Sewer

Object Lessons

by Jessica Leigh Hester, Ian Bogost (Series Editor), Christopher Schaberg (Series Editor)

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.

What can underground pipes tell us about human eating habits and the spread or containment of disease, such as COVID-19? Why are sewers spitting out plastic and trash into waterways around the world? How are clogs getting gnarlier and more numerous? Jessica Leigh Hester leads readers through the past, present, and future of the system humans have created to deal with our own waste and argues that sewers can be seen as a mirror to the world above at a time when our behaviors are drastically reshaping the environment for the worse.
Sifting through the muck offers a fresh way to approach questions about urbanization, public health, infrastructure, ecology, sustainability, and consumerism- and what we value. Without understanding sewers, any attempt to steward the future is incomplete.

Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic .

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Environment

200 pages, Paperback

Published November 3, 2022

Reviews

[ancientreader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Suppose you're 1000% sure you would never wish to read about the history, functioning, and especially malfunctioning of sewer systems, take this much away from Jessica Leigh Hester's terrific book:

WET WIPES ARE OF THE DEVIL AND YOU SHOULD NEVER FLUSH THEM.

Seriously! Hester has been there, seen the fatbergs (fat + oil + grease + wet wipes clogging sewers), talked to the sewer workers and the researchers, and read the scientific studies, and she's here to tell you that no matter what it says on the package, wet wipes are not flushable. They do not disintegrate on the way down and out; they just join up with the cooking oil and other greases, along with tampon applicators, soda caps, used rubbers, hair, and other appalling detritus of our great throwaway society to accrete into giant, stinking, toxic masses that maintenance workers now must risk their lives and health to break up and remove.

Sometimes with pickaxes.

Fatbergs are a contemporary problem, but Jessica Leigh Hester has plenty to say not only about the history of waste disposal but also about the uses to which all that ... stuff ... can be put. A historical tidbit: Give thanks every day for the bend in the bottom of your toilet bowl, for it keeps sewer gases from floating up into your bathroom.

Read Sewer and learn: Why fossils don't form in sewers. Why wastewater epidemiology is a feature mostly of the developed world (the developing world has less infrastructure and less money to spend on research -- surprise!). What there was more of in Athens's wastewater during Greece's debt crisis earlier in this century. Why microplastics have been banned from cosmetics in the US. Why bidets are environmentally much, much better than toilet paper, as well as being better undercarriage-cleaners.

If I had a bone to pick with this book, it's only that I could have done with fewer waste-related puns and less alliteration for effect. Dinging, say, a tenth of a star.

Oh, and about those wet wipes? Sorry, but they're not doing the world any more good in landfill than they are in the sewers.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this fascinating book.

[Peter Baran · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read enough Object Lessons now that they can sometimes inform each other. One of my very first OL's was Environment by Professor Rolf Halden, which had a chapter about wastewater sampling to monitor disease in urban settings. That was written before the pandemic, and seemed like excellent use of our built environment, and here, three years later we get Sewer - which also talks a lot about waste-water sampling. It also talks about how sewers work and rushes through a history of sewers and fatbergs. I wonder if the first pitch for this book was called Fatberg, because whilst Jessica Leigh Hester has rightly guaged her readership fascination with the grotesque horrors, it does seem to feature a lot in here.

This is not a very personal Object Lesson, which is probably just as well (Me And My Fatberg is unlikely to storm the box office). It is however hugely skewed toward my interests. Despite being based in New England her primary case study is London. This makes sense in as much as London's sewers have a lot of history, and celebration as public works. We also have a lot of fatbergs. So going back to a Pepys quote (or - my big wobble moment - "a man named Samuel Pepys who would go on to be a Member of Parliament") to the building of the massive new Thames Tideway Tunnel, A second smaller case study (about cooking oil collection) is in Portland Maine, a place where I accidentally did a surprisingly in-depth wander around its main central sewage plant. Sewer is a fascinating read, icky in all the right ways. It doesn't want to change the world, it just wants to make you never flush a wet wipe down the toilet again.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

