What's That Infrastructure? (Ep. 4 - Subsurface Utilities)
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- Опубліковано 29 гру 2016
- You never know what's buried below your feet, but it could be infrastructure! Today's episode of WTI shows a number of subsurface utilities. Have a cool infrastructure photo? Send it in the Whats.That.Infrastructure@gmail.com. Have a great new year celebration! And, always call 811 (or your country's equivalent) before you dig. You never know what could be running below the ground!
THE COMMENTERS HAVE SPOKEN!
Blue pipes in Berlin - Drain groundwater from construction sites.
Intake screen in Belgium - Likely for a saltwater aquarium
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Music: Elexive - Valley Santa ( • Elexive - Valley Santa... )
The overground pipes in Berlin are used for pumping out construction sites, since the location in which the picture was taken is rather close to a river and Berlin has relatively high groundwater. They drain the water into the next river (you can actually see that in one of the pictures), but that can still mean that they go on for multiple city blocks. They are removed after the building can hold back the water by itself.
Although apparently they often don't get removed. Because there's so much building work going on in Berlin that they just get extended to the next building site. Which is why they're everywhere.
It's not just for construction. The simplest way to describe their multi-purpose use throughout the city is that they move the water from an unwanted area to a desired area. They are extremely mobile and often appear seemingly overnight.
I spotted those in Berlin recently and was scratching my head trying to figure out what they were for - I knew it had something to do with building sites and it was temporary - just didn't know about the high groundwater issue! Thanks for filling us in!
They are often used to transport/re-route water when there is construction.
I was about to post the same thing. Arte (German-French television channel) once had a short segment on this, in a show called Karambolage, I think.
always interesting and always learn something.
@Justme Asifyoudidntalreadyknow I was equally surprised.Two great channels for sure.
Honestly, the world needs to understand the infrastructure it takes for granted at some basic level in order to at least maintain it. Decaying infrastructure is becoming a huge problem in the United States and we need to start fixing it!
part of it comes from the fact that politicians love to build new infrastructure, they have fun opening ceremonies and ribon cutting photoshoots, but maintaining isn't as glamorous and politicians are really just the cliche popular kids from high school that never grew out of it. It is all about their own interests and popularity.
Kyle: That's interesting, because I don't see that too much in France, were we basically don't build anything new, but the roads are quite good, and electric and communication networks are mostly underground. When I went to Providence, RI, the mayor had an "investment plan" complete with advertisement to fix the pot holes (hint: maintenance is not investment), and I see overhead power lines everywhere I go in the US (including in New England, where the bad weather destroys them all the time). In France we don't really do big useful projects, we mostly build underused high speed train line.
+nraynaud1 often power cables and the like are put above ground due to cost factors. Here in the Netherlands, basically everything is underground because the ground is 'soft' (mostly sand, clay or just dirt) and the bedrock is very deep, which is easy to dig into. But in south Germany, Austria and (my home state) Minnesota, alot of the infrastructure is above ground due to the bedrock being relatively high and the costs that would accompany it if they had to chisel out the rock for the infrastructure.
inb4 "but they just want my tax dollars to waste"
:) Maintenance is a huge issue and I'm glad it's brought forward here!
+nraynaud1 - Never expected to see Providence on here! I live in a town bordering the city!
A Hydrant indicator poles/flagging system typically isn't actually for firefighters to use directly, but rather for crews coming back after the main ploughs go by to dig them out ahead of time.
You really want them cleared ahead of time rather than allowed to sit for too long. If left alone for more than a day the snow becomes at risk of compacting into an even denser and harder ice-like formation, and it can take a crew of guys half an hour or more working with jackhammers and an excavator to clear one in the worst case. (As you can imagine digging out a hydrant isn't something you want to do by just slamming over it with a big plough or something... They become 'kind of useless' if you smash the hydrant along with the snowbank.)
RealLuckless actually it can be primarily for firefighters, due to a build up of snow.
I thought these were always so you didnt hit the hydrant with your snowplow
Where I live no one comes back to dig out the hydrants. They beg homeowners to do it.
Where I live the firefighters go around after it snows and dig out the hydrants. They have an online reporting system (which is used for more than just this) that you can use to report unshoveled hydrants, if the firefighters miss one or don't get to it, so a city crew can do it.
Speaking of which, around here, some cities have taped plastic bags over their hydrants in the last couple winters. I assume that's so they don't get rusted shut by road salt in the plowed snow.
