Meet ‘Drain and Abel’
It has been a very wet month for the western terminus of I-80, the city known as San Francisco. A series of storms that began on December 26 dropped more than 18 inches of rain there, making it the wettest 22-day period in 160 years.
And playing a small but necessary role in keeping the city from drowning were two sewer drains with decidedly Jewish names. “Drain and Abel” and “Drain Del, Drain Del, Drain Del” were named by students at the Jewish Community High School of the Bay’s Young Activists club, who answered the call of their city to “Adopt-A-Drain,” shoveling it free of leaves and other detritus in order to better allow the torrential rainwater sweeping the city to drain into the sewer system.
The adopt-a-drain program is run by San Francisco’s Public Utilities Commission. Anyone who adopts one also can name it.
According to SFGate, the city started the adopt-a-drain program because the city can’t keep up with maintenance. The city was inspired by a program in Boston in which residents could adopt fire hydrants.
The school itself suffered no water damage in the storms so far, according to Mary Ellen Hunt, the school’s director of enrollment.
J:The Jewish News of Northern California
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