Almost 400 feet beneath San Pedro, Rachel is stuck.

Here on the surface at Averill Park, children play on the vibrant green hills. Books are open. Lunches are enjoyed.

But Rachel — an 18-foot-diameter tunneling machine — awaits the signal to resume drilling through earth that no human has touched before.

The tunnel she's boring will eventually carry the treated wastewater of 5 million people from a plant in Carson 2 miles offshore from the Palos Verdes Peninsula in the Pacific Ocean.

This tunneling project, delayed by a recent breach , is just one part of the mostly invisible system that takes care of everything we flush or drain down a toilet, sink or shower, hoping to never see again. The Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts operate 11 wastewater treatment plants that clean the

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