The last one on the beach is most likely a sensor using a variable induction potentiometer to measure tidal paterns, velocity, and stress on the unit (force).
look like sensor. but more likely a water content sensor on conductivity/oxygen sensor...
Can you give an example for what is that data needed?
Conductivity and oxygen content can be indicators of high nitrogen inflows such as raw sewage or high fertilizer runoff. These conditions can cause massive toxic algae blooms in short order. The oxygen content can indicate the blooms as well since the algae will gobble up the dissolved oxygen at night which leads to sea life die offs.
This information is important especially around seaside cities. If dangerous algae become prevalent red tide warnings can be posted so fisherman and shellfish gatherers know not to eat what they catch. The data can also be used to monitor the efficacy and efficiency of the sewage treatment systems in the area.
I hope this clarifies a few things about water monitoring in shallow water.
Sensors and test stations above the low tide line are helpful because they can be easily serviced and cleaned. And samples can be removed at predictable times if the station is so equipped.
No, this is PEM - Pressure Equalizing Modules ecoshore.com/technology/
Could also be a seawater intake if there is an aquarium nearby. Seaside, Oregon used to have something similar.
Sometimes unidentified, seemingly randomly placed ground vents are venting methane. I see these a lot on reclaimed land, or land formerly used as waste disposal.
Ryan O'Horo they should be reclaiming it as landfill gas! It's a useful fuel, and it's better than venting it off to the atmosphere and contributing to Global Warming
That dirt you track indoors on your shoes is useful potting soil! You should reclaim it and grow flowers to beautify your environment!
Point is, not all technically valid statements are practical.
Mildly Amusing Channel it isn't practical as it wastes more resources and emissions capturing the waste methane than is reclaimed via that process.it would be self defeating to do it to be eco-friendly.
Methane from buried landfill is reclaimed and use to run small power stations. I have seen it lots of times.
@@taumctauface1886 Dangerous myth.
Those pipes in Berlin transport unneeded ground water, which escapes when tunnel boring machines are digging. (Sorry for my bad english) The water goes then straight into the Spree, a river through Berlin.
Your English was perfect. Though we would usually say "then goes", "goes then" is more archaic.
You are right. It is a photo from the U5 construction site in Berlin. They are digging up to 25m below surface while the ground water is around 2-3m below surface. These blue pipes are used to dispose the water and in addition ice is used to stop the water flow.
Those pipes in Berlin are used to pump groundwater out of construction sites.
Do you know that for a fact? It might be a temporary fresh water line to bypass a construction site.
0MoTheG Nope. The groundwater level in Berlin is quite high so this is a pretty common technique there.
or sewer
Sleep or Practical Engineering? Ehh, the 6 minutes is worth it.
Same here
Three minutes lol
**Two hours later:**
I'm a fan of above-ground sewer lines, myself.
You would certainly be notified of leaks quickly.
Then shitty drivers would become, shitty people. If you know what I mean XD
Braeden Hamson
I know ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
A down side to above ground gravity networks is pumping to get it up in the first place.
No shit eh ;)
Yay! I was just thinking about you the other day. I work in construction, I should have sent in a picture of installing underground gas pipe for some multi-family homes we are doing. We bury the pipe with a copper wire taped to it (or wrapped around it) so that the pipe can be found in the future. A current is applied to the tracer wire and a sensor at the end of a wand much like the spray painters seen in this video is used to detect the magnetic field around the wire.
Alaska Skidood i installed underground gas mains for decades. The tracer wire, what you are referring to, is used to locate a plastic main that is not conductive by hooking to the wire instead of the pipe. However, you are installing it incorrectly and in a dangerous way. The tracer wire needs to be 12” minimum directly above the gas main and not touching it. If the wire is touching it a lightening strike to anything near by can melt the plastic main and possibly cause an explosion.
@@michaelspano6127 we put ours below with 3-4 inches of sand cushion between the pipe and tracers wire. Never touching the pipe.
5:18 Those intakes could be used for swimming pools, near the beach, like the ahoi! Schwimmbad in Cuxhaven, Germany.
That facilty uses Seawater and is located on the dune, directly at the beach, being used especially during winter, by families and old people as well as people with neurodermatitis.
I really like it there, and the view on the beach is just beautiful.
In the Netherlands there is a general register where all utility company's share information KLIC. If you start a Digg you can request a local map with all known information. Still sometimes it goes wrong,... (big oeps, shocking 10%). Contractors sometimes do not bother or a homeowner is fencing his garden without thought...
