Water - water - everywhere -

[observer]

- and not a drop to spare. Certainly in the case of N/Ireland, where with all the tons of melting snow and now rain, they're running short of water. Seems they've got more leaks than Wiki !

[Evil Sid]

so its a no no for the hosepipe then

[Dizzy]

Leaks everywhere it seems.... United Utilities are apparently telling people 'if you spot a leak don't phone us, phone a plumber' !

 

Kerching ????'s

 

Wonder how many businesses had a soggy suprise when they returned to work

[observer]

We've been here before, but this continuing incompetance should be unacceptable in a so-called modern civilized society. Surely, the catchment and storage of water, in a Country that has an abundance of it; and it's efficient delivery through pipes, canals, aqueducts etc; to every home and business, is something that should have been mastered by now?

[Bill]

I'm not going to get any nasty surprises when I go back to work because I already know the pipes burst and my office is partialy flooded.

 

The busrt pipe is actually next door but the waters comming under the walls. It's not getting any worse so I'll just have to wait for the landlord to orgainse the plumber. Till then the water just continues to run down the drains.

 

Bill

[Dizzy]

Hope they are not on a water meter Bill.

 

I think we've got of really lightly as everyone I've spoken too seems to have had a burst.

 

The unused toilets in Stockton Heath are making a gushing sound today too... guess WBC never turned the water off when they closed them to the public :

[Lt Kije]

I hope their is not to much damage to your work place Bill

[observer]

Over 2,000 years ago, the Romans were delivering fresh water to a City of over 1million; and parts of their sewerage system is still in use under York.

[Dizzy]

A load of old s**te then

[observer]

Nowadays they're just papering over the cracks!

[Peter T]

Bit bigger than cracks these days.

[Pedro]

My first and biggest insurance burst job on 27th December 1962 was at the now demolished Alliance Box works on Orford Lane (a 'first' in this method of concreste building construction) - all the sprinklers had frozen up and burst during the Christmas shut down - stock throughout the premises was ruined - went on from there to a large house in Stockton Heath where every radiador in the building was split - gone away for Christmas and left no background heating on. Despite all these calls to UU the vastly improved heating systems since 1962 should have resulted in far less bursts in homes and business premises but if people turn heating off during nights of minus 10C and lower Jack Frost will wreak havoc.

[Dizzy]

True Pedro but some businesses don't actually have central heating and with the proce of gas/elec these days many people simply can't afford to leave it on all the time either in their homes or workplaces. Cheaper than a plumbers charges though eh

[observer]

So; maintain background heating; lag your pipwork or drain your system.

[Dizzy]

Folk in Norhtern Ireland are still without water and could be without until next week. Around 32,000 properties have apparently been affected

 

Where water is flowing ,and despite an extra 250 megalitres being pumped into the system every da,y most is being lost along the way because of all the burst pipes and leaks.

 

A lot of leaks are thought to be in vacant business premises and one property was gushing out enough water to cover 2,000-3,000 houses.

 

Flippin' heck and people here are moaning that their bins haven't been emptied...seems somewhat insignificant compared with what others are facing eh

[observer]

The guy from NWWA was explaining that our pipes are buried deep underground, which tends to protect them against freezing, BUT - the changes in ground temperature cause ground movement, which can fracture the pipes. Errm, so knowing this is a possibility, why don't they come up with an engineering solution to prevent it happening?

[Peter T]

Steady obs, they can't cope with the problems they already have. Don't ask them to step outside of the box and come up with solutions, they would be completely lost.

[Dizzy]

So what about all the mains water supply pipes that have frozen in Warrington then. Most about 2.5ft underground and just thawing properly today it seems

[observer]

Have "the mains" frozen?

[Dizzy]

Yep some have apparently

[Bill]

Well I spoke too soon. I called in this morning to find that the plumber had been in and repaired the burst pipe that was partially flooding my office.

 

The problem now is that now we have another burst and this time it's comming from and empty office upstairs so the waters coming through the ceiling. I've been in the other premisses and they're in an awful state, totally flooded with collapsed ceilings.

 

And speaking about the ground moving after prolonged freezing well you should see my drive. I have major subsidance and the paving flags are all all over the pace.

 

Bill

[Dizzy]

Fkippin' heck Bill all that sounds bad Hope it's not caused too much damage to your work stuff

 

Funny you should mention your drive though. I was only saying to my other half yesterday that two of our paving flags seem to have dropped in the back yard. He said they hadn't as they were never put straight after UU fixed a water leak we had.

 

They are definately a lot lower now though and they are at the exact point where the lead common supply mains feed runs by not to mention that our houses are built on soft earth and sand.

 

Mmmmm usually takes a few weeks for our underground leaks to show on the surface so best keep an eye on it

[Peter T]

Commiserations Bill. Hope it is sorted soon.

[Dizzy]

Seems all the manhole covers in the mother-in-laws road have dropped a good few inches too

[Bill]

I did wonder about the possibility of a bust pipe erroding the ground because it is in line with the water main but if there were a burst of any size, then I'd have thought that we'd have noticed some loss of pressure?

 

The flags have been down for about five years and have pretty well stayed put till a couple of weeks ago now they look a right mess and will have to be replaced or relaid. Guess thats not going to be a cheap job!

 

 

Bill