Asheville's difficulties with it's water...
"...dates to the Great Depression and the insistence on paying off a massive debt load while ignoring infrastructure needs. In the middle part of the 20th century, the city funneled some water revenues toward the Depression-era debt, which was finally paid off in 1976.
The most recent water outage, which left tens of thousands of customers without water and spanned 11 days over Christmas and New Year’s, was precipitated by a severe three-day cold event. Throughout the system, 27 city-owned waterlines broke, and when the city turned to its Mills River water plant to produce water, workers found it unable to operate because parts of it were frozen.
It is well known that due to old and faulty pipes leaking, one-fourth of the water produced at the city’s two main reservoirs, North Fork and Bee Tree, leaked into the ground. Read more from Asheville Watchdog here.
Engineering experts say infrastructure issues, a lack of preparation and a poor response to the crisis played key roles in the debacle.
The politicians will continue to look into what might be a right and good answer to these problems. It is sad to have a city where water problems have plagued the citizens for so long.
I may live in an outlying town, Black Mountain, and have that source of my water services. But many of my neighbors have Asheville water supplies, and there are definitely frequent pipe leaks that require repairs.
Today's quote:
Black holes are where God divided by zero. ―Albert Einstein
...ignoring infrastructure needs will sooner or later bite you in the butt..
ReplyDeleteAnd so many of us weren't even around when the beginning of this woe began!
DeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteI can not imagine going without water for 11 days. We have well water here, I always worry about our well pump.
Take care, have a happy week!
Second try to reply...first went away in a puff of blog smoke! So glad to see your Monday morning post with the lovely miles of sandy beach! Yes well water is usually so much purer than city water. Happy new week to you as well!
DeleteWhen we bought our property, having our own water was a priority. A modset spring was our source for years, then as we need ed more water, we had a well dug. A power outage will keep the well from working so we always have backup water on hand. We had a week long power outage in 93 and it really tested us. One learns to bathe in a quart of water.
ReplyDeleteGoodness, camping out inside your house with long power outage! And at the beginning you never expect it to be a week! Glad you have well water to drink, it always tastes so good compared to city water.
DeleteThis is why you maintain infrastructure, not to mention keep regulations in place.
ReplyDeleteYes indeed. Our area has also grown pretty fast, with the infrastructure lagging behind because of that.
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