Note by Wm James: I simply copied on 00/01/14 this rivetting, unattributed article and post it without comment as to its reliability. It comes from an Australian site: http://www.squonk.net/users/kriste/drains/approach/life.html
VISIBLE:
The megafauna (eels, spiders, rats, turtles, yabbies etc) are generally not a problem
unless provoked. Redbacks and Funnelwebs are killers so either kill 'em or leave 'em
alone. Eels get stroppy if stood upon so look out for them... eels seem to have a
particular dislike of light sources, and will attack submerged torches when not trying to
hide. Rats will hear you coming and run away quickly, but will fight when cornered.
Leeches are rare. You may find the odd snake in a 300mm side feeder or gutter box. You
will sometimes find bats, birds and their nests. Large numbers of hibernating bats are
sometimes found on the roof of drains. They will not attack you, just leave them alone.
They will do their utmost not to fly into you.
Again, leave 'em alone. I have yet to see a saltwater crocodile in a drain but I wouldnt be surprised if such were found in Darwin, where the tides are huge (8 to 10m) and the crocs are plentiful. I could only suggest that you carry a pump action 12-gague with solid load shells, since crocs are fast, powerful and vicious. They are also patient, and if you go up a shaft will probably wait for you to come down again. These dinosaurs have not lasted for as long as they have by being stupid.
If one night you are in a tidal drain and notice the water glows green around you, do not fret; it is not radioactive waste causing this (which usually glows blue, if you're interested), rather a planktonic dinoflagellate called Noctiluca Scintillans. These bioluminesce (luciferin/luciferase oxidation) when disturbed by physical shock, heat or electric current. They are pinkish and transparent and about 1mm across, and completely harmless. Typically bottom feeding fish also inhabit tidal drains, mullet particularly so... these will leap out of the water as you approach, and since they don't fly very well are occasionally wont to hurtle from the water right into your face.
INVISIBLE:
Generally it is the microscopic inhabitants which cause trouble. Drains carry significant
amounts of sewer overflow, dog shit, rotting plant material and the occasional dead
animal. Particularly after rain, drains contain elevated levels of sewer material, since
the sewer is geared to overflow into the storm drainage system instead of bursting out ino
the street where the population can see it and get ill from it. If cut in a drain, attend
to it as soon as possible with ethanol or other disinfectant. Deep puncture wounds
(stepping on nails, broken glass, etc) are open routes to clostridium tetanii (tetanus).
Faecal Escherichia coli bacterium is common... indeed, most of the waterborne pathogens and parasitic organisms are available to you, including things from the Pseudomonas family, the Vibrios, the Aerobacters, the Proteus group, Paracolobactrum, Salmonella, various Tubercelle bacilli... all of these are happy in water and use it as a transmission vector. Those above are treated by antibiotics. Shigella tends to not show up, nor do oraxellae, the bacteroides, and the putresing animal inhabitants like Sphaerophorus are uncommon. Strep and staph are unusual, though Clostridium Botulinum and Bifermentans are known to take aquatic vectors on occasion.
The viruses are another matter. These pathogens are generally rare in storm water, preferring aerosol vectors (expelled droplets). They use insects as their preferred mode of transmission. A somewhat newer player on the molecular scene is Ross River fever, which is a virus and carried by mosquitoes; the first case of this was reported in Sydney occurred in Jan 1995. Mozzies sometimes breed in stagnant patches of drain water so drain explorers, particularly those in the northern climes, are advised to get pre-treated for this too. Contact a pharmacist and your GP.
From the fungi and worm families, one finds the Ctenomyces interdigitalis (tinea) eumycete is uncommon, though the pathogens for ringworm and the favosan tinea dermatomycoses are present usually. Histoplasmosis is a fungi mainly obtained from pigeon shit dust which contains the spores... another reason why these pests are known as the rats of the air. It can become chronic and has permaturely ended lives of cavers, generally knocking the shit out of your lungs first, then ulcerating respiratory tract, including nose and ears, eventually going for bone marrow.
Protozoans are rare, the amebiasis and the Toxoplasmosis Gondii pathogens mainly reside in the sewer system. As for the elusive cryptosporidium... who knows. If it can get in your drinking water, you'll probably find it in stormwater too, and if ingested this protozoan will cause diarrhoea and stomach cramps. Giardia is also occasionally found in stormwater.
Worms tend to use a snail vector which is not common to Australia. Many kinds of algal single-celled life exists but have never caused trouble.
In theory one could concievably get anything from a sewage overflow into a drain. Cuts are common when one falls over, and people have occasionally ingested runoff unintentionally. VERY nasty things are more common in sewers than stormwater: Leptospirosis, for instance, is contractable via the skin, and can live for 3 weeks in fresh water (but is killed relatively quickly in salt water). This little bastard, Leptospiria icterohaemorragiae, will kill you in a week or so, if not kick the shit out of your liver and bugger your kidneys... Trouble is, it appears as a cold, rapidly degenrates into pneumonia, and then kills you due to fun things like hepatic failure. You have to smash it with antibiotics during its incubation period, after which time it is too late and you tend to die.
One never can tell when it will happen. To date no-one in the Clan's 11 year history has died as a direct result of being in a drain, though some members have suffered physical damage at the hands (or feet) of the constabulary. We have had deaths through cerebral annuerism, suicide, motorbike and mountaineering accidents but our safety record is so far unparalled.
Thus I suggest prior immunization. I am immunised against meningococcal meningitis, typhoid, Hepatitis A, Polio, diptheria and tetanus, amongst other things. You can also take boot-to-armpit waders, however this may not be acceptible to followers of Catholicism who tend not to believe in barrier methods. They are a little constrictive but really do keep you dry, as I found when I was wearing them 6 hours a day working for a drain repair company.
Hey... are we professionals or what?
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