something is going on with our water mains...

various... look to the post for source links | march 06, 2008 | sten

[sten]

water mains last well over 100 years. so the chance of 2 breaking on the same day are probably pretty slim. a couple of news stories today made me stop and do a quick google for water main breaks in march 2008. the results are a bit odd… considering I have not heard anything about it in the news, beyond the requried 'boil your water' statements.

the following is a list of water main breaks over the last month. I have made an effort not to overlap stories, so they should all signify a unique event. note the dates and locations as you go along.

---- Water back on in Treasure Island (FLORIDA) Originally Posted 2/5/2008 3:45:54 AM http://www.tampabays10.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=73193

Water main break closes part of E Columbus Drive today(FLORIDA - TAMPA) February 11, 2008 http://blogs.tampabay.com/breakingnews/2008/02/water-main-brea.html

Workers cap major water main break in Detroit(MICHIGAN) February 19, 2008 http://www.motorcitymoms.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080219/CFP10/80219022/1003/NEWS01

Boil water notice in Tarpon Springs (FLORIDA - TAMPA) Originally Posted 2/19/2008 6:01:59 PM http://www.tampabays10.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=74372

Water Main Break Floods Homes(NEW YORK) Published Feb 24, 2008 http://www.rnews.com/Story_2004.cfm?ID=58598&rnews_story_type=18

Water main bursts, creates traffic snarls(FLORIDA - MELBOURNE) February 28, 2008 http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080228/BREAKINGNEWS/80228036/-1/archives

Thousands lose water service when main breaks(COLORADO) created: 2/29/2008 7:21:27 PM http://www.9news.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=87320

Water main break snarls Main Street(OHIO) Last Updated: 1:10 pm | Saturday, March 1, 2008 http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080301/NEWS01/803010421/1092/NEWS0103

District issues boil-water order after main break (CALIFORNIA - SAN DIEGO) March 1, 2008 http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080301-1257-bn29boil.html

Water Main Break Prompts Response At UConn Health Center(CONNECTICUT) March 02, 2008 http://www.topix.net/content/trb/2008/03/water-main-break-prompts-response-at-uconn-health-center

Water main break in Flint leaves some residents without water(MICHIGAN) Sunday March 02, 2008, 10:18 PM http://www.mlive.com/flintjournal/index.ssf/2008/03/water_main_break_in_flint_leav.html

Water Main Break Closes Aikahi Elementary (HONOLULU) POSTED: 7:23 am HST March 3, 2008 http://www.kitv.com/news/15474532/detail.html?subid=10101241

Water main break forces Philly school closed(PENNSYLVANIA) Monday, March 03, 2008 | 12:13 PM http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=5995441

Water main break on Siesta Key (FLORIDA) March 03, 2008 15:41 PM http://m.tampabays10.com/news.jsp?key=92091&rc=lo

Water main break closes Hampstead Hill Academy (MARYLAND) 8:30 AM EST, March 4, 2008 http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-hampstead0304,0,3975094.story

Allentown crews restoring water service(PENNSYLVANIA) 4:38 PM EST, March 4, 2008 http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-watermain0304-cn,0,3605658.story

Florida Street Water Main is repaired(ALABAMA - MOBILE) 3:10 p.m. ET, Tues., March. 4, 2008 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23469079/

Water main break at South and Forest(VERMONT) March 4, 2008 http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080304/NEWS/347689764

Broken water main disrupts Wheeler Road traffic(VIRGINIA - RICHMOND) Tuesday, March 4, 2008 9:20 a.m. http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/latest/lat_030408_trafficproblem.shtml

Water restored to Golden Gate schools after main break(CALIFORNIA - SAN FRANCISCO) March 5, 2008 http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080305/NEWS01/80305033/1075

City finishes repairing water main break(ARIZONA) -- broke on March 3rd Wednesday, March 05, 2008 http://azdailysun.com/articles/2008/03/05/news/local/20080305_local_news_15.txt

Siesta Key has another water-main break (FLORIDA) Wednesday, March 05, 2008 http://www.bradenton.com/breakingnews/story/447037.html

2nd water main break prompts new boil water advisory(FLORIDA) Posted: March 5, 2008 11:13 AM http://www.wwsb.com/Global/story.asp?S=7968929 http://www.wwsb.com/Global/story.asp?S=7969096

Water main break closes JJC (ILLINIOS) March 5, 2008 http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/heraldnews/news/825474,4_1_JO05_JUCO_S1.article

Water-Main Break Closes Roads(CONNECTICUT) POSTED: 10:22 am EST March 6, 2008 http://www.wfsb.com/traffic/15512054/detail.html?rss=hart&psp=news

Massive Water Main Break in Cleveland Causes Street Collapse, Flood (ILLINIOS) Thursday, March 06, 2008 http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,335571,00.html

Watermain Break In Hartford(CONNECTICUT) 11:09 AM EST, March 6, 2008 http://www.courant.com/news/custom/topnews/hcu-hrtfrdwatermainbreak,0,7575205.story

Water main break closes Tri-C Metro campus(ILLINIOS) March 06, 2008 10:18AM http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/03/water_main_break_closes_tric_m.html

[sten]

something very odd is going on, and i haven't heard much about it in the press. are we back to denying events in order to deflect a victory for terrorists?

