On 09/01/10 11:16 pm, Andy wrote:
>> There are some very expensive and deadly lines
>> buried out of sight, underground.
> This reminds me of something, and helps bring the discussion somewhat
> back on topic.
>
> Last year a small sinkhole developed in the street next to my house.
>
> The town carefully marked off boundaries for the "DIG SAFE" area. A
> few days later they dug it up. I was working at home that day. After
> a while the backhoe stopped, several more trucks and a fire truck
> pulled up, then slowly backed away, far away, along with all the
> people. A loud hissing sound could be heard.
>
> It seems they had cut the gas line.
>
> A while later the gas company arrived and marked where the gas line
> went, right through the middle of the "DIG SAFE" area.
>
> I used to think there was a sound reason for the DIG SAFE program.
> Apparently I was wrong.
>
> Fast-forward to now. The neighbors across the street are having some
> utility work done, and the town marked off another DIG SAFE area, on
> the other side of the street about 15 feet from last year's, and right
> where the gas company last year said one of the gas drops went!
>
> What the heck is going on?! Are they trying to get us all killed?
>
> Fortunately they didn't hit the gas line this time.
>
> But they dug up well outside the DIG SAFE area. They excavated about
> three times as much pavement as had been marked off as safe to dig.
> They even dug up part of my yard. I still don't know why.
>
> The neighborhood is only about 20-30 years old, and they laid sewer
> lines and re-paved the street about 8 years ago. It's not like they
> shouldn't know where every utility line goes.
>
> When it happened last year, it was only a few weeks after two other
> houses in the state exploded due to gas leaks. You'd think they would
> learn that you don't screw around with this stuff.
>
> When there is a gas leak, the gas can follow other underground pipes
> and get into houses some distance from the leak. It can even follow
> other lines into houses that don't have gas. Then after a while you
> get a basement full of gas, and your house makes the 11:00 news.
Gas/water lines and wiring of various kinds don't always run where the
company's plans say they run. Somewhere on Long Island several years ago
Verizon dug up one of their own optical-fiber cable bundles which wasn't
where their plans said it was. Of course they had redundant circuits --
but all in the same bundle!
73
Alan NV8A
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
|