Woman recovers wedding ring that she flushed down toilet 13 years ago

The ring was a gift to Strand from her husband David on their 33rd anniversary in 2010

Mary Strand finally found her missing ring after 13 years (Screengrab/ Metropolitan Council)

A woman in Minnesota who mistakenly flushed her wedding ring down the toilet has finally found it 13 years later.

“Oh my gosh, this is my ring,” said 71-year-old Mary Strand earlier this week at the metropolitan council office in Rogers when she was presented with the gold and diamond ring.

“It’s nice to see it again.”

The wastewater treatment workers with the Twin Cities' Metropolitan Council found a ring buried in grit and muck next to a chisel and a clamp while working at a plant in March.

The council received hundreds of claims from people saying they lost the ring but they were finally able to find the owner with the help of old photos and jeweler Paul Hartquist.

Ms Strand said her daughter spotted the ring on television after WCCO ran a story about the council officials hoping to find the rightful owner. "My daughter called me and she said, 'Mom, you're never going to believe this, but I just saw Frank Vascellaro do a story about your ring'," Ms Strand said.

Met council maintenance manager John Tierney said he was "optimistic that we would find somebody and I'm glad for these two".

The ring was a gift to Ms Strand from her husband, David, on their 33rd anniversary in 2010. The couple have been married for 46 years.

The ring didn't fit properly and after a few months of wearing it, the ring fell into the toilet, she said.

Mary Strand was reunited with the ring after 13 years (Screengrab/ Metropolitan Council)

“I am standing there washing my hands and I reached over and I flushed it and I am watching this ring swirl around,” Ms Strand said, explaining how she lost the ring.

“I dove for the ring and it went down the drain.”

Her husband, who reportedly has his own drain and sewer business, tried to find the ring, but even his expertise failed.

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

Although the ring isn't in a wearable condition after making rounds of sewers for 13 years, Ms Strand said she was just "glad to have it back, because you can get it reset".

Ms Strand, as it turns out, has lost other rings in the past.

According to the Washington Post, she previously lost her original engagement ring and a ring studded with five sapphires that her co-workers had given her as a Christmas gift.