The sexy parts of the sewer. The newsworthy parts of the sewer. The things about the sewer that aren't the gentle flow of fragrant water underground. The things that stop the flow: age, fatbergs, terrorism, rains, climate change, and those fucking flushable wipes. As someone who could jet sewers at work but mainly gets assigned to other tasks, I approve this book. There were some iffy parts: an implication that wastewater treatment plant bar screens are cleaned a few times a year instead of a few times a day, the idea that wastewater treatment plants should be parklike spaces for the general public (no), and the astonishing luck that most American cities were built after it was realized that separating storm and waste waters makes wastewater much more treatable and less gushing into the Thames, which is a lot of British cities' problem. Also, the ownership of the sewers and how that effects wastewater treatment is barely mentioned: e.g. Thatcher privatized water and wastewater and that's why British systems have no investment in them and are fucked; meanwhile, the sewers under the suburb I work at are owned by the municipality but they feed into sewers owned by the seven county public wastewater consortium, so my co-workers [redacted] because it's the easiest option. But mostly, this book is about how much wet wipes suck and how everyone needs to stop flushing them, and this is a true and good fact. And bidets rule. And New York City has a wastewater treatment plant that calls attention to itself with dramatic lighting. This was a good entry in the Object Lessons series and covered some fun sewer facts. Certainly worth picking up for the casual sewer enthusiast.

[Ergative Absolutive · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was fundamentally disappointing, alas. The author writes for Atlas Obscura, and most of this book felt like a series of Atlas Obscura articles: interesting notes that never go much deeper than an internet blog post. I learned very little that I hadn't already known from reading the perpetual articles about fatbergs that come out every winter; the occasional New Yorker article about biofuel creation; and of course the hive mind wisdom that everyone responsible for maintaining their own home's plumbing already knows: 'flushable' wipes aren't flushable.

The focus was almost exclusively London sewers and various US-based municipalities, with the occasional historical commentary on historical sewer systems--mostly in England--and some descriptions of architecture of waste treatment plants that do not include sufficient photographs to actually illustrate the text.

This book gathers together all of those tidbits of information and puts them between the same covers, but if someone is actually interested enough in sewers to read a whole book on them, that person is likely to already know much of what is in this book, and get impatient and frustrated while looking for the rest of the content that isn't there.

NB: I received an advanced copy of this book from Netgalley. Inasmuch as I can be sure of such things, I believe that this has not affected the content of my review.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating Look At Mostly Current Status Of Sewer Systems. After having read Chelsea Wald's Pipe Dreams in 2021 about the history and future of toilets, this book seemed a natural progression in my learning on the topic - and at just 200 pages, it was a quick yet seemingly comprehensive look at the current status of the topic. That noted, this book *does* use London as its primary narrative example, though there are also discussions of other locations including Chicago, Cleveland, NYC, and the struggles of the developing world. There are also extensive discussions of fatbergs, wet wipes, and microplastics. (Basically... don't flush a wet wipe. It doesn't end well.) Overall a fascinating and short read, pretty well exactly what it was designed to be. Very much recommended.

[Huish · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars, very interesting and a good read if you’re interested in what can be done to help the environment! 4.5 instead of 5 as language was overly lyrical in some parts, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend!!

[Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read courtesy of NetGalley.

OK, first thing to note is that you probably want a relatively strong stomach to read all of this... and you definitely don't want to read it while eating. While it's not revolting, there are some descriptions of sewers and fatbergs that are not the most pleasant of reading experiences.

Secondly, stop flushing wipes. No, seriously. Even the ones that say they're flushable. Stop flushing them. They're not really flushable. When you put something down the toilet it doesn't ACTUALLY, magically, disappear. It still needs to go somewhere. And wipes? Oh, they do not disintegrate and become harmless like you might imagine. Stop. Flushing. Wipes.

