We know that it costs approximately $3,500 - $5,000 to replace a broken pipe. The city always tries to prepare us before the cold weather because this is often when broken/burst pipes occur. Do you know what can happen if a pipe leaks? Check this out - another example of how the city has deceived its residents and tried to cover up the evidence in order to avoid taking responsibility for how they have jeopardized our lives.
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Aug 18, 2007
Sinkhole experts say that, no, it’s no mystery– it’s bad sewer pipes. When you get a hole in a sewer pipe, sure, you might get leakage out in to the surrounding soil, but you also might get surrounding soil to enter the sewer pipe, which gets carried away to wherever sewage goes. If that goes on for a while, a hole in the earth develops, and lo! a collapse from above fills it in. Sinkhole. If there’s a nearby manhole cover (entrance to sewer pipes) near a sinkhole, it’s a smoking gun.
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The Sinkhole Syndrome
The Sinkhole Syndrome
By Chris Mayer
May 8, 2007
Last year was the worst year for sinkholes and sewage spills in U.S. history. This year is shaping up to be even worse.
What caused them? I'll tell you in a minute. But here is a hint: The answer will make investors in water-pipe makers a lot of money.
What caused them? I'll tell you in a minute. But here is a hint: The answer will make investors in water-pipe makers a lot of money.
In March, I attended Gabelli's Second Annual Water Infrastructure Conference, held in Manhattan. Of all the presenters, Thomas Rooney, president of Insituform Technologies, had the most eye-opening story. He told attendees about the looming crisis arising from our decaying
But more importantly, he gave us some tangible evidence that shows just how bad things are getting. The most important was the record number of sinkholes and sewage spills in the U.S. last year. Leaking or breaking pipes are the biggest causes of these things in our cities.
A water pipe that leaks (or breaks) either allows dirt to get in the pipe or allows sewage to get out. If dirt gets in the pipes, then the pipes carry the dirt away. Eventually – even if the pipes carry only tiny amounts of dirt away each day – this weakens the ground above the pipes.
This ground lies below – and supports – our roads and buildings. Sooner or later, the ground gives way, creating the gaping sinkholes that swallow up cars and houses and even lead to people's deaths. One such sinkhole in Los Angeles was 30 feet deep and shut down a stretch of highway. Last December, a massive sinkhole in Portland swallowed a big-rig truck. Another in Grand Rapids, Mich., cut off the water supply to residents, who then had to live under a "boil water advisory."
That's scenario one. Conversely, sewage may leak out. If sewage leaks out, then you have major health issues in the surrounding environment. Last year alone, more than 3.5 million people became ill from E.coli and other toxins released from over 40,000 sewage spills in the U.S., according to the EPA. Then there are the beaches.
More than 1.5 million people get sick in Southern California every year because of bacterial pollution in the ocean – much of it coming from broken pipes, according to a study by UCLA and Stanford. And in Hawaii last year, Waikiki Beach had to close after 40 million gallons of raw sewage flowed into the water after a water main pipe broke.
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SINKHOLES BECOMING MORE COMMON
Feb 8, 2007
PORTLAND, Ore. — After a sinkhole swallowed a sewer-repair truck here on the day after Christmas, the truck’s crew crawled to safety, muddy and mystified.
Last summer in Irving, Tex., a 2-year-old boy disappeared near a sinkhole. One theory was that he was kidnapped. Another was that he was lost in the sewer system that had broken open and caused the collapse.
In December, firefighters in Brooklyn rescued a grandmother carrying groceries who fell into a hole that opened beneath her on a sidewalk. And in Hershey, Pa., a damaged storm drain caused a six-foot-deep sinkhole in Chocolate Town Park, nearly sinking the town’s New Year’s Eve celebration.
Local and state officials across the country say thousands of miles of century-old underground water and sewer lines are springing leaks, eroding and — in extreme cases — causing the ground above them to collapse. Though there is no master tally of sinkholes, there is consensus among civil engineers and water experts that things are getting worse.
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