Broken water main floods NE Portland neighborhood

[ensho]

http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=131238120600014300


The Portland Water Bureau has replaced a 20-foot section of a 55-year-old pipe that broke early Wednesday morning and returned service to about three dozen dwellings in Northeast Portland.

-snip-

Water Bureau officials still don’t know why the pipe installed in 1956 broke early Wednesday morning. The repairs will install a pipe made of ductile iron, which is more flexible than older cast iron pipe.
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[WinkyDink]

1. The Water Bureau? You mean....the GOVERNMENT?! Couldn't people fix it THEMSELVES?

We all know government is the problem, not the solution.

[theophilus]

2. I guess we'll be fixing our own soon, or paying private companies to do so.

As cities "outsource" these jobs it will be interesting to see if the price goes UP. I think it will. As you know, government does a far better job of keeping down costs than the private sector. I guess this Water Bureau was the city but it is becoming much more likely that these things will be handed off to private contractors, ostensibly to SAVE money. It won't end up that way in many cases, imo.

[trotsky]

3. Many people have been sounding the alarm bells on this stuff for years.

Vast amounts of our infrastructure - not just the obvious stuff like bridges and roads but things like water pipes and sewers - were put in with massive GOVERNMENT investment back in the early-mid 20th century. We set all this stuff up underground, and promptly forgot about it - taking it completely for granted.

We are gonna have incredible bills to pay as we replace this old stuff, and the rich don't want to pony up.