In fact, don’t go in sewers at all.

(Copyrights owned by The Vicar, 28dayslater)

 

[pastybarm]

I would say that is iron ore/mineral deposits ma'self, not sewage, but I may well be wrong mind.

 

[tallginge]

Mate, i was polite last time.

Who here knows whether light causes biofilms to spore? I doubt anyone on an exploring forum will.

Who here has heard of the fleet plague relief? I'm also doubtful.

Who here gets there mum to wash their clothes? Very few in the draining community

Who in the draining community is going to listen to someone who hasn't been in drains telling them not to? No-one!

 

[Ojay]

^ Well I can't really disagree with Ginge with that lot.

The "stuff" you keep referring to is largely calcite and other mineral deposits within these systems that have seeped through over the decades, many of the sewers & culverts you see featured on here are over a hundred years old!

It goes without saying there is potentially harmful stuff in these systems, however with the correct PPE (which I certainly use) and a full scrub down afterwards for good measure it isn't really an issue.

Don't forget people have been working in/maintaining this infrastructure since the 1700's

 

[Relay]

...a brief history of the Great Stink when around 40,000 just in London died of cholera will attain you that knowledge... you lot are the sewer historians.

The thames sewerage systems were rebuilt to relieve the River < the people.

I hope you know what you’re wading through and breathing and that you all leave all the nasty stuff in there.


I can do politer passive aggression. Rather not. I had an inkling these things you all suggest may have been what these build ups are but I’m finding it hard to accept; I’m sure it would make for interesting scientific documentation... maybe some of you know how you could make something of that of your explorations.

 

[Relay]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Anyway; just take it with a pinch of precaution. PPE is probably a good idea: containment of changing out of PPE clothing like the workers do or did.

I’m just tryna have your backs > get some information I’ve been meaning to find.


This thread is intended in good interest. Actually; thanks to the people who have documented these infrastructures: the photos are horrifying and captivating.

I’ll hope for all of your safety

 

[pastybarm]

the photos are horrifying

Why do you find them horrifying? There are pics of CSO's/sewer overflows in the north west much worse than these. With all the mineral deposits on the sides, they just look like culverts/drains to me......wear the right stuff, wellies, gloves, and if you are really paranoid, protective eye goggles, hot shower after and you will be fine.

 

[tallginge]

Well I'm glad you appreciate the importance of sewers. Yeah cholera was terrible and to think that for so long everyone truly believed in the miasma theory - ie bad smells! What amazes me and I'm sure i don't just speak for myself, is that the victorians could devise a way of integrating what was once natural rivers (albeit then full of shite) with an intercepting system that ultimately beat cholera. It was these 'lost rivers' that got sparked my initial interest and tbh was all i thought I'd do. They then lead to other things like storm reliefs and sewers (see ojays recent report) and you start to get the bigger picture of how they cope when it fucks it down with rain as well. Combine that along with plotting their current route, their old route, where/ why/ how they changed, the photography side of things and draining becomes a good thing to get into. Most of this stuff is 150 years old at least and pristine - trust me they don't build 'em like that now - its done fast, cheap and 'safely' and of less interest, personally. It is nice that folk hope for our safety - so do I, when I hear a loud noise or a rat jumps out. Wearing suitable ppe in a sewer is kinda obvious. Thinking about where you change out of it, seems daft. Its shite not asbestos.

 

[pastybarm]

I am also fascinated by the history of victorian london, I like Sherlock Holmes and books like that, so I often wonder what it was like way back then. I will give you that, nothing like that is built now, the victorians were way ahead of their time, amazing brickwork that has stood the test of time. I agree thinking about where to change out of it, is a bit weird, should drainers bring a decon shower and towels and a full change of clothes with them,,,,...put them all in a bin liner and wash them all in bleach seperate from your wife or kids washing if you a married or family man, if you are a single bloke, just tip the lot into the machine or down the laundrette, even in a sewer it is diluted with rain water and run off from other water (streams and the like).