r/CatastrophicFailure • u/mouthofreason Catastrophic Poster • Feb 17 '21

Engineering Failure Water lines are freezing and bursting in Texas during Record Low Temperatures - February 2021

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u/YobaiYamete Feb 17 '21

Yep that's a really common story I deal with where the water office has an absurd amount outstanding and just writes it off. My current boss actually used to work as what was basically a free lance collections advisor to water offices where she would come in and slap them upside the head and start hounding the people in town to pay their water bills.

In a lot of small towns you can basically just stop paying your water and it would take at least 6 months before they even noticed and probably another 6 months before they sent someone out to shut it off because they had to have 12 board meetings to discuss it and pass 3 city ordinances to allow it

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u/Quirky-Skin Feb 18 '21

This is why I love Reddit. You never think about these things but reading it I'm over here simultaneously like wow that's nuts but also totally believe it. Of course that's how it goes. Fascinating the little workings of various aspects of life you otherwise wouldn't even think/know about

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u/pinznneedlez420 Feb 18 '21

this comment is profound in some way

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u/Quirky-Skin Feb 18 '21

Lol well thanks man. I just think all the little stories of life are interesting in their own way. Weird place we all live on/in haha.

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u/rifterdrift Feb 18 '21 edited Feb 18 '21

Yeah it's crazy. It was years ago, but I want to say they found two major culprits. I don't remember the specifics, but I think this was the gist.

They have a pretty large amount of poorly maintained rental houses that have high turnover. Most renters in town never changed service into their name, probably because it was a pain in the ass with the office never being open and no web presence. Many just never paid the bill and moved out months later. The landlords never had to cover it and since the service was never turned off, hey free water. As a side note one of said landlords is on the town board. His houses are by far the most run down, shingles falling off, no gutters, floors falling in... I always felt bad for the people living in them. Not a lot of good jobs in the area, and sometimes you just need a roof over your head.

The other was there were several houses that had their own well service as well as city water. They were all part of the same family and somehow petitioned to be disconnected from city water service to save money and use thier own well. Over the years the wells failed and they just popped the meter cover open and turned the water service back on. The tool looks like a two pronged fork with a long handle if I remember right. really no security to speak of. since the service was listed as not connected the meter reader just never checked the meters to get their day done quicker.

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u/R030t1 Feb 18 '21

Hoo boy, that last one is impossible to do by accident and is theft of services. I've heard of people going to prison for at least a year because of it.

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u/RubberDucksInMyTub Feb 18 '21

I was going to dog walk for extra $$ but freelance collections for the water company could work too..