Houston Officials not sure why wastewater lines are breaking at higher than normal rategreenspun.com : LUSENET : Grassroots Information Coordination Center (GICC) : One Thread |
Houston fficials not sure why wastewater lines are breaking at higher than normal rateDry conditions are being blamed for broken water and sewer lines. However (quote from Houston Chronicle):
"What was not expected, he said, is that more than half of the calls are for broken wastewater lines. These breaks usually peak in rainy weather, he said, while water lines break most often in dry spells. Johnson said city officials aren't sure how to explain the unusual pattern. "We're just trying to get them fixed," he said. The department has been getting about 260 to 275 calls a day for both types of lines, he said. About 60 to 75 of these are duplicate calls for the same problem and another 100 problems can be fixed quickly and easily, he said. This leaves about 100 calls a day that require a work crew. Repairs are running about six days behind, Johnson said, but since the city can fix about 100 breaks a day, the backlog is not increasing. "
Link to story:
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metropolitan/427694
-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), January 12, 2000
gee carl, you are my hero. way to go. what do you have a special "intuition" that tells you where to get a story????
-- tt (cuddluppy@aol.com), January 12, 2000.
aloha cuddlepuppy, Thanks for the compliment. I enjoy your posts too. No special intuition, just a lot of gruntwork going from news source to news source looking for oddities and the sort of incidents that we were told might happen if Y2K problems materialized...
-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), January 12, 2000.
If waste water lines are breaking, and there is a 6 day backlog, isn't this a health risk? Will we be seeing the gastrointestinal problems they are having in India and Somalia? With both drinking water lines and sewage water lines breaking, what are the chances of this water becoming comingled?
-- Cyndi Crowder (cyncrowder@aol.com), January 12, 2000.
Mike already has posted on Level One, but I must say that to us this is not a minor issue. We are very much a combination of the "Third World" and "Western European" technologies and politics here in Houston. We have an express road system that renders out-of-towners (and quite a few residents) catatonic after attempting to drive upon it: very much the commute to work as NASA shuttle navigation must seem to the pilot upon re-entry. This same road system retains water accumulation to levels that drown semi-trucks (18 wheel) when we have excessive rain. Sewage back up or refulgence is no joke here!!!If this is an emerging trend then we may bless the drought that has renewed prohibition on burning in Harris County and posted a fire watch again.. Yes, I too say thank you for the post. I dislike the condition of dysentery most intensely. For those of you who have not experienced the effects of infection with entamoeba histolytica, you may be forgiven for taking Mr. Jenkin's posting less than seriously.With respect. Charlie
-- charlie in houston (cml@workmail.com), January 12, 2000.
Perhaps due to some y2k glitches as it was told to me that the water would possibly be a problem for Houston.
-- Cd (whoopie2004@onebox.com), January 13, 2000.
Would somebody please explain to me how wastewater lines breaking underground can possibly be a Y2K problem. Yes we are dependent upon technology for a lot of things, but the structural integrity of concrete and steel pipes is not one of them.Problems created by wastewater leakage are very serious, but I don't see how you can pin this one on the millenium bug.
-- Lee Barrentine (Wrknman042Legacy@aol.com), January 14, 2000.
I don't know for sure that this is the actual reason for the water pipes to be breaking, but pipes might break because of a sudden increase in water pressure and the pressure pumps would most probably be computerised in some way. So.... if it's not drawing too long a bow, it is possible that the pressure pumps could be malfunctioning and causing increases in water pressure that is causing the pipes to break. Just a thought.Meryl
-- Meryl Dorey (meryl@avn.org.au.nospam), January 14, 2000.
In response to question about sewage pipes breaking and Y2K... In our research this last year we were told we many need to be concerned about certain things that were computerized or had embedded systems...sewage systems was one of these... Here is an excerpt from California Office of Emergency Services website which doesn't exactly go into details but shows the concern...Web site: LINK ------------------------------------------------------------ Background Description of the Y2K Problem The potential impacts of the Y2K problem or Millennium Bug present unique challenges to emergency management organizations at all levels of government.
On December 31, 1999, equipment and computer devices with date sensitive chips or software may fail as the date rolls over to the year 2000. Other dates related to the new millennium may also trigger equipment and computer failures. The problem arises from the fact that many computer systems represent years with only two digits instead of four, and fail to correctly handle dates beyond 1999.
What are the implications for emergency management? The implications are three-fold: failures could cause an emergency, could impair response, and could impact internal systems.
· Examples of emergencies which might be caused by the Y2K problem.
Malfunctioning automated or computer systems could result in:
1. loss of power generation or transmission; 2. failure of sewage treatment or water delivery systems; and, 3. the untimely release of hazardous materials from a chemical handling company.
-- Sheri Nakken (wncy2k@nccn.net), January 14, 2000.