Unblocking drains and pipes or clearing cess pits and septic tanks may not be everyone's idea of fun.

But for Anthony Foster it is a way of life that has made him successful in business for the past 20 plus years.

For Mr. Foster, who runs Bermuda Sanitation & Engineering Ltd., has been involved in everything from cleaning and repairing water systems to video inspection and even detecting the slightest of water leaks.

Mr. Foster was introduced to the sanitation industry as a teenager by his uncle Arthur Hudson who had a business cleaning cess pits and it was when he first discovered his talent for handling sewage.

He went to school to study business and achieved a degree in Administration Computer Systems from Hoftsra University in Long Island, New York before working at Butterfield Bank for about three years, but he kept up his interest in sanitation and enrolled in a plumbing course at Bermuda College and went on to set up his own company in 1987.

"In Bermuda you have to work to make a living and to survive and that has been the same throughout my career," he said.

"I found that in a corporate structure that in order to survive you had to take sewage in a figurative sense and that the rules always change, but when you do some work and learn about sewage the rules remain the same."

There are three simple rules which have served Mr. Foster well in his line of work: "It is nasty, it stinks and it can kill you". And if you stick to those principles you can make an good living out of it, he claims.

Mr. Foster, who has been licensed by New Flow Technologies and accredited by the National Waste Waters Association and a number of other organisations, has been attending various trade shows and seminars to keep his business on the cutting edge of technology.

But, above all he just enjoys solving problems and troubleshooting, offering services ranging from cess pit plumbing, cleaning and repair, plumbing and related services, portable toilet rentals, water tank cleaning, location and drain cleaning, video inspection and water leak detection.

"We provide a sanitary solution that addresses the movement of water throughout buildings in any situation," he said.

"We can do plumbing, rainwater, clean your tanks and deal with any situation along the way and we have also introduced technology to Bermuda which is on the cutting edge such as underground cameras, leak detection and are able to realign pipes that are damaged underground without removing the flooring."

Mr. Foster works with an on site team of Leroy Outerbridge, Joey Smith, Roger Astwood, Jason Dillis and Willie Binungcal and support staff comprising his wife Ella Foster and Danielle Thomas, who are always in regular radio contact with each other and operate a fleet of three pump trucks, two plumbing vans and a dump trucks in addition to a host of plumbing equipment.

Bermuda Sanitation and Engineering also has a sister company Cabaloo Ltd., which supplies and maintains portable toilets for Cup Match, Bermuda Day, concerts and other special events.

"We get calls for absolutely anything, but most of our calls are for drainage problems," said Mr. Foster.

"We deal with everything protecting the health of the community — that is our main focus, and we are always investing in technology to be able to provide the best and most efficient service to this Island."

Among the biggest changes Mr. Foster has seen during his time in the industry, have been the advancement of technology and the ability to see what is causing the problem instead of just predicting what the solution should be.

He cited being able to clean out a pipe under the floor of Rustico without removing the surface or contents of the kitchen and a system 12 to 15 feet underground below a set of steps at The Breaker's Club as some of his proudest achievements.

And he reckons having to deal with a different array of problems at the same time is one of the greatest challenges his company faces, juggling the likes of servicing the Rugby World Classic while sorting out emergency calls.

"To be able to realign a system without having to dig up the floor bring a whole different level of service to the table," he said.

"It is all about people understanding the value that we bring and a lot of times they do not really appreciate the investment that we have made in technology to find solutions to the problems.

"We have a saying that any job done well is done by Bermuda Sanitation and Engineering and we really take pride in what we do and build on that.

"You have to smile as people copy us and come behind and watch what we are doing and you see the industry follow us."

Mr. Foster said one of the funniest parts of the job is watching self-professed sanitary experts coming into the role thinking it is nice easy work and then finding out they have to get their hands dirty.

Some of the most amusing moments have come from employees falling in sewage or getting splashed by raw sewage, which is a rite of passage according to Mr. Foster.

"Your initiation is falling into sewage or getting covered by raw sewage," he said.

"It is funny watching people that think they belong in this industry ask for a job and we try them out and as soon as they get a little bit of do-do on them they are shocked and have to go and wash themselves straight away.

"Some people think they can do it, but this job is not cut out for everybody, but that said, we are on the lookout for gifted people to build a team here.

"We would like to be known as the best service provider in our industry in Bermuda and because we always show up on time and do what we say we are going to do, we just appreciate a simple please and thank you from time to time."

Mr. Foster, who has been married for 25 years and has two daughters, both studying at the Abilene Christian University in Texas, sits on the Bermuda Small Business Development Corporation board and is also vice-president of Small Business Advisors, which helps entrepreneurs with their businesses, and a retirement lifestyle venture called Myera, which operates in Bermuda and Canada.

In his spare time he works as a Sunday school teacher at Brighton Hill Road Church of Christ in Devonshire and enjoys deep sea fishing and sailing, reading books and watching films.

But there is nothing Mr. Foster enjoys better than problem solving and pushing the boundaries of sanitation innovation and technology in his quest to keep Bermuda clean and healthy.