There are regulation in place for verwies types of cable/pipes, digging in depth; water 80cm, Telecom/cable/house power 50cm, gas 80cm etc...
Basically we have a sandy soil, and pavements are covered with stones and tiles so it is the easy way...
PHMSA also has a map of utilities but it's mostly secret for security.
We have a similar system in Quebec called INFO-Excavation
In the US, depending on the state, it is called Dig-Safe, or 1-Call, or Miss Utility.
the pipes in berlin are temporary instalations for big construction sites, where more water is requred than the local sector can handle. sometimes also additional HV power lines are being pulled along the pipes as well, for heavy machinery, or to prevent power outages while working on the infrastrucure
The blue pipes that run above ground are temporary installations for high power cables for construction so that engineers can have power for cranes and floolights to enable the workers to see because most construction in Berlin happens at night. I live in Berlin and I had been wracking my brain but i found out a few months ago. Hope that helped, thank you for the channel. Keep it going.
The blue pipes in berlin are temporary constuction site pipes which lead ground water from the subway construction site in to the river (Spree) to prevent flooding. This is often needed at construction sites in Berlin due to high ground water levels.
Clearly, that Belgian intake is an advanced tidal drain system to counteract sea level rise. LOL ;-)
Chris Bradley well obviously!
In reality it most likely is a sweet water overspill that pumps rainwater from land to sea
I've been missing your videos lately! Hope you've had a great holidays!
I really do have a lot of projects in the works, just none that have wrapped up yet :)
So you're saying that you're an engineer :P
Bonus points for the pic of the Ottawa fire hydrant :-)
The blue pipes in Berlin are used to to pump water out of underground construction areas into the next river. (like underground train stations under construction) so they are only temporary until the construction is finished.
The pipe in Belgium is a slurry discharge line for dredge spoils. The slurry is used for beach renourishment.
When in doubt, secret underground bunker
Great video and keep up the good work! With a dad who was a civil engineer and and a brother who's an aerospace engineer, I love your perspective on the world around us! Hello from Houston!
I maintain a high speed optical network in Florida, and we live in fear of road construction projects. The number of times construction crews have either not asked for, or disregarded, infrastructure surveys, or just had equipment or operators wander off the beaten path, and cut our fiber provider's conduits and multistrand cables (72, 144, 216, or more strands) beggars the imagination. We talk a lot in engineering discussions about "cable-seeking backhoes". 😐
I was in downtown Atlanta to install equipment in a remote site and noticed prep work for road construction outside the big colo facility I was working in. The amount of orange paint on the road was staggering. One wrong move by a backhoe and significant chunks of the southeast get hit with phone/cable-tv/internet outages.
The green pipes in Berlin, reminds me of a construction site here in Copenhagen. They also had pipes running on poles.
They were use to pump water from within the construction pit out to close by , where it was pump down into the ground.
The old houses in Copenhagen is standing on wood piles, which need to stayed wet. Pump water away to a constrution site would lower the water table, if the water wasn't pump back in the ground.
The vents next to the road are likely where a petroleum pipeline crosses under the road. The pipe line is ran through a sleeve an inch or so bigger the product pipe, and the sleeve is sealed (somewhat) to the product pipe. The space in between is vented. The little box on the side looks like a test point to check the anode bed. I dont know if this is done everywhere, but its how a lot of the crossings were done on the Cherokee pipeline from Ponca City to Wood River.
SUE because that's what's going to happen if they make mistakes?
lol
Not necessarily sue, but there’s always the question about who’s responsible for the damage. I work for a natural gas utility and regularly (read, sometimes for an entire week) have to go out and locate our lines for others who will be digging. Between steel and plastic lines, sometimes bad records, and several utilities placed close together, it can be quite the stressful task with terrible consequences of it’s done incorrectly.
Shannariano
That is so true.
Your videos always brighten my day, but this is a topic that has held my interested since watching a documentary on the Chunnel as a kid. Thanks for making these!
Thank you for watching them! :)
The blue pipes are a really clever solution. Berlin has a high groundwater level. They are building underground station, and there is a possibility that rising groundwater would lift already built parts of the station into the cavity. They built this line, so that, just in case, they can flood the station to counterpressurise it until they remove the water from below. Also, Berlin has a long history of overhead pipes, because almost any construction project involves laying pink pipes to lower the groundwater level locally. Building on a swamp has its drawbacks.
the pipes in Berlin are put there only temporarily to pump out ground water from constructions sites, since Berlin has a high ground water level (parts of it being built on drained swamps). the ones in the pictures are near the museum island
those pipes from berlin are often used to pump water out of construction sites. this water is released into nearby rivers in my hometown ( not berlin; i think they are quite common in germany )
To my knowledge, the blue pipes in Berlin are for transporting sand and dirt from a construction site for stuff that goes underground, like underground train stations. You can use the water you would have to pump out anyway and put dirt in it. That way there are not so many trucks etc.. They are not permanent also.
