Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

wampuswrangler t1_iv1thxi wrote

Reply to comment by [deleted] in There is a water main break on Belair Rd by BmoreCityDOT

A water main break hardly qualifies as a disaster. There are literally thousands every day all across the country. It's a regular and expected facet of running a water distribution system.

−1

[deleted] t1_iv2ankp wrote

Disasters are relative to a certain degree. Kind of like when sinkholes appear in the city…do they swallow the entire city, no, but it’s a disaster for those on that street and the surrounding area, not to mention just a tad concerning for many more folks.

And we were talking about a water main break here, not the thousands all over the country, but your mention of that helps support the point that we have aging, crumbling, and long neglected infrastructure.

So, we’ll see just how much of that bloated massive infrastructure bill actually accomplishes in repairing, modernizing, and replacing actual infrastructure, and how much of it is directed at socially and emotionally adjacent transportation projects that are tangentially infrastructure related.

1

wampuswrangler t1_iv2wdwx wrote

Disasters usually take longer than a few short hours to remediate. Yes the people on the street will have no water for a few hours but it is likely probably already back. Also a brand new pipe can break, I've seen one be blown out by irregular pressure combined with the freeze thaw cycle of the soil in the city I work for a few months after it was put in. I've also seen mains nearly 100 years old still working fine. Baltimore has hundreds of miles of pipes under the ground, sections get replaced when they fail, that's how maintenance of any distribution system works. It would be economically infeasible and wasteful to dig up every pipe that's in the ground and replace it just because.

I'm not sure how much money Baltimore is getting from the new infrastructure bill, but it's public information and you could easily found out and look up where in the budget it's being allocated to. I know in the city I work for the lead line replacement program is being funded almost entirely by funds allocated from the infrastructure bill.

2

[deleted] t1_iv3bvqd wrote

Do you ever get to use any of the relining techniques that are available? I’ve seen some pretty impressive products that seemed like pliable tube type sleeves that turn inside out as they progress through a pipe system and basically reline sections of old failed pipe. I would Imagine that has limited or special application. Probably not feasible in high pressure or high volume / large diameter pipe.

1

wampuswrangler t1_iv3cp6n wrote

My understanding is that those are usually for wastewater applications, pipes that aren't under high pressure, like you said. Also this is just speculation but the chemistry of the water put out by drinking water plants is specifically suited to be non corrosive to lead, copper, galvanized steel, other metals, and pvc piping. I'm familiar with the liners you're talking about but I'm not sure if they'd meet health code standards for drinking water pipes due to chemical exchange between the material and water.

Those videos are satisfying to watch tho lol.

2

[deleted] t1_iv5knv1 wrote

So, they just announced completion of repairs. Just to be clear, as this took more than ‘a few short hours to remediate’ can I identify this incident as a disaster now? I just don’t want to come across as hyperbolic with my choice of words. Kidding aside, maybe it’s a lesser disaster? A mini disaster?

1