We have a water pipe out the front of our house (like most people) which leads water to our house and the rest of our close.
For about 2 years now there has been a constant puddle appearing beside the storm drain near it, draining away into it. So it was obvious the pipe was leaking, as being on a hill water won't be draining up it to go into the storm drain.
For those 2 years, the water company has insisted that that is what has been happening. They've even sent plumbers out to look at it and they always came back with the same "Nothing to worry about" message cards though the letter box.
Recently they finnaly agreed to dig up the path to have a propper look at the pipe. They dug down to it last night and agreed there was a small leak in it. They left saying they'd come back to fix it early tomorow morning (Today). Its now afternoon and no sign of them, but thats not the main concern really.
Within about 30 mins the pipe had leaked enough water into the 1 meter square hole they dug to fill it completely, and it is now going directly down the storm drain it was before after overflowing the hole. It has been leaking quite litterally gallons of pure, clean drinking water into that drain.
I spose my point is, do you ever get the feeling that people don't really care what they waste? Water companies seem to be the worst offenders on these things. Makes me realise where all these water shortages come from.
More like a bit of generic apathy, really. They don't care that they're wasting water, or that they're inconveniencing you in the slightest, so long as they continue to get paid.
The local cable company is bad about that sort of thing, too. If you ever need service, they'll tell you that the technician will be there on Monday between the times of 10 AM and 6 PM, forcing you to clear your schedule for the entire day because they can't be bothered to do their jobs promptly.
I've got the above issue with a phone company right now. I have to take the entire of Wednesday off work because the engineer is coming "Between 8am and 9pm". Ridiculous.
Switch to another company. Oh, you can't? Well, that's how a monopoly works.
Isn't capitalism grand?
I run a water utility.
The cost of gallons of water leaking is a cost of doing business.
Most systems lose 10% of their water or more to leakage. Ones with really old leaky pipes lose far more. When there are hundreds of kilometres of watermains involved, which there would be with any City-sized system, it is impossible to eliminate leakage.
Your leak sounds like a small one. It is simply not very unique. There are likely dozens or hundreds more on that system.
What you call "don't really care what they waste" is actually "finite resources"; ie manpower and money.
The cost of a small leak in terms of dollars wasted is less than the cost of fixing it ie the cost of pipe, fittings, labour, equipment time, and road restoration. A leak can cost $3000 to $10,000 to fix.
I am spending $20,000 to $30,000 in leak detection services this year JUST TO FIND the small leaks on the system which do not come to surface but which can be heard and pinpointed with special equipment. We will then fix the ones that are found which we can afford to fix. In so doing, I may get my leakage from about 17% to 10% or so.
' Wrote:We have a water pipe out the front of our house (like most people) which leads water to our house and the rest of our close.
For about 2 years now there has been a constant puddle appearing beside the storm drain near it, draining away into it. So it was obvious the pipe was leaking, as being on a hill water won't be draining up it to go into the storm drain.
For those 2 years, the water company has insisted that that is what has been happening. They've even sent plumbers out to look at it and they always came back with the same "Nothing to worry about" message cards though the letter box.
Recently they finnaly agreed to dig up the path to have a propper look at the pipe. They dug down to it last night and agreed there was a small leak in it. They left saying they'd come back to fix it early tomorow morning (Today). Its now afternoon and no sign of them, but thats not the main concern really.
Within about 30 mins the pipe had leaked enough water into the 1 meter square hole they dug to fill it completely, and it is now going directly down the storm drain it was before after overflowing the hole. It has been leaking quite litterally gallons of pure, clean drinking water into that drain.
I spose my point is, do you ever get the feeling that people don't really care what they waste? Water companies seem to be the worst offenders on these things. Makes me realise where all these water shortages come from.
Want to see them fix it fast?
Work out a way to move the water that is leaking from the pipe to a storage tank of some sort, so you can use that nice clean FREE water for drinking purposes.
Oh yes, make sure the tank containing the water is accessable to everyone who happens to be passing by, maybe put an el-cheapo plastic cup on a bit of string with it.
It's not like you are stealing it, it is just going to waste anyhow.
I can pretty much guarantee that as soon as the water company finds out that someone is getting FREE water that they will be out there to fix it.
Failing that, maybe you can figure out a way to fix the leak. Duct tape + plus some sort of sealant/rapid set concrete maybe?
' Wrote:We have a water pipe out the front of our house (like most people) which leads water to our house and the rest of our close.
For about 2 years now there has been a constant puddle appearing beside the storm drain near it, draining away into it. So it was obvious the pipe was leaking, as being on a hill water won't be draining up it to go into the storm drain.
For those 2 years, the water company has insisted that that is what has been happening. They've even sent plumbers out to look at it and they always came back with the same "Nothing to worry about" message cards though the letter box.
Recently they finnaly agreed to dig up the path to have a propper look at the pipe. They dug down to it last night and agreed there was a small leak in it. They left saying they'd come back to fix it early tomorow morning (Today). Its now afternoon and no sign of them, but thats not the main concern really.
Within about 30 mins the pipe had leaked enough water into the 1 meter square hole they dug to fill it completely, and it is now going directly down the storm drain it was before after overflowing the hole. It has been leaking quite litterally gallons of pure, clean drinking water into that drain.
I spose my point is, do you ever get the feeling that people don't really care what they waste? Water companies seem to be the worst offenders on these things. Makes me realise where all these water shortages come from.
What you have to understand is the process of "priority"..
A small leak such as that, and trust me its a small leak, is NOT going to be a high priority. They have on average much more pressing matters they have to get addressed. If they went searching for small leaks all day, people would not get their water turned on for months at a new house, or water turned off on an account that you will now have to pay for.. well because they are not paying.
Its simply logistics.. it costs more money to fix all those little leaks then it does to let them leak and get to them when they can.
Water is NEVER wasted.. this is a silly idea..
The ONLY thing I can see you complaining about is:
1. damage to your yard or property which is easily fix'd.
2. If the leak was on YOUR side of the meter, which means they where charging you for the leaked water/repairs.
Other then that its a silly issue to get up in arms about thinking they are "wasting" water.. which will simply end up as rain and fall back to earth.. get cycled into drinking water again...
' Wrote:Switch to another company. Oh, you can't? Well, that's how a monopoly works.
Isn't capitalism grand?
That's not capitalism.
' Wrote:That's not capitalism.
Depends on where you live heh..