The blue pipes in Berlin are water pipes. The re-inhabitation of Berlin was way too fast after the war for infrastructure to properly keep up. (For example: buildings were built before the water lines under were replaced or repaired) Pipes that were intended to be temporary stayed. These and many other pipes like these can be found all around Berlin.
4:46 in Karlsruhe they have these too. They carry Water and are used during underground tunnel digging with sandy ground. In case a wall of the underground tunnel breaks the tunnel has to be flooded rather fast otherwise surrounding building will get damaged as a result of pouring in sand.
5:00 yes, semi temporary for big construction projects, usually for a couple of years. Freezing is a problem. Can be found in every major german city with huge construction projects.
I believe the pipes in Berlin are used for pumping water out of construction sites, which would flood without them because of the high water level.
The blue pipes in Berlin are probably for draining construction sites. They most likely end in a nearby river. I have seen these in Cologne as well, draining some tunneling construction site into the Rhine
Often when pipes are above ground, they carry a very bad compound. My uncle works for LORD and at the plant, all the pipes for unloading tankers are carried in large troughs above the complex that are very well lit to quickly identify any leaks as some of the chemicals used are very acidic.
We used to (and likely this continues today) have fiber cuts caused by folks taking pot-shots at overhead lines.
When we had similar problems with underground fiber, we'd give 'backhoe fade' as an RFO(reason for outage) where applicable.
+Nevin Williams lol I like it.
Those vents with yellow caps coming out of the lawn (4:40) could be sewer vents. In the early days of plumbing, a whole house would have a trap underground on the main sewer line to prevent unwanted sewer gas from coming up into the household piping. It was necessary to vent these traps to prevent them from siphoning. Eventually traps and their vents were moved to be as close to each fixture as practical.
I really love what you're doing and your format. Also, your writing quality is far better than I generally expect from an engineer! Thanks for the hard work!
In Berlin they are doing work on the underground. The pipes are for pumping the water out the building site and release it into the Spree.
Those kind of pipes in Berlin are used to drain groundwater out of construction sites. Berlin is build on sand, with water level at just a few meters below the surface; therefore the temporality. I guess they don't risk freezing even in very cold winters, because of the continuously high flow rate, or because underground work is scheduled in warmer seasons.
I was working in ditches laying cables when I was 17. One thing about safety I noticed that when we bury the pipe trough which we will extend a cable, halfway to the surface we layed a strip, like the one police use which has STOP writen on it, except it had CABLE writen on it, so if dig above the cable, first you'll find the tape. Another interesting point is that we dig the pipe without a cable, but it had a wire going trought it, which we then used to pull the cable trough.
Very interesting topic! We used to have all above ground steam lines at the NASA facility I work at. They were used to keep the buildings warm. This was actually left over from when the facility was navy back in the 40's.
Those yellow topped tube ends aren't vents, but but they are well heads. Those wells are used for monitoring groundwater around hasardous plants, like a gas station or a chemical plant.
Those pipes in berlin are their strudel smell distibution pipes that deliver fresh studel smell into every house in Berlin.
I checked my subs just before bed and literally said "Oooh!" when I saw a new vid from you. This is such a great series, thanks for putting it together (and thanks also to everyone whose photos get used: it's super neat to so see other places' infrastructure)!
The blue tubes on stilts look like groundwater management pipes they once built in Dresden... You see they had a building site there where nothing was built for a decade, but they still had to keep the groundwater level lowered - hence the pipes.
The pipes in Berlin are used during construction to get the underground water out of the foundation with pumps. They put them in the air beacause is easier to trhow the water directly to the river
The blue Pipes are from Berlin and are for draining ground water to the Spree. The water level here is only half a meter or so under street level and so you need to drain off the water when digging at construction sites.
Greetings from Berlin
Love this channel! We work a lot with utility companies in civil projects and they are always one of the biggest risks and cause the biggest delays in our project schedules
you are right, the blue overhead lines in berlin are temporary. they are put up when they are working on something like renewing a road
One of those photos of fire hydrants is from Ottawa! That's the city I live in!
