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Editorial - August 2002 |
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Better county response needed on water leaks August 23, 2002 - Lincoln County’s Water Department appears to have a communications problem that needs fixing right away. We reported Wednesday that a business on Highway 150 West tried to get the county to come out and stop a leak from a water main. The first call was in mid June. The leak kept getting bigger and the business woman kept calling, but no one responded. Someone assured her that her own water use did not show any increase, and that the leak was a county problem. You would think that during a drought when officials are telling everybody to conserve their water, the “county problem” would get some attention. But it didn’t. “Each time I called them I kept telling them, it’s getting worse,” said Joyce Atwell. First it was this big and now it’s bigger and now it’s spreading. And they’ve just been ignoring it.” Monday, the same day Lincoln County issued mandatory water restrictions, a second leak erupted, bubbling up just feet away. Atwell called the water department. Tuesday morning she was still waiting for someone from the water department to check on the problem. “It’s just getting worse all the time. I think it’s a disgraceful waste of water,” she said. Not only was Atwell concerned about the waste of water, she was also worried that water was running under heavily traveled N.C. 150 West, eroding the road bed. The standing water also was providing a breeding ground for mosquitoes and damaging the large oaks that shade her business. Atwell isn’t the only resident getting a slow response from the water department. Some residents on English Oak Drive said it took them seven weeks and a call to the County Manager’s office to get help. The Lincoln County Public Works Department reported that response time varies, based on crew availability and the urgency of the report. County officials have informed us that water department crews have been extremely busy with service calls prompted by new customers seeking hookups to the county’s water system because their wells have run dry. They are also receiving an increasing number of calls on leaks. It may be time to hire some more help. Doing nothing about a spreading water leak during a time of drought is unacceptable.
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© 2001 Lincoln Times-News |
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