Water shut off. They could at least give you a warning!!!

[redhen]

ooh, i feel your pain! You would NOT believe what we have been through with our town water company...
all last summer they were fixing thr roads and messing with the water lines and hence..we had nasty brown water to drink for several days in a row...
they gave us NO warning that this was going to happen... this happend ALL last spring/summer..
and when we called and said..WTH is going on? they said the water was fine to drink..it was just from the pipe flushing...? or something like that...and that basically we had to just deal with it.....ooh, and she was nervy enough to tell me to just keep the water running...it would eventually clear out.... (AND i said..i had a $400 water bill last quarter...are you going to pay the bill for me running my water for HOURS at a time?)

i blew my cork.. told the lady i was saving the water to be tested..and that i was bringing her down a cup to drink in front of me... to prove just how safe brown water is to drink... and that i was calling the board of health and the town selectmen... (see, we live in a small town..and they are all connected and best buddies... UGH..) so they feel thay can treat you any way they please..cause they're buddies will back them up...
BUT..ha! the selectman was VERY much on our side..he said that should NOT happen..they have to give us a warning when messing with the water and he would talk to them about it...
also..i told them they are reimbursing my laundry that got ruined from it.. we had dark iron/brown stains on our clothes..and nothing would take the stains out..
So finally..after we all complained (all the neighbors ) and brought them the water to drink and see..hee hee...
they now have to at least call us the day before they are going to be messing with the water pipes again...
still...they're jerks...

LOL sorry, i tend to babble...

 

[I have WHAT in my yard?]

Well y'all there is a pretty good chance that utility issues will be the norm rather than the rare exception over the next few years, so now might be the time to think through how you'd get along if you only had power or water for certain periods of each day.

Most of the water workers and power workers are like the troops, they are dedicated and they work very hard under conditions most of the rest of us would not want to experience. They usually get paid pretty well, but every cent is earned the hard way. But, in the end you cannot blame them for the battle plans or deployment set by the bureaucracy they answer to.








Been married a long time now to some one who worked in power generation and was a emergency services responder. He has never once been snowed in at home or was here for a hurricane or any other disaster. When our power was out and the ceiling caved in from wind and water damage where was he? At work!

 

[PaulaJoAnne]

This is why its good idea to have water stored for emergencies.
It is rec, that you store 14 gallons per person.
By counting the water in your hot water tank you can cut down on bottles stored.
Collect 2 liter pop bottles ad fill them up.
Rotate stock occasionaly to keep it fresh.
you'd be surprised how many places you can stash a few bottles. Under the bed, top of the closet, etc.

 

[Jenski]

twentynine, thanks for the info. Good stuff to know. . . and thanks for your hard work!

Bettacreek, sorry about your situation. That stinks. The craigslist around here has 250+ gallon water tanks on pallets for sale regularly. Do you have any place to put things like this for emergencies?

This is a good reminder for those of us on The Grid to stay prepared so we aren't left with our shorts down in emergencies/routine maintenance. Thanks to all who are posting!

 

[PaulaJoAnne]

www.cookingtf.com has wonderful information in the forums on emergency prep, and what and how to store for long term and short term.
Very practicla and well thought out, plus, lots of good discussions.

 

[Tala]

Since a full freezer costs less energy than an empty one....I refill all 2L coke bottles with water, leave enough room to freeze and voila! Energy saving, reusable ice in the summer for coolers, ice to keep your freezer cooler in a power outage, emergency water when thawed, and can be left out to thaw if I need to fill the freezer with something else!!!

If we were without water I guess it would be a minor inconvenience that all of our emergency water is solid, but not really the end of the world. We have 2 plastic barrels of rain water for non-potable use (course it's kinda frozen right now too....

) but we could always fire up a heater of some kind to speed the melting process.

 

[PineappleMama]

Oh yeah... last time it happened here it was due to a neighbor having a busted pipe in their yard.

I had no clue until B started hollering from the shower... whoops... he'd just lathered up his LONG hair with shampoo...

I went down there and ask them what the devil... why couldn't you honk or SOMETHING...
Said it was impossible for them to notify every house that would be effected... I believe that it's half our street on that spigot (10-20 houses)

So, poor B had to rinse his hair out with his water jug water... you know.. the one he keeps in the fridge... not a happy (or warm) camper lemme tell you.

 

[debilorrah]

Quote:
OOOOO that would have made me MAD!

 

[breezy]

Quote:
Thank you for all that you do. I know everytime I had to call you guys for a broken water line line or the utilities for the huge gas leak you guys were there with bells on. When the blizzards that hit here in Denver take out our power lines (and they do that more often than you might guess) I know those guys are up on the poles in high winds and freezing temps with no visibilty. You guys rock!

 

[cw]

read this or at least the case in alabama with the chemcal plant ,
sometimes your water is shut off for your own good,



http://www.nobackflow.com/casehist.htm#1