December 12th, 2020 at 8:06 AM
Sewage, as we all know, is a pain in the rear when dealing with Cities:Skylines. It clogs up the waterways, floods the shorelines in unpredictable ways, and is an eyesore that simply keeps adding up as the city grows.
I was creating a new township that was more loosely developed and more experimental than ones I've done in the past. So, in that spirit, I decided to try something new: I'd get rid of the sewage in a more creative manner. We'd keep our waterways and oceans pristine, and there would be no horrible aftereffects of dumping massive amounts of sewage into the ocean.
Now, in real life, the idea of just dumping the sewage and forgetting about it seems laughable. But as it turns out, in the game, there was a little "life hack" that was just waiting to be tried. We decided that we would just toss all of our sewage into the middle of nowhere. To do this, we created our own dedicated lake. It would be completely away from everything else on the entire map, and would be entirely contained to one incredibly disgusting body of water.
The problem here is that Sewage does not soak through the ground in C:S. The lake would overflow quickly, so this would ordinarily never be a viable solution. However, we had a "genius solution" (hehe) to the rescue, suggested by our very latest middle school "most improved award" winner for the science fair. We would simply create an army of water pumps, a connect them to nowhere.
These water pumps do not have pipes (beyond maybe one tile of them just to activate the pump) and do not serve anyone (so they can't pollute the drinking water). What they do, however, is pump the sewage into the ground, into the sky, burn it, I don't know what they do. But whatever these random water pumps do, they do a very good job of getting rid of the sewage.
![[Image: 2V7We.jpg]](http://makestation.net/imagehost/images/2V7We.jpg)
It worked for about two in-game years. Worked like a charm. Had four drains and six pumps on the lake, so I had some redundancy in case one of the pumps failed (and they sometimes do).
However, what happened next was a little more predictable than I would have liked to have admitted. It was VERY predictable (and not in a good way). It was nothing short of totally disasterous.
Every single pump failed at once. And because the city had a lot of sewage, it overflowed. A lot.
![[Image: o9Yfa.jpg]](http://makestation.net/imagehost/images/o9Yfa.jpg)
(As you can see, our lake was on a hill, and therefore flooded the entire city below. And unfortunately, for us, sewage does not absorb through the ground. It pretty much destroys anything in its path until it reaches the ocean. And then it pollutes the ocean and you can't get rid of it there either.)
Life went on for months as the city attempted to resolve the issue. New pumps were installed and terraforming was done to reroute overflows. Neither of these two solutions stopped the massive outflow of sewage from the lake, and completely replaced pumps failed to alleviate the issue either. Citizens were spotted driving through the sewage completely submerged on the local highway:
![[Image: icyxg.jpg]](http://makestation.net/imagehost/images/icyxg.jpg)
The horrible destruction continued, ripping apart large swaths of the new town, along with most of its western-side subdivisions.
![[Image: wzMAL.jpg]](http://makestation.net/imagehost/images/wzMAL.jpg)
Finally, after all attempts to fix the lake had failed, the city gave up and began looking for a new solution. To do so, they quickly began creating a brand new (larger) sewage lake. (Because doing the SAME thing expecting a different result is apparently not insanity.
)
And after weeks of construction, the new lake was finally commisioned. This one was on a valley, so any overflows will not flood the city below. And it was larger, deeper, and more spaced-out, and thereby (presumably) higher capacity (according to our science fair winners again, at least.
).
![[Image: HfREN.jpg]](http://makestation.net/imagehost/images/HfREN.jpg)
This one was installed with five sewage drains and six water pumps (in case of any failures). So far, three weeks in, it is maintaining a very low level and is functioning as it should. No indications of any failures so far.
Unfortunately, cleanup efforts have not been as successful as hoped. Although the overflows stopped and the city itself has drained, the sewage lake has failed to recede, even after multiple new pumps were installed. The city decided to make the most of it. They are now offering premier lakefront dining, with full view of the "sinkhole" lake below. Priced at a slight discount due to possible smell, but the new lakeside resorts have started to improve land value in the nearby areas.
![[Image: MAHJe.jpg]](http://makestation.net/imagehost/images/MAHJe.jpg)
I was creating a new township that was more loosely developed and more experimental than ones I've done in the past. So, in that spirit, I decided to try something new: I'd get rid of the sewage in a more creative manner. We'd keep our waterways and oceans pristine, and there would be no horrible aftereffects of dumping massive amounts of sewage into the ocean.
Now, in real life, the idea of just dumping the sewage and forgetting about it seems laughable. But as it turns out, in the game, there was a little "life hack" that was just waiting to be tried. We decided that we would just toss all of our sewage into the middle of nowhere. To do this, we created our own dedicated lake. It would be completely away from everything else on the entire map, and would be entirely contained to one incredibly disgusting body of water.
The problem here is that Sewage does not soak through the ground in C:S. The lake would overflow quickly, so this would ordinarily never be a viable solution. However, we had a "genius solution" (hehe) to the rescue, suggested by our very latest middle school "most improved award" winner for the science fair. We would simply create an army of water pumps, a connect them to nowhere.
These water pumps do not have pipes (beyond maybe one tile of them just to activate the pump) and do not serve anyone (so they can't pollute the drinking water). What they do, however, is pump the sewage into the ground, into the sky, burn it, I don't know what they do. But whatever these random water pumps do, they do a very good job of getting rid of the sewage.
It worked for about two in-game years. Worked like a charm. Had four drains and six pumps on the lake, so I had some redundancy in case one of the pumps failed (and they sometimes do).
However, what happened next was a little more predictable than I would have liked to have admitted. It was VERY predictable (and not in a good way). It was nothing short of totally disasterous.
Every single pump failed at once. And because the city had a lot of sewage, it overflowed. A lot.
(As you can see, our lake was on a hill, and therefore flooded the entire city below. And unfortunately, for us, sewage does not absorb through the ground. It pretty much destroys anything in its path until it reaches the ocean. And then it pollutes the ocean and you can't get rid of it there either.)
Life went on for months as the city attempted to resolve the issue. New pumps were installed and terraforming was done to reroute overflows. Neither of these two solutions stopped the massive outflow of sewage from the lake, and completely replaced pumps failed to alleviate the issue either. Citizens were spotted driving through the sewage completely submerged on the local highway:
The horrible destruction continued, ripping apart large swaths of the new town, along with most of its western-side subdivisions.
Finally, after all attempts to fix the lake had failed, the city gave up and began looking for a new solution. To do so, they quickly began creating a brand new (larger) sewage lake. (Because doing the SAME thing expecting a different result is apparently not insanity.
) And after weeks of construction, the new lake was finally commisioned. This one was on a valley, so any overflows will not flood the city below. And it was larger, deeper, and more spaced-out, and thereby (presumably) higher capacity (according to our science fair winners again, at least.
). This one was installed with five sewage drains and six water pumps (in case of any failures). So far, three weeks in, it is maintaining a very low level and is functioning as it should. No indications of any failures so far.
Unfortunately, cleanup efforts have not been as successful as hoped. Although the overflows stopped and the city itself has drained, the sewage lake has failed to recede, even after multiple new pumps were installed. The city decided to make the most of it. They are now offering premier lakefront dining, with full view of the "sinkhole" lake below. Priced at a slight discount due to possible smell, but the new lakeside resorts have started to improve land value in the nearby areas.
![[Image: 5.jpg]](http://www.nodiatis.com/pub/5.jpg)
![[Image: pkmb0Gv.png]](https://i.imgur.com/pkmb0Gv.png)
