Oslo plans sewer safari park

From News in English in the Norwegian paper Aftenposten I gave this URL to some of my friends on the Internet:

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article.jhtml?articleID=674015

The article is reading:

Tourists or simply curious citizens can soon journey into the bowels of Norway's capital. Oslo's department of water and sanitation are planning an adventure center under Frognerparken in response to insistent demand to tour the city's nether regions.

"We have noted great interest in tours of the sewers. Architecture students and school classes have visited (the sewers). People have arranged their stag parties and other celebrations in our underground areas. We have also had a theater performance here and a request to hold a wedding," the department's function leader Svein Hole said.

Until now events were only held on private initiative, but now the department believes they have a market demand to meet. The plan is to turn the city's largest pump station at Frogner Park into a public attraction - a sewer safari park - in about a year's time.

"We will supply people with suits and let them paddle a rubber raft through the sewer system. Also we have now bought an amphibious vehicle that can drive in the tunnels. Making the sewer available for all is after all a way of giving us exposure," Hole said.

One man looking forward to the project is Sondre Wiig, who has worked at the pump station for 13 years. He has striven to make the potentially unsavory workplace attractive and painted murals on every available wall, including a more conventional holiday paradise scene of hotels, palm trees and tropical scenery.

Wiig promises that the room and the paintings, which have suffered a bit from building work, will be in top condition for the public opening.

Aftenposten's Norwegian reporter
Beate Muri
Aftenposten English Web Desk
Jonathan Tisdall

A response came up from Bazza Badrock in England, and went like this:

The first 6/7 years of my career in Civil Engineering was spent working in
and around sewer systems (I designed them, and also did alot of working
surveying and maintaining live sewer systems).

But whilst its an interesting subject, I have to say that working with the
damn things in the field is very dangerous - there are many different ways you
can get killed in a sewer system - and I can't for the life of me see how this
would have any kind of mass appeal. It certainly won't show the real side of
what goes on.

I gave up that line of Civil Engineering after being at the bottom of a 130ft
deep shaft when the gas detector went off. You have between 15/30 seconds to
get your evacuation breathing apparatus on before whatever it is that sets the
alarm off is likely to kill you - and you can only check to see whats set the
alarm going AFTER you have the evacuation set on - it could be explosive
methane that sets it off rather than anything poisonous (getting out of a manhole
full of methane is painstakingly slow, incase you make a spark). Try getting
out of a manhole that deep with full breathing apparatus on. Its not pleasant.

I've also been winched 95ft down into a live 2.5m diameter sewer because the
manhole ladder was unsafe and needed surveying for fixing. Any problems whilst
that kind of thing is going on and you can be swept away into the system (not
a pleasant way to go either).

I'm ranting. I'll shut up now - its a dangerous business underground!

Baz

And Baz added: It's certainly a dangerous job. Would be interesting in seeing what ever the
people planning the tour put together.

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