Pima County
Wastewater Management Department
George Brinsko
Director

News Release
Date: April 30, 1998
For Immediate Release

THERE ARE NO $50,000 ROACHES IN PIMA COUNTY'S SANITARY SEWER SYSTEM
To promote his business, Arizona Pest Control, local businessman Bruce Tennenbaum is offering monetary prizes for the capture of a variety of roaches.

One hundred bar-coded roaches will be released in the community; one of which will be specially marked and worth $50,000 if captured and returned.

While Mr. Tennenbaum will not disclose the locations where he will be releasing the marked roaches, the one place he will NOT release them, is into Pima County's Public Sanitary Sewage Conveyance System.

Since Mr. Tennenbaum announced his contest, the Pima County Wastewater Management Department has been receiving phone calls from area residents seeking access into the sewer system to catch roaches. According to a local ordinance, access to the sewer is limited to the employees of the Wastewater Management Department or its designated contractors. Access into the sewer system by a member of the public is illegal.

"There are no bar-coded roaches in our system, in fact, it is sometimes difficult to find any roaches in our manholes, especially in areas that have been recently treated by our vector (roach) control crews" said Wastewater Management Deputy Director Jon C. Schladweiler. Mr. Schladweiler continued," The opening of manholes by the public is illegal for a good reason. Manholes and sewers are considered confined spaces, and the sewage itself and the contained air in the system are not what you want to come in contact with. Additionally, if any debris should fall into an opened manhole, it could potentially lead to a blockage and overflow of raw sewage into the environment."

According to Laura Hagen Fairbanks, the Department's Community Relations specialist, "The Pima County Wastewater Management Department wished the residents of Pima County the best of luck in finding prize-winning roaches, we just ask that you don't mess with our manholes.. The marked roaches won't be in their, and neither should you."