Water Seeping in the Street

After a bad experience with a “water leak” last year at our home I am leery of any wasted water. Last September we were hit with a $900+ water bill. That was shocking! Our regular water bill varies from about $50 in the winter to $150 in the summer. That’s being real stingy with the watering of the lawn in the summer. We have a rather big front and back yard so we try to water conservatively.

If we don’t the water bill in the summer could easily be $300 or more. We never did find the problem last year why our bill was so high. I never could find a leak, but the water meter reading seemed to be ok both before the huge bill and afterward. This year during the summer our water rates have increased considerably due to the water shortage in Southern California. So to combat that I have not used the automatic sprinklers this summer but watered by hand. It takes 1 – 2 hours to do it, but I do it at dusk so it has cooled down by then. It has saved us quite a bit on our water bill so far.

About three days ago I went to water the front lawn. It was almost dark. I noticed what looked like oil in front of our mailbox which is right at the curb. I didn’t remember seeing any cars parked there and don’t remember any oil there before. I looked closely and rubbed my feet in it. It didn’t seem like oil. Maybe it was water. However it had been real hot that day so any water would have evaporated.

Next morning I took at look at it and it was wet. It was water alright. Bad news. Apparently what had happened was a delayed or underground seepage of water probably from a broken water pipe. About a month or two ago Verizon had a crew tear up the street and lay fiber optic cable for their FIOS cable system.

They had dug about a three foot deep ditch, laid cable in it, and covered it back up with asphalt. They did a good job, but wouldn’t you know it? It’s now leaking in front of my house. The leak is getting worse. If someone doesn’t come out soon maybe that little area will become a sinkhole. If that happens a small problem will become a big one.

I tried to call Verizon yesterday, but got disconnected after spending five minutes navigating my way through their recorded answering system. It was horrible because I was busy and wasted almost a half hour on several calls only to be disconnected before anyone answered. I went to the internet and sent a repair email.

Today I got an email answer to call a certain number. Well we had already done that. I gave them the pertinent information. He gave me a tracking number and told me it takes 36 – 48 hours before the repair crews would call here for more info. By then the problem will likely be worse.

We called the local water company and got the run-around. After waiting on the phone almost 15 minutes we hung up and called again. No response. Oh well. I hope it doesn’t affect our water bill. If it does I will be furious. Let’s just wait and see what happens. Seems like there is no rush to fix the problem.

Charles