Sewer district draws up comic book super hero to illustrate underground challenges, duties
Costa Mesa Sanitary District’s Steve Cano, a maintenance supervisor, stands next to a pump station on Wilson Street with Sewer Slayer, a superhero-like character he helped create that teaches children about how the district keeps the sewers running, and its various villains.
In the chaotic underworld of Costa Mesa sewers, where grease and tree roots cause havoc to seep up toward the unsuspecting masses, only the Sewer Slayer can save them.
This heroic figure (who looks a lot like Superman) has one mission: Protect the environment by fighting the sinister evildoers beneath the streets. To achieve his goals, he’ll take on the mighty forces of Mr. Overflow, Grease Goblin and Root Myzer.
Villains, all.
And treacherous, each in his own diabolical way.
If this sounds fictional, it’s not — well, sort of.
Sewer clogs caused by grease and tree roots are real in Costa Mesa, as are the crews who respond to them.
But to help ratepayers, particularly children, know more about the Costa Mesa Sanitary District’s day-to-day duties, there’s the Sewer Slayer, a comic book-like hero of the district’s creation who teaches how the sewer system is kept running and how to avoid its downfall.
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“It’s a fun way to promote the wastewater guys,” said district General Manager Scott Carroll.
Next month, Mr. Slayer is one why reason why the district is being presented with an industry award. The district will receive the 2015 Collection System of the Year award from the Santa Ana River Basin Section of the California Water Environment Assn.
The award recognizes aspects that Costa Mesa ratepayers expect to be top notch — like safety, training, regulatory compliance, emergency procedures — and this year, it’ll recognize something that makes Costa Mesa’s agency a little quirkier.
Credit for Sewer Slayer is divide among three men — Steve Cano, wastewater maintenance supervisor, and maintenance workers Joel Ortiz and Alex Arreola.
Cano came up with the name and initial drawings. Ortiz and Arreola help spread the word and distribute Sewer Slayer stickers and coloring books.
When asked if he was the type of kid who doodled in class instead of listening to the teacher, Cano sheepishly smiled.
“Maybe,” he said.
Sewer Slayer’s origins date to about two years ago. Cano was inspired after seeing children become fascinated by the district’s specialized sewer system cleanup trucks. The kids would be playing in the street, the truck rolled in and they wanted to know more.
But the district didn’t have a way to connect with them. There wasn’t a toy or some other item to hand out.
So Cano drew something up.
Out came Sewer Slayer, whose square jaw, bulging muscles, spandex suit and flowing cape transform him into a Clark Kent-esque hero for beneath the City of the Arts. He’s available on stickers and coloring books.
“The ominous and creeping Root Myzer is our greatest enemy of our sewer pipes,” according to Sewer Slayer’s coloring book. “If the Root Myzer gets its clutches in our pipe joints, it can break out pipe joints or cause a stoppage.”
Then there’s the “lurking” Grease Goblin, who must “be destroyed.”
“Do not feed the Grease Goblin by dumping grease down your sink!” the coloring book warns.
Carroll said Sewer Slayer materials are cheap to produce yet effective. The freebies go quickly from the district’s booths staged for community events.
Earlier this year, Sewer Slayer upped his game beyond the stickers and books. He’s now emblazoned on a pump station on Wilson Street near Harbor Boulevard, thanks to Mesa Art and Framing, a business down the way from the district’s West 19th Street headquarters.
So what’s next for Sewer Slayer, other than fighting the good fight in the war for cleaner sewers?
He could show up at the school demonstrations the district wants to do, Carroll said.
Or maybe the San Diego Comic-Con?
“That would be the future,” Carroll joked. “Right?”
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Bradley Zint, bradley.zint@latimes.com
Twitter: @BradleyZint
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