Tear out your lawn, get more free cash. LADWP ups rebates for customers who clear clogged sewers
This is one of those things I don’t get. Why would this be news? It’s a long established practice going on for hundreds of years. It would certainly be news if it were happening today only.
As has been pointed out, it has been going on for many years. The last time the news was made public, in 2013, the practice was called “sewer tourism.” It sounds a little bit like potholes. Here is the statement that was released back then:
“The American Society of Civil Engineers has named the San Luis Valley one of the top 10 “clean power” cities in the nation. The Clean Power Campaign, a program of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), which operates San Francisco’s public transit system, is working to encourage residents to clear their sewer lines to reduce the pollution they release into San Francisco Bay. The program recently issued a report indicating that the community’s efforts to eliminate sewer pollution are paying off: The Bay Area Clean Energy Coalition, a coalition of local businesses and organizations, estimates that the program’s total estimated value of $2.5 million has been invested in the San Luis Valley alone.”
No mention of the fact that the San Luis Valley’s efforts are paying off by keeping the Bay off their streets and sidewalks. But that’s what it is. It’s called’sewer tourism’.
“The Bay Area Clean Energy Coalition, a coalition of local businesses and organizations”
This appears to be the Coalition for Cleaning the Bay. I don’t know where their report is coming from, but they clearly work with the LADWP in their efforts:
“The Bay Area Clean Energy Coalition, a coalition of local businesses and organizations, is working on the San Luis Valley to bring cleaner,’sewer tourism’-type investment to the area by encouraging its residents to eliminate, or at least reduce, the pollutants, solid waste, and pollutants created by their sewer systems, making cities the clean power leaders they are known to be.”
There is a lot of other stuff in the press release about how the Bay Area is “America’s Clean Energy Capital,” how the Clean Power Coalition has helped “bring cleaner,’sewer tourism’-type investment” to the area, and so on. It does make it look as if it is a really bad idea to clear the sewer systems of