Hopefully lessons are learned by this that can be applied to water mains and other mission critical projects. Years ago when I was in California as a child, I bought a souvenir from the 1994 Earthquake that destroyed the busiest freeway in America I believe (I 10) The city, state and contractors moved heaven and earth and cut an insane amount of red tape to deliver this project in beyond record time.
I-10 was fixed in three months, but it took about five years to fix the Los Angeles water system after the Northridge earthquake.
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Two days ago: "good job everyone! Mission 'reduce consumption' accomplished. give yourselves a pat on the back!"
Today: "THE TAPS ARE RUNNING DRY! The sky is falling! Flee for your lives!"
... Maybe that congratulatory message wasn't the best idea? Maybe "hey, we appreciate the sacrifices that are being made and we'll get through this over the next couple of weeks but until we can see light at the end of the tunnel, we have to keep making these sacrifices" was the better way to go?
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I-10 was fixed in three months, but it took about five years to fix the Los Angeles water system after the Northridge earthquake.
Curves is hilarious. This was my favorite post of his.
Quote:
Originally Posted by curves2000
I don't know if this has been brought up at all but given this crisis, does the city water works department have enough man power working to fix this issue? Could a few people from outside of Calgary with knowledge of this specific infrastructure be helpful?
Just over 24 hrs after the break started and already wondering if the city is capable... If a city, especially one of Calgary's size, is unable to handle the very thing they are in charge of and dealing with day in and day out, with a plethora of local contractors available.... then we would be in real dire straights right now. lol at thinking external help would be needed to make a repair for this.
In her morning briefing Friday, she said there was only one message for Calgarians: “We must do better.”
The mayor also said that should Calgarians not get on board, they may have to implement indoor watering restrictions in order to preserve the water supply for critical functions.
Calgarians are still using water at the sustainable threshold or beyond, she said in the morning briefing. She said 480 million litres were used Thursday, which is the threshold that allows them to replenish community reservoirs.
“While we reduced our water use slightly from the day before, we simply have to do more,” she said.
“We do not have access to the majority of our water supply until this feeder main can be restored to its full function. I am worried about our city and our surrounding municipalities. If our water usage continues to trend up, and our water supply can’t keep up, the taps will run dry at some point.”
'We simply must do better', but at the same time we're using water at the 'sustainable threshold or beyond'
Seems the concern is that if the increase continues to trend we're in trouble and we're essentially right at the line and trending the wrong way, but maybe just say we need to double down and bend the curve () then?
Here’s one for the class; so a person in my community apparently had literally just installed a brand new lawn the day before the water main break. So in order to save the lawn and not have to pay for another they kinda had to water it (I assume this is true? Is this true?).
They received QUITE the blowback obviously including visits from police etc, is it reasonable though for these people in this specific circumstance to water a lawn? There’s been a hell of a debate amongst people I know on this one and I find the discussions interesting / amusing.
Here’s one for the class; so a person in my community apparently had literally just installed a brand new lawn the day before the water main break. So in order to save the lawn and not have to pay for another they kinda had to water it (I assume this is true? Is this true?).
They received QUITE the blowback obviously including visits from police etc, is it reasonable though for these people in this specific circumstance to water a lawn? There’s been a hell of a debate amongst people I know on this one and I find the discussions interesting / amusing.
Is it allowed? No. Does it suck / bad timing? Sure.
Could they have been resourceful and figured out other ways to keep the lawn alive? Probably. Grey water? Landscaping company with water from another source? (Many have water from out of town/pond stormwater/etc) Rain barrels?
Here’s one for the class; so a person in my community apparently had literally just installed a brand new lawn the day before the water main break. So in order to save the lawn and not have to pay for another they kinda had to water it (I assume this is true? Is this true?).
They received QUITE the blowback obviously including visits from police etc, is it reasonable though for these people in this specific circumstance to water a lawn? There’s been a hell of a debate amongst people I know on this one and I find the discussions interesting / amusing.
At that point you need to have the landscaping company there to tell the police, "hey, we're experts, we installed, this, and it absolutely must be watered". Then work on getting some alternative source of water, although I have no idea what that even looks like.
__________________ "The great promise of the Internet was that more information would automatically yield better decisions. The great disappointment is that more information actually yields more possibilities to confirm what you already believed anyway." - Brian Eno
Here’s one for the class; so a person in my community apparently had literally just installed a brand new lawn the day before the water main break. So in order to save the lawn and not have to pay for another they kinda had to water it (I assume this is true? Is this true?).
They received QUITE the blowback obviously including visits from police etc, is it reasonable though for these people in this specific circumstance to water a lawn? There’s been a hell of a debate amongst people I know on this one and I find the discussions interesting / amusing.
New Sod will dry up and die really quickly if not watered.
It is the worst timing
__________________
Captain James P. DeCOSTE, CD, 18 Sep 1993