SEWER SOCIOLOGY
Home team advantage
Kevin L. Enfinger and Patrick L. Stevens
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sew´·er so·ci·ol´o·gy, the science of
society, social institutions, and social
relationships viewed through the eyes of a
sewer; specifically, the systematic study of
the development, structure, interaction, and
collective sewer use of organized groups of
human beings.
Most sewer flows are characterized by
repeatable diurnal patterns that vary
across weekdays, weekends, and holidays.
Differences in land use also are apparent,
and distractions and disruptions of daily life
often can be observed.
T
his month, we take a look at Super
Bowl viewing habits in South
Boston through the eyes of a
sewer.
The residents of South Boston
traditionally are known as sports aficionados
with devoted loyalty to their hometown
teams. Therefore, we thought it would be
interesting to examine the Super Bowl
Sunday routines of South Boston residents
on two Super Bowl Sundays — one with,
and one without, the hometown New
England Patriots. Super Bowl XLVIII in
2014 pitted the Seattle
Seahawks against the Denver
Broncos and was the mostwatched television program
in history with 115.3 million
viewers. This year Super Bowl
XLIX pitted the New England
Patriots against the Seattle
Seahawks and set yet another
record of 120.8 million viewers
during the Patriot’s dramatic
fourth quarter comeback.
So how did the Super
Bowl Sunday routines vary in
South Boston during the two
Super Bowls? The figures
below show sewer use from a
residential area in portion of South Boston.
Typical weekdays are shown in green, and
typical Sundays are shown in blue. Super
Bowl Sundays in 2014 and 2015 are
shown in red in figures a and b, respectively.
Note that in 2014, sewer use on Super
Bowl Sunday was relatively normal during
the afternoon. However, in 2015 sewer
use was much higher than normal and
peaked shortly after noon as local residents
prepared for parties and the game.
Experienced sewer sociologists
recognize this pattern as similar to
Thanksgiving Day, during which the highest
weekday flows of the year are seen in
residential neighborhoods.
A second observation is seen in how
quickly sewer use drops after the kickoff
— about 6:30 p.m. — in 2015; the data
suggest that residents were glued to their
televisions watching their home team.
Conversely, after kickoff in 2014, sewer use
remained relatively higher as less attention
was paid to the game.
Kevin L. Enfinger is a region engineer,
and Patrick L. Stevens is vice president of
engineering at ADS Environmental Services,
a division of ADS LLC (Huntsville, Ala.).
Residential sewer use in South Boston during Super Bowl XLVIII and Super Bowl XLIX
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WE&T l APRIL 2015 l WWW.WEF.ORG/MAGAZINE
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