Sewage

NASA Satellite Captures Massive Wastewater Flow off California Coast

Turns out, NASA’s spectroscopic imaging tool, EMIT, can detect water pollution.

Health Natalia Mesa Jun 13

Alabama Neglected Black Residents’ Health by Ignoring Raw Sewage Crisis, DOJ Finds

"Residents have been exposed to raw sewage in their neighborhoods, their yards, their playgrounds, their schools and even inside their own homes."

Environmental Justice Molly Taft May 8

From E. Coli to Flesh-Eating Bacteria, Floodwaters Are a Health Nightmare

Floodwater often contains pollutants and pathogens that can sicken and kill people in the aftermath of a storm.

Earth Science Angely Mercado Oct 24

The Chesapeake Bay Is Awash in Drugs

Leaky sewage pipes in Baltimore are likely spilling thousands of doses of pharmaceutical drugs into the bay each year.

Conservation Dharna Noor Aug 18

17 Million Gallons of Raw Sewage Spills in Los Angeles

Health officials have closed beaches and are testing for bacteria before opening them back up to swimmers.

Conservation Molly Taft Jul 14

Nature Processes Millions of Tons of Our Poop Each Year Surprisingly Well

Humans have forced the Earth’s ecosystems to deal with a lot of crap, from deforestation and biodiversity loss to the climate crisis. Then, there’s our, um, literal crap, which a new study shows that the planet is surprisingly well-equipped to manage. The study, published in the journal One Earth on Friday, marks the first-ever global…

Conservation Dharna Noor Feb 19

Don’t Rinse the Beef

This week, a young woman posted a TikTok singing the praises of washing fat off some cooked ground beef. Cooked, ground beef. In a fine mesh strainer. Under the faucet. Exactly the way no one does. The video sent internet into an extremely dumb but infectious rage, wherein all of Twitter came to the defense…

Earther Dharna Noor Dec 18

Sewage Study Finds American Drug Use May Be Worse Than We Thought

Our sewage reveals a lot more about us than what we ate over the weekend. Scientists at Murray State University in Kentucky have been studying sewer water for the past few years, hoping to pinpoint the level of drug use within local communities. Their latest research, presented this week at the American Chemical Society’s annual…

Health Ed Cara Aug 21

The Museum of London Is Livestreaming a Chunk of Fatberg So You Can Watch It Morph

The Museum of London has added a hardened gob of sewage to its permanent collection to properly honor the festering abomination that has plagued the Victorian-era subterranean infrastructure in recent years. Last year, London’s “fatbergs” gained national attention when the enormous mounds of fat, diapers, condoms, feces, and wet wipes started clogging the city’s sewer…

Health Jennings Brown Aug 15

Irma Leaves Florida Streets Flooded With Raw Sewage

Before us humans drained it, South Florida was first and foremost a swamp. Infrastructure improvements went in to make it look the way it is today, with its sewers and drainage systems built to take water back to the ocean. But when Hurricane Irma made itself known last week, it brought back old memories of…

Tech News Ryan F. Mandelbaum Sep 15

A Colossal ‘Fatberg’ Clogging London’s Sewer Is Ten Times Bigger Than the Last One

A so-called “fatberg”—a tightly congealed mass of fat, wet wipes, diapers, and condoms—is blocking a section of London’s Victorian-era sewage network. It could take weeks for utility crews to remove the horrific mass, which, if not removed, could cause raw sewage to spill onto London’s streets. Such are the perils of maintaining an aging sewage…

Tech News George Dvorsky Sep 12

There’s Millions of Dollars Worth of Gold and Silver in Sewage

There’s gold in them thar sewers—and silver and platinum and copper, too. A study by Arizona State University (ASU) researchers estimates there is $13 million worth of precious elements in the sewage produced by a million-person city every year. Never think of sewage as stinky worthless waste again. The ASU study looked at sewage samples…

Tech News Sarah Zhang Jan 16

Philadelphia’s Newest Park Is Built on Top of a Sewage Overflow Tank

Venice Island, which officially opened this month in Philadelphia, has all the amenities you might expect from a nice city park—gardens, basketball court, amphitheater—but also something unexpected: a 4 million gallon sewage overflow tank. And you know what? A park built on top of the sewer is a very good thing. Like many old cities,…

Tech News Sarah Zhang Oct 17

Chicago Was Raised Over Four Feet in the 19th Century to Build Its Sewer

In the middle of the 19th century, Chicago embarked on a quest to literally lift itself out of the mud. Water couldn’t drain from the low-lying city, so its streets became impassable swamps. The most reasonable solution, Chicago decided, was just to raise the whole goddamn city by 4 to 14 feet. Unlike most other…

