Posted on 12/02/2017 6:53:00 AM PST by BusterDog
GALVESTON, Texas (AP) — Galveston city workers have discovered a leak in a nearby water line that had been pouring an average of 3 million gallons of water into the city’s storm sewer system each day for years.
The Galveston County Daily News reports that city workers found the leak Nov. 18 while trying to set up new back-flow prevention devices that could potentially delay the effects of sea level rise.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
Good I guess. I guess since no one noticed for years then no one will notice the non leak.
City workers thought, “Damn, we use about 60 gallons more per day per person that the average city our size. Must be everyone getting the beach sand off them or something.”
You need to sip your water, people, so the leaks can have their fair share. /s
LOL
Galveston was once a very crooked town. Wouldn’t surprise me to learn that some connected businesses get their water free through unreported “leaks”.
The government loves you and knows what is best for you.
Galveston has about 50,000 people. Average consumption per person in US is 80-100 gallons per day. Average shower is 17.2 gallons.
Leak of 3MM gallons per day for 50,000 people is 60 gallons per person per day.
Maybe the residents of Galveston only use 20-40 gallons of water a day, opting for French baths and beer over showers and water. Then their average would match the national average.
The first sentence: okay, they found a leak, it is stunning that such a large leak went unnoticed.
The second sentence: does not even make sense. Back-flow devices to stop flooding, that would make sense. But back-flow devices to stop something that is not happening? What is the point?
This story makes one wonder how many millions (or billions) of gallons are leaking through decaying water main infrastructure across the USA.
This is also another indication of government mismanagement of a service which could be provided by a private company. A private company would be reconciling the water its customers are paying for with the water it is sending out through the system. A 3 million gallon per day discrepancy would be investigated, found, and plugged quickly by a private company.
Galveston was buying an extra 3 million gallons of water a day and didn’t know it? Wow, just wow. Galveston is not that big of a city and 3 millions gallons is a lot of water.
I live nearly by and I have to pay $40/month of 3,000 gallons. That equates to $40,000/day for Galveston or $1.2 million a month.
Yeah the city buys wholesale and I buy retail but still we are talking serious money.
Years ago a massive leak was found in a line leading to a plant that my company owned. After it was corrected they had to increase the water rates for everyone in the city.
>>This story makes one wonder how many millions (or billions) of gallons are leaking through decaying water main infrastructure across the USA.
>>This is also another indication of government mismanagement of a service which could be provided by a private company. A private company would be reconciling the water its customers are paying for with the water it is sending out through the system. A 3 million gallon per day discrepancy would be investigated, found, and plugged quickly by a private company.
The exact opposite is true. Over the last century, my city went from a public/private water utility (where some areas were public and some were private) to a fully public system because the private companies had let their grids and plants degrade to the point of threatening public safety.
Water is cheap...almost free. The cost incurred is in delivering it properly-disinfected to your tap. So, the private companies didn’t care about leaks because the costs of fixing them would take years to capitalize.
A public company is only answerable to the people (not shareholders), so wasting water became a serious concern and the money was spent to fix the leaks.
>>Yeah the city buys wholesale and I buy retail but still we are talking serious money.
Not really. The overwhelming majority of your water cost is for the pipes, pumps, power, and treatment. Regardless of the source, those costs are added to every gallon you use.
It is hard to believe someone at the water board didn’t ask “how much water did we buy this month?” “How much water did we use this month?” Since the city operates with free money no one gives a damn about how much things cost or saving money. They just squeeze the taxpayers a little harder.
Ok, that makes sense.
at $2.78 per 1000 gallons, info I sourced online, the city was overspending by about $8,400 per day, or 3MM per year for their water.
3m gallons daily for years? No wonder the ocean levels are rising! /sarc
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