Deer Island as work of art.

The Bulletin has details on how a Canadian company will help the MWRA determine the best way to upgrade a seven-foot-wide sewer under West Roxbury and Roslindale: Two inspectors will be lowered into the large pipe near the Ohrenberger School - one to inspect the conduit's condition, the other to help get the first guy out in the event of any trouble.

The MWRA this week awarded a contract to an Edmonton company to figure out the best way to renovate an aging sewer main through West Roxbury, that is, a different aging sewer main than the one that forced years of traffic disruption along the VFW Parkway.

The West Roxbury Tunnel, seven feet in diameter, runs 2 1/2 miles from the VFW Parkway (near the McDonald's - and near the start of the Upper Neponset main under the VFW Parkway) under West Roxbury and Roslindale before emptying into another main at Hyde Park Avenue. The tunnel - which carries waste from as far west as Framingham - was bored through rock and is at some points 220 feet underground.

MWRA spokesperson Ria Convery says it's way too early to say if the project will involve major digging, because that will depend on how the MWRA decides to renovate the tunnel. She said the authority currently doesn't plan to begin work until 2012, leaving plenty of time for public hearings on the project, which currently has an estimated cost of $80 million.

Ever wonder what the inside of a sewer looks like? Some photos from inside the West Roxbury Tunnel.

The AP has been busy, finding lots of drugs in people's water. Sadly, Boston is on the list of cities that don't test for this stuff. Look on the bright side; you could live in a city run these morons:

Arlington, Texas, acknowledged that traces of a pharmaceutical were detected in its drinking water but cited post-9/11 security concerns in refusing to identify the drug.

The MWRA is enlarging the sewer that runs under the VFW Parkway. And that means blasting. And apparently, the best time to do some blasting and heavy construction is 3:15 in the morning. Ed Symkus wearily reports:

... [T]wo nights ago, close to midnight, my windows started rattling again. Last night, the windows rattled around the same time, then at 3:15 - yes, I'm talking about 3:15 A.M. - the banging started - make that clanging - REALLY LOUD CLANGING - metal against metal. Do these people think we're stupid? Do they think they can tell us it won't happen again, then sneak one - or two - by us? ...

Earlier:
The hula trees of West Roxbury.