http://io9.com/5305706/public-utili...real-but-doesnt-know-what-it-is?autoplay=true
Public Utilities Group Confirms "Sewer Monster" Is Real, But Doesn't Know What It Is
By Annalee Newitz
12:56 PM on Wed Jul 1 2009
If you've been following the ongoing sewer monster story from North Carolina, I've got some seriously crazy news for you. First of all, the video of the throbbing poop-esque creature has been confirmed as real. But what is it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELoqZiamr4E
We've been tipped off by an anonymous source about how the city of Raleigh, North Carolina, is responding as the viral video of a seething blob in the city sewers made its way across the internet yesterday. Marti Gibson is the Environmental/EMS Coordinator for Public Utilities in the city of Raleigh, North Carolina, and she has been as confused as the rest of us. When she first looked at the video, she emailed our anonymous source to say it was a slime mold that was in the phase of its lifecycle where it looks like a throbbing, breathing animal (see io9's report on slime molds from a few weeks ago where we talked about this exact thing).
She assured our tipster that any water passing by this slime would pass through a treatment plant and be thoroughly cleansed.
But then, a few hours later, Gibson retracted her statement in an email:
Worms? What kind of worms look like that?
Also I love how the privatization of the sewer system under this particular town has led to a terrible situation where the city's public utilities commission has no ability to guarantee that the situation will be dealt with in a reasonable way.
Can some environmental scientist or worm expert please step up and tell us what this really is?
UPDATE:
According to the News & Observer:
But another scientist said no way to bryozoans. DeepSeaNews interviewed Dr. Timothy S. Wood, an expert on freshwater bryozoa and an officer with the International Bryozoology Association. He said:
An example of a Tubifex is pictured below:
Public Utilities Group Confirms "Sewer Monster" Is Real, But Doesn't Know What It Is
By Annalee Newitz
12:56 PM on Wed Jul 1 2009
If you've been following the ongoing sewer monster story from North Carolina, I've got some seriously crazy news for you. First of all, the video of the throbbing poop-esque creature has been confirmed as real. But what is it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELoqZiamr4E
We've been tipped off by an anonymous source about how the city of Raleigh, North Carolina, is responding as the viral video of a seething blob in the city sewers made its way across the internet yesterday. Marti Gibson is the Environmental/EMS Coordinator for Public Utilities in the city of Raleigh, North Carolina, and she has been as confused as the rest of us. When she first looked at the video, she emailed our anonymous source to say it was a slime mold that was in the phase of its lifecycle where it looks like a throbbing, breathing animal (see io9's report on slime molds from a few weeks ago where we talked about this exact thing).
She assured our tipster that any water passing by this slime would pass through a treatment plant and be thoroughly cleansed.
But then, a few hours later, Gibson retracted her statement in an email:
Worms? What kind of worms look like that?
Also I love how the privatization of the sewer system under this particular town has led to a terrible situation where the city's public utilities commission has no ability to guarantee that the situation will be dealt with in a reasonable way.
Can some environmental scientist or worm expert please step up and tell us what this really is?
UPDATE:
According to the News & Observer:
But another scientist said no way to bryozoans. DeepSeaNews interviewed Dr. Timothy S. Wood, an expert on freshwater bryozoa and an officer with the International Bryozoology Association. He said:
An example of a Tubifex is pictured below:
