PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) —There’s something scurrying deep in the bowels of Phoenix’s underground, and it’s here to help out the city. Equipped with a camera, a robotic device is used by the city as a remote-controlled rover to look for problems in the system. That includes several things like leaks in the city’s extensive drainage system.
“The leaks happen more often than you would think. Sometimes, especially with our weather here, you get one extreme to the other, you get shifting underground,” said James Mendez, a City of Phoenix Senior water quality inspector.
It can also help find trash, which is known for clogging up areas, but one of its important jobs is looking to see if any liquids are being illegally dumped down the drains. “We take a sample, take it up to the lab, and let them check it out,” said Mendez. These drains run off into the surrounding rivers and creeks so it’s important to know if anything thing bad or toxic might be running through them.
Sometimes, when they take this thing out, they run into more than just trash. “We’ve encountered animals down there, mostly cats, a couple of puppies,” says Mendez. On occasion, they come across people. “Sometimes there’s homeless folks in there we try to be careful they don’t get hurt,” says Mendez.
Depending on what they do find, they alert the proper channels, like the streets department, to remove trash. They said having these drains clear is key to preventing flooding.
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