I'll take a power outage anytime rather than this...

The water main on my street broke this morning around 7:



No water since I woke up and still no water at 10 p.m. I'm off today, because I have been extremely tired all week (taveling, overworked, training a new guy and jetlagged all at once). This break happened almost right in front of my place and I still slept past noon. This means I haven't showered, have a pile of dirty dishes and no reserve toilet flush left anymore (I did use it wisely, but will likely need another one before midnight).

Some people had to evacuate their apartment and have been taken in charge by rescue services, so I'm having it good in comparison, but I'm still nearing the point where I could pay for even just a cold shower in the middle of the street. Earlier, I sacrificed some of my filtered water from the fridge so I could wash my hands. Now I have an 8 liter bottle that should help keep a minimum hygiene till they turn the water back on, supposedly sometime tomorrow morning.

I saw them take out the broken main section: the hole was almost 3 feet in diameter. Now they're filling up the hole in the street after putting in a new section in and still no water... It's really becoming frustrating. The next power outage will seem like a blessing in comparison!

The things we take for granted......how's your beer holding out?

~ Chance

That's the thing that always gets me, city water being turned off; it makes sense in spacious rural areas to store/collect water, but in an urban setting the idea is a bit preposterous - yet there eventually comes a day when the tap comes up dry. This happens every so often with the aged water system where I live, and I still can't work out how to prepare for it.

Very painting-worthy pic though, you should put on a British wig and a greatcoat, stand off to the side in the foreground with your back to the camera, arms outstretched..

Chauncey Gardiner said:

The things we take for granted......how's your beer holding out?

~ Chance

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Got a case of 12 and a liter of wine when I went to get that 8 liter bottle of water... or was I out for beer and got water at the same time?

StarHalo said:

That's the thing that always gets me, city water being turned off; it makes sense in spacious rural areas to store/collect water, but in an urban setting the idea is a bit preposterous - yet there eventually comes a day when the tap comes up dry. This happens every so often with the aged water system where I live, and I still can't work out how to prepare for it.
[...]

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Every single year since I live here, they dig a hole somewhere on the street and that hole stays there almost all summer. Also, every single year comes a time when we receive a letter in the mail that they're cleaning the aqueduct between X and Y date (range is usually over a month). I'm about to start a petition that they should install a new aqueduct once and for all. To top that off, the water treatment plant is not even 1 click from here... how stupid do they think we are???

StarHalo said:

[...]
Very painting-worthy pic though, you should put on a British wig and a greatcoat, stand off to the side in the foreground with your back to the camera, arms outstretched..

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would look great on the first page of my petition

I feel for you. I had same thing happen here in Ky and to top it off they turned the electric off.

bmetcalfe28 said:

I feel for you. I had same thing happen here in Ky and to top it off they turned the electric off.

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Thanks. Both water and electricity at the same time is just mean... as least I was able to do some dry cleaning (vacuuming, that is...)

This morning I was ready to do something drastic to at least take a shower. I couldn't reach anyone within a reasonable distance, so I dressed in layers and just went shopping (I needed a functioning toilet anyways). When I came back home, the water was finally going. Needless to say I took a shower and cleaned the dishes before heading out to the grocery store.

The big lesson I get out of this is that, unless you have hundreds gallons of water for cleaning purposes on top of drinking needs and a backup solution for the toilet, 2-3 days seems to be a big maximum bearable during a water shortage. In my case, I could have gone to the river and filled buckets if I had to wait longer, but I was ready to call my parents and spend the night there since no bomb has destroyed the roads. I once experienced a week long power outage, and let me tell you I still wouldn't cry about the cold shower. Heating is a different issue, however.

Man - I feel your pain. When I moved to the States, I thought it would be the same as moving back home - in that the lawyer took care of all the utilities for the move. Well I was sorely mistaken. I actually waved at the dude poking around in my front yard as he turned off my water mistakingly thinking he was meter reading lol.

That was on a Friday. By Saturday I had a membership at the YMCA - the water people don't work on weekends here lol.

earcutter said:

Man - I feel your pain. When I moved to the States, I thought it would be the same as moving back home - in that the lawyer took care of all the utilities for the move. Well I was sorely mistaken. I actually waved at the dude poking around in my front yard as he turned off my water mistakingly thinking he was meter reading lol.

That was on a Friday. By Saturday I had a membership at the YMCA - the water people don't work on weekends here lol.

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Getting greeted by someone turning off the utilities and waving at him... what a d*** head that guy must have been (or thought you were!)

Only emergency services are open here on weekends, and I'm glad they are. Some guys must have made some sweet overtime pay in the last days and I won't say a word against that.

Funny you mention the YMCA... I drove right in front of the local YMCA today, thinking I should ask about the prices here and I also had a conversation with a friend that suggested asking for "testing" the facilities at a gym so I could judge if I do want a membership if it ever happens again.My fat *** sure could use a "free sample day" at the gym once in a while.

Wow, that's pretty rough. This is a good reminder for me to stock up on some spare water one of these days. I hope you get the water back soon.

Wow, that picture looks like something out of a Hollywood action movie. I hope you've gotten your water back by now.

Yup, water's back since sometime yesterday afternoon... thank God!

PhotonWrangler said:

Wow, that picture looks like something out of a Hollywood action movie. [...]

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Tell me about it! I kinda regret not witnessing the 4 stories high geyser for myself but I did see them taking the damaged pipe out: the hole was just about 3 feet in diameter!

blah9 said:

Wow, that's pretty rough. This is a good reminder for me to stock up on some spare water one of these days. I hope you get the water back soon.

