Camp Meeker Beat by Tom Austin - July 2017
I was hoping to go into some detail on the recent “boil water” episode, but that might have to wait until next month, until some smart people get back to me. I can talk about it in general terms. There was a mishap involving a leak in our water pipeline, and out of an excess of legal due diligence, the Board assumed the worst and notified us that we needed to boil our water for a few days. The notification was prompt and effective from my view: the instructions placed on my door were complete and thorough, and I was able to plan a water workaround effectively. I hope your experience was similar.
How did it happen? As someone who does a kind of plumbing in his other job (the one that pays the rent, yeah) I can speak in general terms about it. Our water comes from a well sunk into the Russian River acquifer near Monte Rio. From there it gets pumped uphill above us, where it is stored in a reservoir with enough potential energy (due to the altitude difference) that it comes out of your tap with enough pressure to flow out of your tap, your showerhead, or your other plumbing and do the job. Along its journey, the drinking water passed through a pipeline constructed of materials that are rated for compatibility with drinking water, past many joints and junctions, the construction of which is performed using approved materials and methods, the inspection of which is documented in reports filed with the appropriate County offices. This County office uses your tax money to oversee these inspections and keep the records thereof, the result of which is that you can drink the water you paid for with some confidence in its cleanliness and quality.
Once again, it all comes down to water. You pay for it, you pay for the machinery that delivers it to you, and you pay for the rules and regulations that allow you not to worry about cholera and giardia. It’s a pretty good deal if you ask me.
But sometimes…stuff breaks. Materials sunk in the cold wet earth tend to degrade, occasionally to the point where a leak occurs. When that happens, you pay for a man in coveralls to get in a truck and drive out and look at meters. From this, he zeroes in on where the leak might be occurring, and directs other men and women in coveralls and hard hats to pick up the proverbial shovel and unearth the defective components. At the end of a job, a report is written and filed, documenting the location of the leak and other pertinent information.
What happens when there is a leak? How do they find the leak? Where did our leak occur? That’s where my general knowledge falls short. I can tell you that there is a pressure gauge somewhere that displayed lower than the desired value. That’s what happens when you have a leak. Those in charge knew that the leak was between the gauge that showed the surprisingly low value and the one next upstream of it. Now that we know a leak has occurred, we have to assume that if water can get out, bad stuff can get in. This is actually unlikely, because the water inside the pipe is generally at higher pressure than anything outside. Remember, though, we assume the worst. Despite my throwing dread cholera out there to get your attention, what we are really worried about is giardia. This is the same reason we boil water when backpacking. Because there are animals upstream, y’see. The giardia organism lives in the digestive tract and causes various unpleasant but not permanent digestive symptoms, which I will discreetly elide. Boiling water kills the organism, as does bleach and chlorine.
So there you have it – the price of living in a civilized society, and the benefits thereof. There are a whole series of people whose occupations depend on delivering your clean, safe, drinking water. This is something most of the world would be very, very happy to have. Water is Life.
