RIVER: Branches, bristles, and balls baskets built for better bulkheads

The latest customized contraptions along the Cuyahoga River bulkheads were added this month to help provide habitat for migrating fish, and the elements used in this phase of the project might surprise you.

Cuyahoga County Planning Commission, with the help of Biohabitats and the Regional Sewer District, installed the iteration of these baskets October 7 along the steel bulkheads of the Cuyahoga River navigation channel. They are intended to provide a safe space for fish migrating up or down the channel, a stretch that is otherwise "daunting," as Biohabitats describes it.

#h2olloween LIST: 7 comic-book characters' alter egos, and the water careers they could have had

Heroes of comic books and movies make for great costumes for all ages. But are they also indicators of career options?

Captain America: The Winter Soldier filmed in Cleveland in 2013, and before the release, we spent time examining whether famous characters' alter egos' skill sets made them viable candidates for careers in the water industry. Here were a few ideas, and the list is certainly far from all-inclusive.

CAREERS: neorsd.org/careers
COMICS: Information from Masked Heroes

#TBT: Yes, THAT James Earl Jones narrated this 1978 documentary about the Cuyahoga River

The melodious tones of James Earl Jones' golden pipes grace the narration track of this Cuyahoga River documentary from 1978.

This clip features JEJ reading text from an infamous Time Magazine article that followed the 1969 river fire.

Cuyahoga (1978)
#TBT: "Some river! Chocolate brown, bubbling with subsurface gases. It oozes rather than flows." Hear the one and only James Earl Jones read from the 1969 Time magazine article that followed the Cuyahoga River fire.
Posted by Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District on Thursday, October 29, 2015

Learn more about the 1969 blaze, or the 12 or more other times the river burned.

WATCH: The not-so-terrifying but very creepy-cool tunnels deep under Southerly / #h2olloween

Some of the access tunnels in the bowels of the Southerly Wastewater Treatment Plant in Cuyahoga Heights date back to the plant's grand opening in 1928.

Operator Christen Wood took us for a quick tour of the sprawling and sometimes spooky underground system, just in time for Halloween.

TRENDING: Never forget, it was a toilet that made time travel possible. #BackToTheFutureDay

Back To The Future's Doc Brown and his illustration of the time-travel-enabling flux capacitor.

The future has arrived. As the past. In the present. Thanks to a toilet.

October 21, 2015 has been declared Back To The Future Day, a day of '80s sci-fi nostalgia, the date to which Back To The Future's Marty McFly travels in the second movie of the trilogy in hopes of rescuing his future family.

What made the films' time travel possible was the flux capacitor. What made the flux capacitor possible? Remember, it was inventor Doc Brown slipping and falling off his toilet:

Sure, the flush toilet was considered the greatest medical advancement of the last 200 years. But in the BTTF universe, it became—more importantly—the greatest inspiration of the entire space-time continuum.

Heavy. We know.

RELATED STORIES

• TECH: Bath to the future? Toilet tech predictions for the year 2030 
• MOVIES: Lake Erie Sharknado? Unlikely. Raining sea lampreys? Plausible.
• MEDIA: WMMS host Alan Cox wants to attend our Sewer University?

EVENT: Sewer University #SewerU now enrolling, your 101 course for Northeast Ohio's sewer history and water future

VIEW THE SLIDEDECK. If you missed it, you can register for our next SewerU January 26.

All participants graduate sewer cum laude with a Business major and a minor in puns.

Have you ever wondered where "it" goes in Northeast Ohio? If so, register for our first ever Sewer University (#SewerU) Tuesday, November 10 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m at our Environmental & Maintenance Services Center, 4747 E. 49th Street in Cuyahoga Heights [map].

DOWNLOADS: View the slidedeck / Download PDF 

RELATED NEWS: LISTEN: WMMS host Alan Cox loves the idea. Not sure about his #SewerU football team suggestions, though.

This half-day journey into the history of sewers and the future of clean water in Greater Cleveland will take place at the Sewer District’s Environmental & Maintenance Services Center located at 4747 East 49th Street in Cuyahoga Heights [map].

Frank Greenland, Director of Watershed Programs and a 27-year Sewer District veteran, will lead the two-hour discussion and Q&A session, which will include:

• History of sewers across northeast Ohio
• Why the river burned many times before 1969
• How dirty water gets cleaned
• Stormwater, flooding and monitoring water quality
• The designs and dangers of sewer systems
• Infrastructure: Why gray and green matter
• The costs of clean water and a Great Lake

SERIES: Follow the flow of h2o in Cleveland with #ValueWater, @neorsd and @ClevelandWater

The Value of Water reports each of us use more than 100 gallons of water in a single day. Where does it come from, and where does it go? and what would it be like if the resources or the systems that make it possible didn't exist?

This month's Imagine A Day Without Water campaign concludes with our tour of the urban water cycle in Cleveland. Our water partners Cleveland Water manage the drinking water side of the cycle while we take care of the wastewater. Through our combined efforts and infrastructure, our agencies deliver and collect hundreds of millions of gallons of water every single day.

Every hour today, we'll focus on a different aspect of the urban water cycle, and bring you the stats and stories that connect our work to your lives. Check some of the updates below.

WATCH | How it works: Permeable pavers at the Western Reserve Historical Society

It's not the first permeable-pavers project we've supported, but it's the first time we've had a truck dump a tank-load of water on one for a video.

The Cleveland History Center at the Western Reserve Historical Society recently completed a renovation of its parking lot with the support of a Green Infrastructure Grant from the Regional Sewer District. Green infrastructure components helped better manage stormwater runoff on-site and reduced the amount of stormwater entering the combined sewer system.

Stormwater Technical Specialist Dave Ritter and CHS Director of Operations Angie Lowrie tell us a little about the project as Dave explains how the pavers and gravel work together to filter and infiltrate runoff.