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Woman reunited with ring she flushed down toilet 13 years ago

After workers at a wastewater facility found the ring, lots of people claimed it was theirs. A little sleuthing confirmed it belonged to Mary Strand.
Woman reunited with ring she flushed down toilet 13 years ago
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Officials helped reunite a Minnesota woman with her wedding ring that she lost 13 years ago. 

Earlier this week, the Metropolitan Council in the Twin Cities area presented Mary Strand with her long-lost ring. The ring was found in March by wastewater treatment workers repairing a malfunctioning machine. 

After informing the public about the lost ring, the Metropolitan Council got hundreds of claims from people saying they lost their ring. With the help of jeweler Paul Hartquist, and old photos of the ring, they were able to tie the ring to Strand.

“This is my ring. It is nice to see it again,” Strand said as she saw it for the first time in 13 years. 

She explained how she lost the ring. 

“I am standing there washing my hands and I reached over and I flushed it and I am watching this ring swirl around,” she said. “I dove for the ring and it went down the drain.” 

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Her husband came home from work and shook the toilet to see if they could find the ring. 

“We put a camera down the line, a sewer camera, it goes 200 feet down the line, and we didn’t see anything,” said David Strand. “That was it. We wrote it off.”

The Metropolitan Council said it is a “rare occurrence” that it finds rings in its wastewater plant. 

The ring appeared to be in good shape.


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