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Dirty jobs keep life moving
Published September 6, 2009
LAKE JACKSON — Roaches crawling out of electrical outlets, lying face-to-face with a snake beneath a house or finding a dead rat in an attic crawl space is all in a day’s work for Warren Williams.
With Coast Pest Control in Lake Jackson, Williams deals with things other people want gone, spraying for insects, inspecting for termites or baiting rodents. His is one of the dirty jobs from which people might not get a break on Labor Day weekend.
“We crawl under houses to check for termites, and sometimes people call with animals under their houses,” the good-natured Williams said. “We run into snakes, spiders, cats … things that might not want us under a house with them.”
Roaches are more of a problem inside than out, and they tend to be found in bunches.
“Occasionally you’ll go into a house where they’re coming out of the wall sockets, phone jacks and things like can openers and toasters,” he said. “Microwaves are pretty bad. Sometimes it looks like there are so many the only way to get rid of them all is to throw it away.”
Pests come into homes for the same reason people go to restaurants — looking for a meal and a drink. But in the case of people, they expect the dishes they eat from to be clean, and it’s up to workers like Bryan Murrell to make sure they have them.
Murrell washes dishes at River Point Restaurant in Lake Jackson and said melted cheese and baked-on fish are two of the nastiest parts of his job.
“It’s dirty and wet,” said Murrell, who usually works split shifts to cover lunch and supper duties. “All the food you have to deal with, some of it stuck to the plates or silverware, it takes a lot of elbow grease to get rid of some of it. People are always coming into restaurants, so there are always more dishes to do.”
When things are washed down the drain that aren’t supposed to be, folks like Steve Wright of Wright Plumbing in Sweeny have to unstop the mess.
“It’s kind of a demanding job, but somebody has to do it,” Wright said. “We find anything from toys to towels — a little bit of everything in drains. Anytime you’re unstopping a 4-inch sewer line, it’s always full of something you don’t want to know about.”
Not everything discovered in drains is disgusting.
“We find earrings a lot,” he said. “I had to help one lady get her diamond necklace out. She was next to the drain when she was taking it off.”
Once drains are unclogged, what’s supposed to be in there flows to a wastewater treatment plant to have solids and chemicals removed, Lake Jackson Utility Superintendent David Ellis said. Someone is available at the plant 24 hours per day, seven days per week.
Water is screened to remove solids like seeds, grit and things washed down the sink. By the time water reaches the plant, paper and other human waste is pretty well liquefied, Ellis said.
“By the time it gets to the plant, it’s really not solid anymore,” he said. “It’s a liquid suspended in the water.”
Clear water rises to the top and heavier water settles to the bottom. The water is chlorinated and treated until “you can put it next to a bottle of water and you can’t tell the difference,” he said. Known then as effluent, cleaned and treated water is discharged into the Brazos River.
What remains is “digested” by bacteria and further treated to remove anything harmful. Any remaining water is pressed out and the solids flattened into “cakes” a quarter- to a half-inch thick.
“We put in a polymer to make it coagulate and press it in a compactor to squeeze out all the water,” Ellis said. “Then we take it to the landfill.”
Household trash takes a less-complicated journey to the dump.
Garbage collectors start at 6:30 a.m. rain or shine, Angleton Waste Connections Operations Manager Andy Tarango said.
No matter what people throw away, garbage men pick it up, toss it in the truck, smash it flat and haul it away.
“It’s a hard job being on the back of a truck dealing with all the garbage people throw out,” Tarango said. “Heavy stuff, awkward stuff, food, sometimes dead animals. You also have to deal with the elements.”
Early-week pickup generally takes about 12 hours and is more involved than collection later in the week since people have barbecues, parties and visitors on weekends. Later-week routes take about 10 hours.
While cold can be miserable, summer is more difficult.
“The worst is trash that’s been out a few days in the heat,” Tarango said. “That tends to smell. It’s not an easy job, especially when it rains. You’re soaking wet and the sun comes back out, but there’s no place to stop and change. You just keep moving and do the job.”
John Lowman covers Brazoria County for The Facts. Contact him at 979-849-8581.
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