Decorative Sewer Manhole Covers in Phoenix

The greater Phoenix area is made up of more than 20 incorporated cities, towns, and census designated places. Collectively, the "metro Phoenix" area is home to 4.7 million people.

As these cities and towns grow closer together into one giant mass of sprawl, how do they retain their individual identities? One small way that cities set themselves apart is with decorative sewer manhole covers. Here are five good ones that I've come across in the Phoenix area. I will update this post with more unique sewer and manhole covers as I find them.

City of Phoenix sanitary sewer cover featuring the Phoenix bird symbol, which was designed in 1987 in a widely publicized design contest. The winning entry was a design by the firm of Smit Ghormley Sanft and became the official city symbol in 1990.

City of Peoria, AZ storm sewer cover featuring a setting sun, mountains, a Saguaro cactus, and an agricultural field in the foreground. The year 1954 is when Peoria was incorporated as a city.

City of Glendale, AZ sanitary sewer cover featuring the three pillar design that appears throughout the city. The pillars represent three key elements of community—the citizens, the business sector, and the government that serves them. They were adopted as the city's official logo in 1990.

City of Chandler, AZ sanitary sewer cover featuring the city's official logo, which was adopted in 1994. It has a stylized "C" with the San Tan Mountains, the growing city, and agricultural fields in the foreground.

City of Scottsdale, AZ storm sewer cover features a cowboy riding a bucking bronco. The design was adopted as the official city seal around 1951. It was designed by local artist Gene Pennington and was based on an actual Scottsdale cattleman and resident Gerbacio "Harvey" Noriega.

November 2020 Update: I found another one!

The City of Buckeye, Arizona has these unique storm sewer covers in their Historic downtown district. The design features the bud of a cotton plant - a historically important crop in the region. It says "Historic Buckeye - Founded 1888." Interestingly, all of the other covers have a small cutout or notch to facilitate removal of the cover using a special manhole cover lifting tool. The Buckeye one does not have a notch and I have no idea how this would be removed!