Tech News Sarah Zhang Oct 15

Hunting for Water Leaks in California’s Drought

California is wasting water, even when we don’t realize it. Our aging underground water pipelines—in some cases nearly a century old—invariably spring leaks, thousands of them that add up to 23 billion gallons a year in California alone. 23 billion gallons. That’s enough water to provide for 71,000 households for a year, lost to these…

Tech News Sarah Zhang Oct 8

Milwaukee Wants to Turn Foreclosed Homes Into Part of Its Sewer System

When it rains, it pours. It pours down streets, into sewers, and often right into people’s basements. What if we could flood the abandoned basements and spare the occupied ones? Milwaukee has a novel sewer solution that just might be a silver lining in the foreclosure crisis. In Milwaukee, reports Jenny Jones for Civil Engineering,…

Tech News Sarah Zhang Aug 27

Did A “Field of Human Excrement” By The White House Kill A President?

If you remember President William Henry Harrison from U.S. history class at all, then you probably remember him as the poor fellow who died from pneumonia a month after delivering his inaugural address in freezing rain. Except was it really pneumonia after all? A New York Times article suggests a different theory, and a cautionary…

Health Sarah Zhang Apr 2

Concrete-Dissolving Bacteria Are Destroying Our Nation’s Sewers

Underground in places nobody likes to look, bacteria are doing terrible things to our sewage pipes. The concrete pipes that carry our waste are literally dissolving away, forcing engineers into a messy, expensive battle against tiny microbes. “The veins of our cities are in serious trouble, and they’re in serious trouble because of corrosion, and…

Tech News Sarah Zhang Mar 28

Finally, a Way to Remove and Reuse Valuable Particles from Wastewater

When you flush the toilet, you’re sending a lot of bad stuff into the sewer. But what you might not realize is that you’re flushing away a lot of good stuff, too. That’s why a team of German scientists have developed a method for recovering those valuable particles. Specifically, researchers found a way to remove…

Tech News Adam Clark Estes Mar 24

An Inside Tour of San Francisco’s Sewage Treatment Plant

If you have ever been to San Francisco, then some part of you—or some former part of you—has almost certainly passed through the city’s Southeast Wastewater Treatment Plant. But, considering how utterly vital it is to the city, the wastewater plant is also very much invisible, tucked away in a neighborhood no tourist would have…

Tech News Sarah Zhang Mar 20

Sewage

NASA Satellite Captures Massive Wastewater Flow off California Coast

Alabama Neglected Black Residents’ Health by Ignoring Raw Sewage Crisis, DOJ Finds

From E. Coli to Flesh-Eating Bacteria, Floodwaters Are a Health Nightmare

The Chesapeake Bay Is Awash in Drugs

17 Million Gallons of Raw Sewage Spills in Los Angeles

Nature Processes Millions of Tons of Our Poop Each Year Surprisingly Well

Don’t Rinse the Beef

Sewage Study Finds American Drug Use May Be Worse Than We Thought

The Museum of London Is Livestreaming a Chunk of Fatberg So You Can Watch It Morph

Irma Leaves Florida Streets Flooded With Raw Sewage

A Colossal ‘Fatberg’ Clogging London’s Sewer Is Ten Times Bigger Than the Last One

There’s Millions of Dollars Worth of Gold and Silver in Sewage

Philadelphia’s Newest Park Is Built on Top of a Sewage Overflow Tank

Chicago Was Raised Over Four Feet in the 19th Century to Build Its Sewer

Hunting for Water Leaks in California’s Drought

Milwaukee Wants to Turn Foreclosed Homes Into Part of Its Sewer System

Did A “Field of Human Excrement” By The White House Kill A President?

Concrete-Dissolving Bacteria Are Destroying Our Nation’s Sewers

Finally, a Way to Remove and Reuse Valuable Particles from Wastewater

An Inside Tour of San Francisco’s Sewage Treatment Plant

Netflix Wants You to Stop Yelling at It About ‘Steel Ball Run’

Blueair Smart Air Purifier Returns at Record Low Just in Time for Spring Allergy Season (1,800 Sq Ft HEPASilent Air Cleaner)

How to Watch Artemis 2 Reach the Moon and Make Spaceflight History Today

Samsung’s 2026 The Frame Smart TV Launch Pushes 2025 Models to Their Lowest Prices on Amazon as Clearance Begins

Elijah Wood May Have Revealed the New Aragorn for ‘Hunt for Gollum’

Acemagic’s Windows 11 Pro Mini PC Drops to All-Time Low, With a Stackable Coupon for Even More Savings on Amazon

‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ Jumps to Big Opening Weekend

Artemis 2 Day 6: Follow the Mission With Our Live Updates 🔴

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

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