Awesome seeing an urban photo from the philippines! 2:13
When I was a kid I liked to pull those hydrant markers back and let go because they are attached by a spring at the bottom so they swung back and forth really fast.
I work in Geotechnical engineering. The location of underground services is vital when sinking an investigation borehole or trial pit. As well as statutory service plans, GPR, CAT surveys, visual location and even dousing rod location, we are also required to undertake service inspection pits. The cost and inconvenience of a strike is too great not to.
By the way, that color coding for utilities can be found at:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utility_location
Chicago has the best one: Chicago’s enwave, America’s largest ice battery. They use river/lake/ocean water to cool things.
Underground utilities getting lost is a huge problem. Just a month or two ago, an underground gas line that was improperly marked (not marked, actually) was run over during training up the road from me on Camp Pendleton, killing a number of Marines. Worse yet, the utility company themselves didn't even know it was there or functional.
Those black pipes with yellow caps in Vancouver are venting for a large valve chamber for the city’s wAter works.
Maybe a sea-water intake of a small desalination "package plant". Those intakes are usually closer to the shore due to the plant's intentional portability; its ability to be picked up and redeployed at another location.
Germany has a pretty cool system of blue, yellow, and red/white signs being stuck to buildings, lamp posts, and so on, that show the exact location of access points to water pipes, gas pipes, and power lines in case they are covered by snow, mud, or leaves. You don't really notice them when you grow up with them, but they are absolutely everywhere.
The blue pipes can be explained with a construction site. They need to constantly pump groundwater away in order to keep the levels below dry.
In the US(at least N Dakota). Gas lines which can be steel or plastic have testing points, with plastic it's a wire which come's up near the meter on a home or business or through a valve test point or carsonite post for longer stretches or for mains, with steel you can connect to them directly. Electrical is similar to steel in that you can connect to the meter, to a transformer, or even to the ground coming from a pole. We do have RFID markers, but those are often to mark End of Mains, or to mark services that are difficult to locate likely due to a damaged tracer.
All we are doing is sending radio frequencies via a test box for our wands (shown at 3:19) to pick up.
Another advantage to placing "flags" on fire hydrants is that the snow plow doesn't sheer them of by mistake, because they're hidden under the snow...
The last one is a saltwater intake pipe for use at an aquarium!! Taking saltwater directly from the ocean is much better than manufacturing it as it makes the aquarium environment comparable to that of the inhabitants natural habitat and saves money.
Hi, I am from Cologne Germany. We have got similar pipes like the blue ones in Berlin in some areas of the City. For similar reasons. When the ground water needs to be lowered for excavations, the water is transported via the pipes to a river or other surface water line. The blue colour is -afaik- reserved for fresh water. In that case it means it is clean ground water and doesnt need to go throug the sewers and sewage plant, or any other form of purification, before it is allowed to be let into a river
Vancouver BC has a lot of peat bog underlying various parts of the city, those yellow vents might be venting gas from the soil. The city has a Utilities manual online, section 6 has info RE geotextiles and where they're used to bridge peat bog.
congrats on 100k getting me excited for my civil major i'll be taking for the next 3 years
How's your civil engineer degree coming along! Should be almost done now, right?
Our town is in the process of burying its downtown pole-hung utilities ...a relentless full-size Tonka toy convention that may not ever end.
4:53 it is a temporary sewer line. the water is pumped through the pipes to bypass for ex. a construction site.
The ones in Berlin are there for lowering the groud water level while foundations are built. They terminate into the river Spree
maybe that last one is a storm surge / rising water level detector?
I think that's a good guess. I've never seen something like it. It seems quite exposed to be permanent.
The pipe simply leads back into the ocean to protect the beaches from erosion - at high tide some of the water will flow back through these pipes instead of flowing over the sand :)
LazerLord10 By letting some of the water flow directly back to sea, the sand it carries is left on the beach.
Those Pipes in berlin are temporary water lines. They are used when water pipes are serviced for a long period of time.
Amazing video ! thanks for the upload !
