So Who Will Pay That Water Bill?

Yesterday afternoon was shaping up to be an average day. That is until about 3:45 when I heard a kerthump. I figured it was the kid on the other side of the building. Our building is less than sound proof so I can frequently hear cabinet doors closing or the neighbor's upstairs bathroom toilet flush. I am used to hearing the kid run up and down the stairs. So I figured the noise was just another everyday happening. Maybe somebody moved some furniture? Then I hear frantic voices outside. Even Daisy looked toward the window.

Curious woman that I am, I went upstairs to take a look out of the upstairs window. Oh, boy! One of the electric company meter readers had run his truck into the water main behind the fire station. His right front wheel was up against the water pipe. Water was running madly all over the place. Why he was driving the truck around the yard is a mystery to me. This also just happened to be a day when the volunteer fire fighters were at the station. Ok, I figured this will be handled quickly. Oh no. For two hours the six fire guys and the four meter readers stood around taking pictures and calling people on their cell phones. That is two hours with water running all over the place. A tow truck drove by. The driver asked if he could help. They waved him off. Finally two cop cars show up. They stood around with the rest of the people for another hour. Meanwhile the water is still running. No-one seems to have any idea of how to turn the water off. The water valves are in a large metal vault behind the above ground pipe ends. Water is completely covering the yard and the vault holding the valves. Luckily there is a drainage ditch along the side of the road.

Finally they get a tow truck. In less than 5 minutes he was able to pull the truck out of harm's way. Great I think. Wrong. Water is still running everywhere. By now it is nearly 6:30. People are still wandering around trying to figure out how to turn off the water. Apparently they don't want to get their feet wet. By this time Jimmy had come home. He laughingly said maybe he should go over there and turn the water off for them. Nah, the water company can handle it. Right?

Around 7:00 the water company truck shows up with a generator and a pump. After another seemingly endless amount of time the water gets pumped out so that the water company guy can shut off the water. And of course, as a result we have no water. Finally the problem is solved. All this took about 4 hours and 15 people to fix this. I have to wonder what will happen to the electric company guy to created the problem. And why was he driving around in the grass anyway? Who will have to pay the water bill? I'm also a little disappointed that it took so many people so long to handle this problem. Talk about using time wisely? All those people standing around. Problem solving 101? I think they all failed that class.