Down the Drain
Once you shower, flush the toilet, run the dishwasher, brush your teeth, or use any other water indoors, it begins its journey through miles of pipes we regularly inspect and maintain to ensure reliable service and a safe environment. To help keep our pipes clean, we ask our community to only flush three things: toilet paper, pee and poo (the 3Ps). Anything else, including “flushable” wipes, should be thrown in the trash.
Lift Stations
GRU operates and maintains more than 175 lift stations that transport or “lift” wastewater from lower to higher elevations, enabling our more than 800 miles of gravity and force mains to move wastewater to one of our reclamation facilities. We continually maintain our lift stations to ensure safe and reliable service. Watch a reel from a recent lift station rehab project.
The largest “fatberg” on record (think iceberg composed of congealed fat, oil, grease and wet wipes) was 820 feet long and weighed more than 286,000 pounds.
In the Field
Our employees take great pride in doing the dirty work to keep your “used” water flowing through more than 800 miles of sewer pipes until it reaches our reclamation facilities. This includes inspecting our pipes, fixing broken lines, removing clogs and much more. Watch this short video of a 12-inch gravity sewer main replacement.
Acoustic Technology
We take a proactive approach to keeping our sewers clear, including using the SL-RAT Sewer Line Rapid Assessment tool, which uses sound to identify when a sewer is clogged and where the clog is located. This technology has proven to be an economical and efficient means of keeping the system flowing.
Pipe Lining
GRU uses a process called cured-in-place lining to restore aging pipes. This pipe-within-a-pipe technology is an efficient, economical and minimally invasive way to restore infrastructure. This photo shows an operator inspecting lines using a CCTV camera. We use this technology before and after lining to locate defects and confirm success.
Fighting FOG
FOG stands for fat, oil and grease. When poured down the drain, these substances clog pipes and lead to wastewater overflows in our sewers and your home. GRU partners with our community through marketing campaigns and educational outreach to limit blockages and overflows by urging you to: Can it. Cool it. Trash it.