Soon after I took this picture, emergency no parking signs went up and on one day a crew was out looking like they were doing preparation work to fix the leak. I asked them about the leak and they said it was going to be fixed. Since then the no parking signs came down and the water continues to come up out of the middle of the road.
Today I called the Water And Sewer Authority DC to see if I can find out any info about the leak. While the woman I spoke with was very nice, I was unable to get any info beyond that the leak has been reported and she would "send a message to the foreman for the area" that the leak continues (and has gotten bigger).
A variety of concerns / questions come to my mind about this leak. With freezing temperatures coming sooner than later, this is an ice patch and potential accident waiting to happen. Doe sthis result in contamination to our drinking water? I don't drink it or cook with it, but I would like to know... Historically, this area of the water pipe has had a number of breaks in the past 20 years - at least 4 times the pipe has broken within 20 feet of where the leak is now. How efficient is it to keep fixing a pipe that keeps breaking? Is there ever any consideration of a bigger problem than a one time leaking pipe? I know that if a pipe kept breaking in my house every 3 to 4 years, I would conclude that previous fixes were just band-aids.
I also wonder how WASA-DC prioritizes fixing pipe leaks. Is two months plus standard time to expect a repair?
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Update - Monday, November 2, 2009 - According to a man I spoke with in the DC-WASA Public Affairs office this morning, work on the leak is supposed to begin this week.
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