In our home and office we do our best to minimise our waste and do our best to return it to our environment a way that is of the lowest impact possible. (More on that another time). However, there are some aspects of wastage that we are totally dependent on others to manage and I know the frustration that can arise when things don't seem to be managed in what we believe is a timely and appropriate manner.
A week and a half ago our water mains burst and started to seep through the ground. It was odd because I walked out in the heat of the day to see both the water and already there were markings in yellow identifying the location of our household water supply line. It made me wonder which was there first the leak or the marking as neither were there the day before.
I rang SA Water who put me onto United Water, the company responsible for maintaining the supply lines in our city. They had marked it out and were waiting for a crew to become available. I figured, 24 hours from then there may be a crew blocking our driveway so I notified the people that this may affect.
The next day was even hotter than the previous one, yet the footprint of water had increased and replicated itself as another patch more centrally on the road indicating that more was breaking through before evaporating. The wet stain along the curb was no longer just a stain but rather a quiet trickle of water running quickly down the hill. Where was that crew?
Well, we had not seen anyone by day three but had noticed there was a separate leak near the house that was numbered in United Water's report that was not marked out. I rang them to let them know that there was a small issue with the logged job not having been marked and our leak being marked but not logged as a job. I was assured that they would speak to a supervisor to 'split' the job. I hoped that this meant they would be there soon as another spring had formed down the road and all three were now also bringing up yellow road base as well.
Well, day four came with clouds, followed by rain. There was no way to see how bad it was in the days that followed. Day 10 rolled around and as I headed out with my children I thought I should charge the camera's battery when I got home to show United Water how bad it was becoming. Thankfully, we got home to find at least part of the crew there but a little surprised by the pipe pumping water into the street. It turns out they knocked our supply line in the process of repair and were waiting on parts to repair the damage before they could back flush the pipes and restore the connection to our street.
I try hard not to think, "Well, if I was in charge of United Water I would ..." and then paint out a magical cure. Being in business teaches you that things are not always that easy but, instead, I try to think about how I can do better myself because all I can really do is hope that the CEO of United Water is striving for the same also.
Have you too had moments of frustration over wastage? Tell us about it!
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