This book is really remarkable. As with the best of the Object Lesson books, it's personal and it's deeply researched and it's fascinating. Hester is convincing in her argument that sewers are vital to understand because they help us understand our past, as well as consider our future. She is also adamant that investing in sewer infrastructure is something that has been lacking (and I'm completely terrified and appalled by some of the stories about that) and is vitally important for our future. No one wants a return to typhoid and cholera in places like London. Which also means that those places without good, sturdy, reliable sewers - ones that DON'T JUST EJECT WASTE INTO THE OPEN WATER - absolutely need financial assistance in getting that done. If you don't think that's a priority... you're wrong. Simple as that.

Highly recommended for the civil engineer in your life, or the person who's always asking 'why is it like that?", or the person with the more-scatalogical-than-necessary sense of humour.

Also, STOP FLUSHING WIPES.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Eyes are the window to the soul." This is cliche and not really true.

"Sewers are the window to all our souls." No one has ever said this, I don't think, pretty sure. But it's true, and "Sewer" explains why in entertaining, riveting, and deliciously gross detail.

The book briskly argues that sewers are a foundation of civilization and healthy modern life, a fact once appreciated, during a time when the opening of a new sewer system was celebrated with fetes attended by royalty, but now increasingly overlooked, resulting in sewer systems that are outdated and overloaded. Let me repeat that: OVERLOADED!

Hester writes, too, about how sewers reflect and reveal life on the surface. Recently, this has most famously come from wastewater providing an early-warning system for covid surges. But the book includes many other interesting examples, as well as the observation that our sewers reflect how seriously we take environmental stewardship and our willingness to be forward-thinking.

I can think of only a handful of books that have led me to change my behavior. "Sewer," while far from a self-help book, is one of them. I'm more careful to wipe cooking grease up with a paper towel rather than pour it down the drain, where it can create fatbergs, and ditto when I shave. If some simple acts on my part can make it less likely that some brave human will have to descend into the underworld/sewer to fight a sewer-blocking mass of wet wipes, cooking grease, and hair, then that's what I'm going to do!

[Nikki Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is part of a series called Object Lessons - which is a series about the hidden lives of ordinary things.

This one obviously about Sewers, sharing the history of how they have changed, issues that are faced within the Sewer systems and the Treatment Plants and what is being done and what still needs to be done to help mitigate and has great reminders of what we can do and how important a part we play in our waste.

What I found most interesting was how they test for diseases, chemicals and drugs in our waste and wastewater.

Fun fact - my partner actually works, here in SA at our Bolivar Treatment Plant, he works for an earthmoving company, who complete the end process with the waste, which is basically fertiliser matter, which is sent out to local farmers - so many times while I was reading it was cool to already know certain things and to know he is part of something important and key to how we live.

I know most people don’t want to know about such things, but this is our world and our life and this is how shit is basically ran (no pun intended 😅).

Our lil South Australia even got a mention in this book - with our slogan to remind people of what can be put down the toilet, with the 3 P’s!

Paper, Pee and Poop only everyone! 💩

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Bloomsbury Academic for an advanced copy of this book discussing the underworld of the cities and where its detritus flows.

Everything has to go somewhere. One of humanity's largest infrastructures for making things go away is one of the misunderstood and underfunded, and yet without it, we would be up to our knees in all sorts of gross things, we would prefer not to know about. Sewer, by Jessica Leigh Hester is another entry in the Object Lessons series, which features the hidden life of things that humans would be miserable without. This entry describes the vast underworld that runs under the cities and towns of the world, which contain all the things we flush away, but no not where.

The importance of sewers seems easy to acknowledge, but ask an average person, even a politician who should know, where do things go when we flush them away, many will have no idea. Or care. Just like water, electricity, food, the Internet, and other important things humans as they got older lose the curiosity that makes them wonder why things are, and remain completely incurious about basic services and infrastructure in general. Until things go wrong and they have to pay for it, then everyone does their own research, complains to the heavens, and votes against it, thereby solving and learning nothing. This book is a short but powerful look at what humans have done to rid their living space of waste, what lies beneath our cities, and even what sewers can tell us. Sewers can tell the health of an area, from overcrowding, excess packaging, and even the spread of disease, as has been used during the COVID outbreaks. Hester discusses the science of sewers, what the future might be like, and even ventures down into the Earth to deal with problems, and clogs, called fatbergs.

