Explosive Russian Sewage Leak Spurts as High as High-Rise Buildings

"A sh*t show, literally."

The Fountainhead

Things in Russia seem pretty crappy after a massive — and we mean massive, as it dwarfed surrounding high-rise buildings — fountain of brown liquid was recorded spewing out of a ruptured sewage main in Moscow.

In a tweet, former Ukrainian government advisor Anton Geraschenko shared videos from the explosive incident.

"Moscow Telegram channels report that the sewage system in Moscow broke down," he tweeted. "A 'fountain' the height of a residential building is seen in one of Moscow's districts."

In one comment, a digital onlooker pointed out that they had experienced something similar at their home earlier this month and that the brown water might not be that color because of feces.

"Is this the thermal heating system being purged[?]" the X user responded. "In our apartment in Craiova the heating is pressurized in October and the water that come[s] out is rusty colored like this."

In a statement to the UK's Mirror tabloid, Russian state-owned utility Gazprom suggested that the sewers in the Novaya Moskova district were being cleared out in that manner — and that the situation is "under control."

All the same, there's nothing clean-looking about this sewer explosion.

"A sh*t show," Geraschenko quipped, "literally."

Poo the Day

Unfortunately, this kind of sewer situation seems to happen somewhat regularly.

Last month, a set of newly installed sewer pipes in Nanning, China were recorded exploding — and in that case, cars and passers-by were unable to avoid the nasty detritus.

Dubbed a "poo-cano" by The Sun, another British tabloid, there seems to be far less ambiguity about the contents of the Chinese plume than the one in Russia.

"I’m drenched in poo, my car is splattered yellow," one unfortunate driver reportedly complained, per The Sun. "It’s ruined."

While nobody seems to have died or been injured in either of incident, history has shown that poo-splosions can be damaging — and even deadly.

In 1992, a series of sewer explosions in Guadalajara, Mexico resulted in more than 200 deaths and 1,000 damaged buildings. It was ultimately revealed that the cause had been a gas leak that could have been prevented — and a group of angry survivors organized to make sure such a thing never happened again.

More recently, a wastewater explosion in a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri forced people out of their homes. Luckily, those residents were compensated pretty quickly by their town's government.

More on sewage: Google's AI Turns the Words "Fart" and "Poop" Written 1,000 Times Into an Entire Podcast