[AlaskaErik]

I would think the terrorists would want something a bit more flashy and dramatic...like airplanes flying into buildings. Sounds more like shoddy workmanship and natural ground movement.

[elc]

Don’t water mains tend to break more in the winter? I know every winter there are multiple breaks in DC water mains. They’re always announcing them because of affect on traffic.

[Izzy Dunne]

water mains last well over 100 years. so the chance of 2 breaking on the same day are probably pretty slim

Those two things have nothing to do with one another.

There are thousands and thousands of water mains in the country.

[AlaskaErik]

PS, sounds like all your sources are from the press!

[r9etb]

something very odd is going on, and i haven't heard much about it in the press. are we back to denying events in order to deflect a victory for terrorists?

You're going waaayyyy beyond reason here. What is your basis for saying water mains last "100 years?" Here in my town, the water mains that break tend to be older ones; or ones in areas with shifting soil.

How old are the lines that are breaking in all of those stories? What kinds of soil are they in? Are there other factors involved, such as digging in the area, or heavy traffic over a portion of the line?

[RightWhale]

The city employs several maintenance men and has several trucks because this kind of thing happens all the time. Maybe they are paranoid, too, but they are always digging up something somewhere.

[sten]

the winter doesn’t have much impact down here in florida nor in arizona or san diego.

[RandallFlagg]

Thousands lose water service when main breaks(COLORADO) created: 2/29/2008 7:21:27 PM http://www.9news.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=87320

I live just 2 miles north of where that happened. Didn't affect my water, but it really skrooed up the traffic for a long time. That hole was friggin' enormous!

[WorkerbeeCitizen]

It not just the water mains either.
Its all of our infrastructures.

[SF Republican]

Most cities are well over 100 years old and how many thousands of miles of water mains must there be in the US?

[paul51]

Considering the number of water mains in the country, I suspect thousands break daily.

[freedomlover]

I used to work in water/sewer. There is a LOT of pipe out there, mostly laid by government employees. On top of road built and maintained by government employees.

It is not surprising that there are a lot of breaks. Hell in ATL they don’t know where they are until a sinkhole shows up and a car falls in.

You might also be suprised how dynamic things are underground where there is a lot of underground water runoff. It’s not like you just plant a pipe and can forget about it. Things shift.

[Hoodlum91]

Guess that rules out the FReeper tradition of taking a shower with terrorism news.

[sten]

well... 21 water mains have broken in the last 5 1/2 days (which i found after only 30 minutes of googling)

are you saying that’s common?

[AnAmericanMother]

I wouldn't lose any sleep over this if I were you.

It's probably a combination of age on the system, cold weather, and soil conditions. Plus somebody could have been excavating in the area.

If a section of your area has water mains all installed at about the same time, you can expect more breaks as the pipe nears the end of its useful life.

We have been dealing with this for years in the Atlanta metro, as the much-abused water system is failing in a "cascade effect" from lack of maintenance and upgrade. So is the sewer system - there have been a couple of spectacular main drain collapses, some involving loss of life. Thank heavens we moved to Cobb County!

[RightWhale]

Besides all that being found in the press, your links don’t work.

The term “hyperlink” was coined in 1965 (or possibly 1964) by Ted Nelson at the start of Project Xanadu. Nelson had been inspired by “As We May Think,” a popular essay by Vannevar Bush. In the essay, Bush described a microfilm-based machine (the Memex) in which one could link any two pages of information into a “trail” of related information, and then scroll back and forth among pages in a trail as if they were on a single microfilm reel.

So much for Wiki. Edmund Husserl came up with the basic idea in 1900. Nice try by the Bushes.

[null and void]

Do I have time to take a sponge bath in boiled water?

[DannyTN]

"I hope you've got good plumbing. I've been eating a lot of cheese lately. I just can't seem to get enough cheese." - Uncle Buck

[chrisser]

I can’t speak for the other areas, but the water main break in Cleveland today was likely caused by the incompetence of decades of Democrat control of city government.

When you have a entrenched union city work force, coupled with city leadership more interested in social engineering and wealth redistribution, you end up with crumbling infrastructure.

Plenty of the blame goes to Kookcinich, but there’s a lot to go around within the political class that keeps getting elected to fix the problems they themselves created.