A fascinating look at waste from a different point of view. The writing is very good, very conversational, even personal about what the author has been learning and how important this all seems to be. For a short book, a lot can be learned, and many conversations started, though probably not over meals. Actually sharing stories about fatbergs is probably not something to be recommended in the slightest. Each page has facts and information, well described and broken down and moves along at a good pace. Which is something that sometimes can't be said about sewers. There is a lot blocking the future of sewage, mostly people's indifference, not wanting to spend money, and the fact that it really is a gross discussion to be had. However there is much to be leaned from this book, and to take hope in.

A book for fans of odd science like the books of Mary Roach and others. Very well written and interesting. Not for all readers, but I do think that people who are community organizers, and those who plan for public office might be helped by this book as a primer to what is probably going to be both a major infrastructure and public health problem in the future. Also for horror writers looking for ambiance and story ideas. Fatbergs are the new Pennywise in the sewer.

[Theediscerning · Rating 4 out of 5]

By far the best book this series has presented us with in years, this was a very easy and interesting read throughout. In calling it journalistic, I intend that as a positive quality to have. There are of course a few reasons why this doesn't fall in the general sphere of these Object Lessons books – mainly because they can much more regularly be about something we have in our possession we barely think about, and certainly never expect to read a full volume on – the Bookshelf one the perfect example. We don't generally own a sewer, but we damn well use the accessible end of one, and this proves that we ought to look after them at least as if we might own a share of them. In being full of environmental bad news, however, it ends on a positive and warm-hearted note.

And again it gets there in ways so counter to the Object Lessons of late. There is a barest minimum of needless autobiography. This gets no more woke than mentioning the term 'manhole cover' has been gazumped by something much more ungainly. It doesn't feel the need to proselytise about race or gender politics. It just gets down – a few metres below our feet, where the temperature is surprisingly constant year-round – and somewhat dirty, and introduces us to the flow dynamics of modern sewer ideas, fatbergs, microplastics, the deliberate dumping of untreated water into our coastal waters, and so much more. It certainly proves that there is a lot we just dispose of down there and never think about again – surely the reason for so many of our current environmental problems.

Some recent books of this series I'd barely wish to wipe my arse with. The author here might well have managed to polish a – well, one of the contents of the sewers. You might not want to read it over a bowl of chocolates, but you should want to read it. Friendly original research, both sides of the pond, makes this a very approachable science book, and one that should be flushed with success.

[Darius Ostrowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Sewer” by Jessica Leigh Hester is my introduction to the Object Lessons series, short books that focus on the hidden history of everyday objects. Based on this quick read, I will be exploring the series further.

This is a book about something that we don’t really think about, something that we take for granted, yet something that is a very important part of our everyday lives and urban society in general – the sewers beneath our feet. Most of us flush the toilet without thinking of the complex systems that whisk our waste away and prevent the disease and other unpleasantness from reaching our lives. Ms. Hester peels back the mystery and lets us know exactly how this system operates, how we got to where we are now, and how this system is overtaxed and out of date. Our modern society is using the sewers in ways the designers have never intended, and we are beginning to pay the consequences. From giant “fatbergs” blocking the sewers to FOG (fat, oil, grease) coating the pipes to the threat of microplastics in our systems to populations much greater that the aging infrastructure can support, we are learning that just because we ignore the problems under our feet doesn’t mean that they will go away.

If you take anything away from this book, it should be that you should never, ever flush wet wipes, no matter what the package states! A fascinating look at the hidden world that makes our society possible.

I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from Bloomsbury Academic via NetGalley. Thank you!

[Siobhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sewer is another book in the Object Lessons series, exploring sewers as they impact our daily lives though mostly unseen and considering what we should do to improve them for the future. Rather than focusing just on the physical sewers, the book also looks a lot at blockages like fatbergs and wet wipes and considers what human consumption and use does to these practical structures.

