Other Things, Besides the Gulf of Mexico, Saved By Plumbers

(July 16) -- All hail the plumber.

After reports that a plumber's sketch may have provided the inspiration for BP and U.S. Coast Guard engineers to finally come up with a way to stop the Deepwater Horizon well from gushing oil into the Gulf of Mexico, Surge Desk put in a call to UA Plumbers Local Union 78 in Los Angeles to see if the notion seemed credible.

Though unfamiliar with the specifics of BP's well, Douglas Marian, the union's business representative, said that on-the-spot analysis is an inherent part of a plumber's job.

"You walk into a house, find a leak and you problem solve," Marian told Surge Desk. "Granted, the kinds of jobs we usually do are on a much smaller scale, but, yeah, it could have been a plumber."

Of late, the heroics of plumbers have been reported in a surprising number of news stories. So much so, in fact, that Surge Desk is now able to compile a list of other things (besides the Gulf of Mexico) that plumbers have recently saved.

1. Ducklings

In July 2009, a plumber in Glenshaw, Pa., came across a mother duck frantically peering down a sewer drain. As the plumber approached, he discovered that the duck's seven babies had gotten trapped in the sewer below. With the aid of police and firefighters, George Jessup was able to free the duckings and send the happy family on its way into the woods, The Associated Press reported.

2. Puppies

In June, a plumber was called to the Humane Society in Escondido, Calif., where a tiny cocker spaniel puppy had slipped into a shower drain. The plumber, who, like the presumed hero in the gulf, wanted to remain anonymous, rescued the dog and even decided to adopt him, KYTX news reported.

3. Human Civilization

To hear author W. Hodding Carter tell it, without plumbers, civilization itself would not exist. In his 2007 work "Flushed: How the Plumber Saved Civilization," Carter traces the history of sewer systems from ancient Rome to the modern era. "Carter reserves a chapter to discuss the plumber himself: his profession, his training, and why, in the case of a nuclear holocaust, plumbers 'will be our knights in droopy jeans,' " Publishers Weekly wrote in its review of the book.

4. Diamond Rings

Perhaps a bit more intuitive to the profession, plumbers rescue rings from drains, as was the case in Phoenix on Jan. 24, 2009, when Allison Berry dropped her $70,000 diamond wedding ring in the toilet of her home and inadvertently flushed it away. According to LJWorld.com, Mike Roberts, a plumber with Mr. Rooter, used a tiny video camera inserted into the pipe and found the no-longer-shiny ring a few feet into the plumbing.