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I was approached by a colleague this past Friday afternoon. He had been on a hike a few days prior in the area of Swannanoa where the chronic leak I have reported on is located. He informed me of his discovery of an additional and much larger leak just a short distance further through the woods. I went to this location and indeed he had found a leak of much greater concern; or so it appears. I have contacted Asheville Water Maintenance and informed them of the discovery. They were going to investigate today and do a follow up thereafter to keep me posted on the matter.
Typically in a situation of this nature I would do some simple testing of the water to verify whether or not it is municipal water or a fresh water spring. It would not be unusual for a spring to have found it's way along the underside e of a pipe this size. The previous several years of drought conditions and recent influx of water from the heavy snows we have experienced this winter could have contributed to this scenario. I did not test the water for chlorine (the tell tale signature chemical in our city water supply) and instead contacted the maintenance department to investigate. I expect to hear from them within a day and we will know their findings.
Regardless of what they report, when we know leaks of this nature are very common on infrastructure as old as the systems in these mountains and many others places across the country; why don't we see extensive infrastructure repair with stimulus funds? We certainly hear this idea expressed in the media. It has been a topic in President Obama's public position. What is being done with all this money? There are lots of local folks in need of work, and this kind spending would create jobs in many areas of the market. Manufacturing, distribution, transportation, sales, management, food, labor and more would all benefit from the spending of money on infrastructure repair and upgrading. This would be good for the country, good for the people and makes complete sense for supporting a growing population.
What I know is that we lose much more water from leaking infrastructure than we do from inefficient everyday use, so if we're going to preach water conservation we need to look at the big stuff along with the little stuff; otherwise we're never going to get it right.
What do you think?
AP
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