Victory!! Or Is It?

This is a continuation of a previous post. You can read it here.

Two weeks and one day after my last call with our water company I get a call from my neighbor, John. He says the water company has a truck at my house and they are pushing their 6 foot metal rod into the ground in the wet spot again.

This is a busy week at work. My boss and one of my other coworkers are in Europe on a business trip leaving me somewhat in charge of some foreign visitors. So I cannot leave work easily to go and talk to a water company stooge.

I ask John if he can go over and talk to them since I was promised a call by the service manager at the water company when the next service truck was going to visit the wet spot. I received no call from the water company.  John has some time and goes to talk with the workers. It turns out that a repair crew is on its way to dig a hole and see once and for all if the problem is a spring or a leaking pipe.

It turns out that the large main runs beside the road at 4 feet under the ground. At the wettest spot, a 6 inch tee comes off the main and goes under the road. It probably gives water to John's house and a couple of the houses next door on his side of the road. On the 6 inch line going under the road is a small leak in the pipe. It is not a very large leak but large enough to turn a not so small section of my lawn into a mud wrestling pit. It is too bad they fixed it on a Wednesday, I had a mud wrestling match set up for the following Saturday... I guess I will have to refund all those tickets and return most of the wagers.

So the water company puts a collar on the 6 inch line next to the leak. They then open the leak wider and shoot water over the top of the power lines above their heads. Then they jerk the collar over the leak and seal it off.

Then they fill up the hole and do a half-ass job of smoothing out the ruts and holes made in the yard. They promise to come back in a couple weeks after the ground has settled (and I'm guessing dried out) to smooth out the ruts and reseed the grass.

So now I am left with a spot of bare dirt, some ruts and a couple small holes. At least the ground is dry...

We will see if the water company comes back of their own initiative or if I am required to call and give them a friendly reminder. Maybe I will have the Chief make that call. She is on the warpath right now. You will read about it in the next post.

No mud wrestling and that makes us all lose.