The Object Lessons series is always, as far as I've seen from the ones I've read, interesting in some way, with each book taking a particular direction with the object in question. Though Sewer cites Robert Macfarlane's Underland, this book doesn't take that approach of focusing on the physical underground spaces in our imaginations and reality, but considers sewers in their sanitation purpose and what happens when they are blocked, both in terms of the people who work in them and what it is that causes those blockages. Not necessarily a particularly savoury topic for a book, but it was certainly something different and it's useful for thinking about what you personally put down the drain and how your actions are part of a collective whole (which is basically the message of the book).

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Bloomsberry Academic and Netgalley.com for the opportunity to read and review this first book by Jessica Leigh Hester. 'Sewer' an underground conduit for carrying off drainage water and waste matter, the saying of the word conjures up feelings of terror for some, a sense of claustrophobia, smells, and disgusting things that get flushed down the loo! As a nurse of 20 years used to patient toilet habits the reading and pun intended digestion of this relatively small read was full of juicy titbits on sewers and associated aspects such as waterways, fatbergs - the 11-ton beast, and super sewers. At the end of each chapter are offered further reading for the avid sewer fan and tender fact slices to tickle the tastebuds, with some interesting information on modern day inventions to tackle the very topical subject in the UK on water pollution from sewer overflow and covid-19 detection in faeces. So just in case you still wonder on what this book is all about its the 3 P's Pee, Paper and Poo - just remember don't flush wet wipes the bane of sewers. I would of preferred a little more history on sewers through history and a focus on the UK.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sewage and sewers may not be the topics of polite conversation around many dinner tables but wow, this book is utterly compelling! Author Jessica Leigh Hester tackles this dirty topic with a wickedly good sense of humour and oodles of facts as well as brilliant photographs.

So many things stuck with me such as sewers acting as barometers including the finding of massive amounts of cocaine in the River Po in Italy, the arduous task of chipping away at fatbergs, London's early "Monster Soup" cartoon renditions, The Great Stink, impressive Crossness steam engines (many sewer systems are actually beautiful), the first public toilets, the Moist Towelette Museum, the wicked world of wipes, the dangers to sewer crews, bringing the sewer into labs and the reminder to be mindful of our environmental choices. But there is so much more, too.

Whether you are intrigued by sewers (and you should be!), this is one fascinating book. The piles of information are breathtaking and I want more people to learn about them!

My sincere thank you to Bloomsbury Academic and NetGalley for the privilege of digesting this riveting book.

[J Earl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sewer, by Jessica Leigh Hester, makes wastewater systems both interesting and entertaining. Like the rest of the books in the Object Lessons series, this focus on a common (though in this case largely unseen) aspect of everyday life allows us to understand it as more than just its basic utilitarian function.

Admittedly, when I think of sewer systems, I think of horror films or espionage dramas where the subterranean tunnels serve as symbolism as much as a path characters might, reluctantly, take. Turns out these architectural and engineering marvels offer a much more nuanced view of life on the surface than I realized. What we waste, what our waste can be used for, and how we manage our waste is all far more fascinating, and important, than I ever imagined.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys learning about the things around us that we often take for granted, and thus often abuse.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

[Emily Burch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Bloomsbury Academic for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really didn't expect to enjoy a book about sewers so much. Though, a word of warning, some gross details come as part of the territory. The book is a quick, thorough, and informative read. More than that, it's an eye opening account of an element of infrastructure that's being severely taxed (which I didn't previously know the details of) and a call to action to do what we can to address how we treat our sewers, our waterways, our oceans...

And once you know these things, you can't look past it again. The awareness is the first step, and Hester does an excellent job of bringing the reader to a gentle awareness of a massive problem (and simple things we can do to avoid burdening the infrastructure further).

[Book Club of One · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sewer shares the past, present, and future of the systems humanity uses to handle our bodily wastes. Jessica Leigh Hester journalist, and self described historian-in-training, focuses their writing on science and the environment. Hester was also a senior editor and staff writer for the travel website Atlas Obscura.