I would just like to add a comment, to your discussion. Before I retired, I worked as an Equipment Operator, involved in the repairs of Condensate Line which parallels the Steam Line for Steam Heating, in Downtown London, Ontario Canada (pop. 450 000). There is a district steam boiler plant, fired by Natural Gas (many years ago the plant was fired by coal)(& this plant also uses the steam for turning turbines to produce electricity, to send back to the Electrical Grid). The steam lines and Return Condensate Lines travel under the Downtown city streets, heating businesses and 2 Hospitals. The line locator personnel, would use White spray paint (the colour White used for Steam), to mark where the lines were located, below ground. I believe New York City (Manhattan) and Toronto, Ontario, also have the same district heating system. Also, in London, Ontario, during the summer months, "Chillers" are used to supply Fluid for cooling the buildings. (Note: I'm note sure of the process, maybe you could devote a UA-cam video to this fascinating underground infrastructure). I love your video's. Thanks.
as with fire hydrants, most (if not all) jurisdictions have laws requiring residents keep the hydrants clear at all times so emergency crews do not have to waste time gaining access to them when they are needed
Nice Video! The above ground pipes in Berlin are for construction sights, you find them around all of Germany. Some for water, probably other liquids too.
The blue pipes from the first picture are actually and temporary solution for groundwater transportation at work sites near water like lakes or rivers.
The blue overhead pipes in Berlin remind me of the steam heat pipes that used to connect a centralized boiler house to an array of nearby buildings needing to be heated on military bases.
I love that you enjoy making these videos for us. We enjoy learning from you!
In Belgium they recently raised the beaches with new sand maybe that has something to do with it.
This is my favorite series at the moment
Underground fuel tanks are not vented because of surface temperatures as the temperature underground remains constant. They are vented to allow air to displace the fuel that is being pumped out.
the picture from Berlin (where i now live)is what i believe to be a steam-line pipe for our heating. some of our heat is sent with steam to the houses in the city to heat, but most of them are underground. this, i think, would be in the near from the mittle of the city wich is the oldest part of Berlin and before they started to build them underground.
Many years ago, I worked for a company that located buried utilities. 3:16 shows exactly the tools I used. Or at least part of them. The part not shown, is the transmitter that was hooked up to the facility being located. You'd clamp one wire to the ground sheath or tracer wire or metal pipe in question, and the other wire was attached to a steel ground rod that was, as it's name implies, stuck into the ground. You'd then walk in circles around the transmitter to find where the line was at... and mark it out. If the company I worked for wasn't so poorly managed, I'd have stayed there, but they couldn't get their heads around the concept that people will only work seven days a week, 12+ hours a day at $13 per hour until they can find another job.
Another big difference between fire hydrants in the north and south is that where the ground can freeze, the valve to operate the hydrant is below ground at pipe level. The operating pin on top of the hydrant goes all the way down to the valve at pipe level (6-10 feet or more below ground). In the south where below freezing temps are not an issue, most fire hydrants have their valve above ground.
On a side note, that's why a car hitting a hydrant in the south will create a big fountain (like in movies) but in the north nothing will happen. :)
The city I live in recommends that the folks who shovel the snow also shovel around the Fire Hydrant!
I remember being in Berlin and seeing those blue pipes being installed. There was a major construction project happening for a new building, and they had dug out an entire section of street.
I was told by someone who had carried out such works there was that there was almost zero information regarding the buried services of the UKs Atomic Energy facility at Windscale.
Most people don't realize how much hard work and engineering goes into underground lines. All they see is pavement and standpipes.
If your city comes out to mark utilities on your property, take photos with nearby reference points so you know where the utilities are in the future. A couple of pictures from an upstairs window can help plan future yard work. Better to be safe than sorry.
Though I haven't sent a picture in, I look for puzzling infrastructure in hopes to find one to send! I really enjoy these videos. Thank you!
Grady,
You make awesome videos man. Keep it up. I like your visual effects, sound tracks, and the information is great.
South Florida gravity fed sewers are pretty interesting. Because of the GW table being so high these are a series of "lift stations" that periodically pump water to up elevation for the next leg of the journey. If something fails, the rising water will trigger signals to headquarters, and flash a Red Warning light. Because they are about to overflow. They are often (or used to be) located near the old canal / ditch systems. The ditches/canals have to handle the overflow. So, even with the best will in the world, these canals are pretty nasty with street oils and etc.
These overhead pipes are fairly ubiquitous (What a weird word...) near construction sites in Berlin. I don't know for certain, but seeing them in the pictures like that makes me think they're used to drain ground water from basement and foundation construction sites.
i think the last one is an old flood detector, probably installed over 50 fifty years ago. detects the pressure of the water above it and calculates the volume of that water to determine if a storm/flood is approaching.
In certain area's, for natural gas lines, they will have a casing that's installed onto the steel main with a vent pipe attached. So if a leak occurs the gas will be vented through the vent pipe safely instead of the gas migrating into the drain, sewer, or underneath a building which is very dangerous.
you are so polite in your videos love the content!