This summer (and last), I'm interning with a public works department who is building a data model of their storm drain system. A lot of data is missing for storm drain mainlines - mainly elevations. The logistics and purpose of gathering the information is a topic for another day.
In new construction, manholes are placed in sidewalks, roads, embankments, or other city rights of way. In the past, developers were allowed to place them anywhere within an easement - front yards, back yards, wherever. We've seen a 50 gallon drum full of water on top of a manhole, located a manhole under 3 feet of soil (we didn't excavate there) and seen manhole covers cemented shut.
Today took the cake. First, we located a manhole in an apartments dog run one foot below grade. During excavation of the foot of soil. We found a bunch of bags of dog poo in the excavated soil. It was a pain in the butt, we've probably pissed off the property owner, but we got the shot and restored access to the manhole. Do keep in mind that due to the nature of easements we could require the property owner to restore access to the manhole at their cost.
Then we went down the road a bit. The map said that the manhole was right next to a tree... We used super secret high tech equipment (ancient pinfinder and metal probe) to verify the manhole was there and started digging...
Wonder how angry of a call we'll get. I feel bad for the current property owners as they likely had no idea the manhole was there...
In new construction, manholes are placed in sidewalks, roads, embankments, or other city rights of way. In the past, developers were allowed to place them anywhere within an easement - front yards, back yards, wherever. We've seen a 50 gallon drum full of water on top of a manhole, located a manhole under 3 feet of soil (we didn't excavate there) and seen manhole covers cemented shut.
Today took the cake. First, we located a manhole in an apartments dog run one foot below grade. During excavation of the foot of soil. We found a bunch of bags of dog poo in the excavated soil. It was a pain in the butt, we've probably pissed off the property owner, but we got the shot and restored access to the manhole. Do keep in mind that due to the nature of easements we could require the property owner to restore access to the manhole at their cost.
Then we went down the road a bit. The map said that the manhole was right next to a tree... We used super secret high tech equipment (ancient pinfinder and metal probe) to verify the manhole was there and started digging...
Wonder how angry of a call we'll get. I feel bad for the current property owners as they likely had no idea the manhole was there...