Hester has organized the book into seven chapters, each centered on a particular aspect or issues of sewer infrastructure, such as "fatbergs," or "wipes & pipes." Alternating between the present and historic, the reader learns about such topics as testing fecal matter for drug use, or more recently COVID-19, to how our diets and habits have been shaped by access to or the lack of sewage.

An interesting and engaging read that had me frequently considering habits and the Tom Lehrer quote: "Life is like a sewer: what you get out of it depends on what you put into it." (Introduction to "We Will All Go Together When We Go." 1959 Live edition).

I received a free digital version of this book via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.

[Ula Tardigrade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Out of sight, out of mind - as the author of this book notes, we tend to think that in the 21st century the sewage is not an issue and everything that disappears in our toilets really just, you know, disappears. Unfortunately, this is not the case. If you want to learn more about what is happening in the dark labyrinths under our streets and how you can personally change the situation for the better, it is a book for you. Jessica Leigh Hester is a science journalist and she dives into this smelly topic with boundless curiosity and open mind. Surprising and informative read.

The book is a part of an interesting series, Object Lessons, about the hidden lives of ordinary things.

Thanks to the publisher, Bloomsbury Academic, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

[b · Rating 3 out of 5]

excellent subject matter close to my interests, and i appreciated the access it granted to spaces unavailable to me as a citizen, but i really didn’t appreciate the writing style at times. gratuitous alliterations, trite and repetitive metaphors, and reductive character profiles made it read more like a series of amateurish direct-to-digital Reporter at Large essays than a sophisticated non-fiction book or essay collection. it’s a little book that wants to be a think piece, and ends up doing neither well. i do question some of the journalistic integrity here too, and after looking into the author learned she wrote for Atlas Obscura, which makes perfect sense. it’s very “clicky” and “see what I did there!” and lacks sophistication.

[Kathryn Hemmann · Rating 2 out of 5]

This isn’t a book about sewers; it’s a book about fatbergs.

If you’re interested in the history of sewers, or how they’re built and maintained, this is perhaps not the book for you. The author doesn’t cover the political, architectural, or philosophical dimensions of sewers, nor does she devote any words to how sewers are represented in culture.

Again, this book is almost entirely about fatbergs. The writing and research are admittedly strong, but still – 180 pages about fatbergs (and used wet wipes) is a lot. I have a strong stomach, but I have to admit I was grossed out. The photos really aren’t necessary.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a pleasure to read. The writing is crisp and clever and the descriptions are extremely vivid. In addition, I particularly enjoyed reading about the author’s journey. Also important to me is the extensive list of sources in every chapter. The acknowledgements are also worth reading. One of the things that made the book so good, aside from the conversational writing style, is its conciseness. There was no lingering on unnecessary details. Overall, this was a great read. Thank you to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Academic for the advance reader copy.

[Pablo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick little read that tells you everything about sewers you never thought you wanted to know. I think this is a series of Cliff's Notes-style books, although the long list of citations at the end of each section threw me off. There was no need for that, given the format and audience. That aside, the content was realy good and covered ancient history, recent history, and maintenance & operations of municipal sewers. Missing was anything about their construction, but that's OK. I liked the book for covering an important topic for all of us that most people don't think about.

[Annarella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never thought I would read a book about Sewers but I did and learned a lot about this type of infrastructure.
It's absolutely necessary but we never think about it unless there's a leakage or bad smell.
The author did an excellent job in writing a book entertaining and informative.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

[Caro Harper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thought this was interesting in getting me to think about something that affects our everyday but is largely hidden. The book is interesting but also kind of boring, and I was unsure if I'd finish it. But I did! Highlights that wet wipes should 100% be banished, and rightly points out personal responsibility as well as that of companies and Government.

[Hannah Chapman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was SO interesting.
Honestly think that everyone should give it a read because it blew my mind.
So informative and intriguing, who knew a sewer could be such an interesting topic

[Ingrid · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating read about a subject I know that I had not given much thought to. My favorite chapter was about fatbergs and the people who have to deal with them. I can't imagine!