A small patch of densely packed trees surrounded by single family homes with a 8 line highway in the foreground

What even happens in this tiny forest?

Photo of towers and single family homes and warehouses with the Toronto skyline in the background

Toronto suburbs are wild.

Screenshot from the International Plumbing Code. SECTION 714 BACKWATER VALVES : : 714.1 Sewage backflow. INSIGHTS Where plumbing fixtures are installed on a floor with a finished floor elevation below the elevation of the manhole cover of the next upstream manhole in the public sewer, such fixtures shall be protected by a backwater valve installed in the building drain, or horizontal branch serving such fixtures. Plumbing fixtures installed on a floor with a finished floor elevation above the elevation of the manhole cover of the next upstream manhole in the public sewer shall not discharge through a backwater valve. Exception: In existing buildings, fixtures above the elevation of the manhole cover of the next upstream manhole in the public sewer shall not be prohibited from discharging through a backwater valve.

Absolutely. This can also happen with a regular blockage too, but a backwater valve malfunction can create the very problem it seeks to avoid, which is why they’re prohibited unless the lowest fixture is below the closet upstream manhole (which acts as a relief point in the street).

Same diagram as the one shown above with the suds pressure zones, but with red circles around the areas where merging is approved

Other drainage piping may connect to merge into one drain only outside of these dashed gray areas.

Woah nice design

5.7.7 车站站台应安装屏蔽门，屏蔽门的布置与结构、技术指标应符合现行行业标准《城市轨道交通站台屏蔽门系统技术规范》CJJ183的规定。 ENGLISH TRANSLATION Platform screen doors should be installed on station platforms. The layout, structure, and technical specifications of the screen doors should comply with the provisions of the current industry standard "Technical Specification for Platform Screen Door Systems of Urban Rail Transit Stations" CJJ 183.

Cover of GB 51151 - 2016 Technical code for engineering of public security and protection system of urban rail transit

Here’s what I just found.

GB 51151 - 2016 requires them at all platforms and it defers specifications to a separate standard for urban rail platform screen doors.

Outdoor Metro station with people standing by the glass screens as a train approaches

I think it’s a requirement. I’ve even seen it on outdoor stations (Shanghai’s Minhang District shown here).

Mitigation strategies to prevent foaming detergents from pouring out of plumbing fixtures result in redundant piping like this. Some plumbing codes have no mitigation requirements (which is bad) but others go overboard. It’s a difficult area to study in a lab because the soap is difficult to clear.

Amazing

Thank you!

There’s only one appropriately sized car in this photo.

Photo of a Smart Fortwo with a cybertruck in a residential neighborhood

Living in walkable city for the past 10 years meant it was rarely used but it was a fantastic car and I will miss mogging Cybertrucks.

I would like to announce that I sold my car and am now car-free for the first time in my adult life. Please clap.

Image of MGP with sea lion but with the proposed arch showing 250 ft tall and the sea lion showing as 511 ft long and weighing 2500 tons

Bigger sea lions are the solution.

Specification sheet for Grohe exposed shower mixing valve

There are very few manufacturers that sell them here in the US/Canada. I suspect many of them don’t easily pass the ASSE 1016 specification for shower/tub valves (just a guess). Some do though.

Acoustical isolation at tub spout

Acoustical isolation at tub spout

One weird simple trick to reduce noise from filling bathtubs.

Exactly 💯

You basically have the choice of living in a noisy apartment building with easy to replace shower valves or a quiet apartment building with hard to repair shower valves. A European style exposed shower valve allows for a quiet and easy to maintain solution.

Yes, it might as well be an amplifier. And for noise from flowing water in pipes, it gets worse as biofilm and scale build up over time, increasing turbulence and cavitation.

Neoprene pad on pipe support Image from ASPE webcast

These neoprene pads are not used nearly enough on pipe supports. You really have to live in a multifamily building and to realize how much building movement (from opening and closing doors or heavy walking) can transmit through piping, even fire sprinkler piping.

Example of typical PEX installation (insulation shower here not common in US).

Here’s an attempt to mimic the acoustical isolating characteristics of flexible PEX piping using metallic piping. Rather than connecting the copper piping directly to the shower valve, flexible braided stainless steel is used for the connection to the valve (not common and not recommended).

P3 - Plumbing Plans Examiner  

I believe most jurisdictions require these accreditations for AHJs. I actually took this one myself back in 2013 just for fun. A lot of AHJs will have multiple of these accreditations for different categories.

Just for a bit. Off to a new place soon.

Cryptosporidiosis Outbreaks — United States, 2009–2017

Thankfully even when cryptosporidium was detected in 2017, there was extremely low risk to the public, according to the PWB. That’s even more so the case today with additional protective measures the PWB has taken. Drinking water is also very far down the list when it comes to exposure pathways.

👇

Figure 1. Photographs of several water mains in two drinking water distribution systems: (A) a 118-year-old cast-iron water main from the chloraminated drinking water distribution system (site C7; original internal diameter = 15.2 cm); (B) a 40-year-old ductile iron water main with cement-mortar lining from the chloraminated drinking water distribution system (site C6; diameter = 15.2 ст); (C) a 109-year-old cast-iron main from the no- residual system (site N7a; original diameter = 15.0 cm); and (D) an unlined 46-year-old ductile iron water main from the no-residual system (site N5a; diameter = 15.0 cm).

pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

Effect of Chloramine Disinfection of Community Water System on Legionnaires’ Disease Outbreak, Minnesota, USA, 2024 Chloramine and Legionnaires’ Disease Outbreak

doi.org/10.3201/eid3...

A quiet street to stop and appreciate the symphony of color.

Sunset on Kits Beach