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The problem with stocking up on water is that it doesn't last enough unless you do a rotation. I'm not a fan of water stocked in plastic bottles, but if you are, it's worth making sure you have a good stock and making sure first in is first out. I do have a river that's at least swimming worthy (most of the time) not far from here, but I wonder how collecting water would go during the winter unless someone else prepared the grounds first.

Yeah that's true. I haven't really thought a good plan through the whole way yet which is why I don't have any stored up. I really should do something though.

I think a secondary source of water is really the way to go since once you exhaust your water supply, you could end up in a bind if everyone else around is also out. I have a small water filter and purification tabs I carry for hiking, that's my last resort plan. I'm planning on upping the number of tabs I keep in stock and getting a better filter sometime. Not everyone can count on living walking distance from a river or lake, though. A well would be an even better option. Other than that, I would try to have a place with nearby water to relocate to.

Cataract said:

I think a secondary source of water is really the way to go since once you exhaust your water supply, you could end up in a bind if everyone else around is also out. I have a small water filter and purification tabs I carry for hiking, that's my last resort plan. I'm planning on upping the number of tabs I keep in stock and getting a better filter sometime. Not everyone can count on living walking distance from a river or lake, though. A well would be an even better option. Other than that, I would try to have a place with nearby water to relocate to.

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Yeah, those are all good points too. I do have a filtration system, so that's a start. I can walk to a reservoir if need be, but it's a far walk.

blah9 said:

Yeah, those are all good points too. I do have a filtration system, so that's a start. I can walk to a reservoir if need be, but it's a far walk.

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So long as it's not a major event that affects all services, you can still drive (unless you don't have a car, of course...) Just take it slow to not turn the trunk into a mobile swimming pool

I'll take power outage over water shortage/outage anytime.

Here is the problem with a power outage in the northern climate, most people's heat requires some sort of electricity to function. Without electricity quite often the thermostat/circuit board/blower fan won't work without power and thus 2 days in below 0 weather is going to get uncomfortable.

As someone who replaces water main for a living, a break like that shouldn't take more then 4 to 6 hours to fix in an urban setting. If it looks like you're going to be without water for a longer period I would call my municipality and complain. They should put you up in a hotel. Its not unreasonable nor unusual when these sorts of issues happen. People need watern especially the elderly.

My municipality, which is owned by the public it serves, placed all its cables underground. I've only lost power twice in the last 15 years. Both times it was restored in four to five hours. Quite a few years ago they turned off the water to make some repairs. It was amazing how many times my wife and I attempted to make it flow from a tap. It's something you don't even think about. Turn the handle, water comes out.

~ Chance

oal said:

Here is the problem with a power outage in the northern climate, most people's heat requires some sort of electricity to function. Without electricity quite often the thermostat/circuit board/blower fan won't work without power and thus 2 days in below 0 weather is going to get uncomfortable.

As someone who replaces water main for a living, a break like that shouldn't take more then 4 to 6 hours to fix in an urban setting. If it looks like you're going to be without water for a longer period I would call my municipality and complain. They should put you up in a hotel. Its not unreasonable nor unusual when these sorts of issues happen. People need watern especially the elderly.

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Thanks for your input; i never understood how it could be possible to take so long and now I know I was not just beong ignorant about it. I live in a corrupt city where the blue collars are ripping us off like mad and just read all the court reports about corruption from mayors in all the cities around and you'll get a tiny window on the picture.

Chauncey Gardiner said:

My municipality, which is owned by the public it serves, placed all its cables underground. I've only lost power twice in the last 15 years. Both times it was restored in four to five hours. Quite a few years ago they turned off the water to make some repairs. It was amazing how many times my wife and I attempted to make it flow from a tap. It's something you don't even think about. Turn the handle, water comes out.

~ Chance

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True that we take ALL basic services for granted and thar would be the one downfall of our societie(s). I had undertaken to make sure I can survive some shortages, but now it is clear I am very far from being survivable for more than a week.

Talking about electrical shortage, this just the place to tell about my last experience... One just hit my entire neighbourhood last Sunday. It lasted for about 9hours and the outside temperature was near freezing. We had freezing rain all night and there was a nasty layer of ice on everything, but nothing we haven't seen... Not common at all, bu we had 3 days of non-stop freezing rain during the 1998 winter (you might have heard about it as it was epic and some people had been out of power for up to a month). When the power went out around 1 pm, my first reflex was to take a shower (I was hungover and got up late). My one problem with the outage is that the power company did say they had established a procedure that would prevent it from happening again. I guess they forgot to mention that applied to weekday staff only.

Then I went out to shovel my parking spot and get the ice off my car (it was plain raining at that time). Took almost an hour. I then went shopping, looking for a viable portable system for emergency heat, but there seems to be no viable commercial solution unless you already have a chimney. I live in an apparent.

To cut the story short, i decided to conserve battery power and use candles since they do produce more heat than 10 lumen LEDs. My apartment is pretty much dead center in the building, so the candles were very sufficient to keep the temperature up and I even had enough hot water left to do the dishes nearing 10 pm. Fortunately, it was warm enough to cook my sub (hoagie for some of you) on the barbecue. I also forgot to mention I also had wine to go with it while my phone and PSP were charging on my battery eliminator. Yes, I was good for the night. I doubt I would have been happy taking my shower at work (yes, a possible option) every weekday for even a week. The power came back at 10:50 pm.

Lesson learned: light is not enough. Batteries an flashlight that can last for months is not enough. A full BBQ gas tank is not enough. Bottled water is not enough. You need easy access to nearly unlimited water, means to heat at least one room and a way to heat water so you can viably clean yourself and eliminate bacteria. Then you need to insure your access to food. Nothing less can cut it for a worst-case scenario that doesn't send you to the woods or if you live in a warm climate. Of course, i purposefully exclude the possibility to just go live with relatives since it sometimes just isn't a possibility.