Return To Sender? Mail Stashed In Sewer System
By Sara Jerome,
@sarmje
The sewer system is not where the mail goes. But letters, bills, and checks wound up there this month when a postal worker in Washington, D.C., decided to throw a load of mail into the underbelly of the city’s infrastructure.
“It appears a U.S. Postal Service employee was tired of delivering the mail, and decided to pull up to a D.C. Water catch basin at Anacostia Ave. and Douglas St. NE and dump mail into the sewer system,” ABC7 recently reported.
The mail was discovered when local resident Gertrude Troyer noticed a clogged drain in her home. Retired D.C. police officer Vincent Wright lent her a hand by snaking it out.
“Wright says he started pulling up paper and on closer inspection discovered that it was mail. He followed the trail to the catch basin and raked out enough mail to fill a wagon. Items included Pepco bills, and what appeared to be a check to a neighborhood company for $10,800,” the report said.
The postal service called in DC Water to help retrieve mail from the catch basin.
“When ABC7 notified the D.C. office of the US Postal service, the postmaster general showed up himself with several other employees, who gathered what mail they could would the help of Wright and left vowing to return,” the report continued.
Postal Service spokesman Tom Ouellette weighed in on what happened.
"This isolated incident has been referred to the USPS Office of Inspector General and a full investigation is underway. The Postal Service takes mail delivery seriously and is committed to discovering the cause of this incident. Rest assured we will make every effort to recover and deliver all mail as promptly as possible. The Postal Service apologizes for any inconvenience this may have caused our customers," he said, per the report.
Beyond its apparent usefulness in mail emergencies, DC Water is known in the treatment sector for its forward-thinking policies. When Jonathan Reeves was hired six years ago, DC Water was among the first utilities to hire a full-time emergency prep manager.
To read more about what gets stuck in our sewers visit Water Online’s Sewers And Sewer Line Maintenance Solutions Center.