What's new

Water Conservation Related

user46182

後輩
10 Jun 2009
55
4
23
I have recently been informed that the public water works company in the Kanto area can do nothing about a broken water pipe on private property even if that broken water pipe is spilling about 100 to 150 liters per hour of fresh water and the fresh water is going down a rainwater drain.

What I saw was that about 10,000 liters of fresh water was allowed to be wasted because the contractor charged with fixing the broken main pipe couldn't do the job first on Thursday, then Friday, and just came back this morning, on Monday.

Yes, I saw what the problem was and quite possibly the Thursday delay can be excused, but to walk away from the job on Friday afternoon and let all that fresh water go down the drain strikes me as not so good.

And this morning I find out that because it is private property there isn't an authority that could stop it from happening.

Or is there some chance the public water works representative was sort of fibbing?

You see, we are being bombarded with notices all the time from the public water works people about how we brush our teeth, use a toilet, the furo, yet they don't have the authority to stop a really, really bad leak. How does that make sense?

And please don't get me wrong -- I am not indicating the notices to save water should be stopped. I don't view them as a problem. I don't have a problem with folks being all gungho about conserving water -- fine by me. But when there is a really serious leak, HEH, who is supposed to police up that stuff!? Nobody!!? That is hard to swallow.
 
There's only one public water works authority for the whole Kanto area?!?!

I don't know if you've seen the news lately, but we ain't exactly suffering a drought and contractors may have had more pressing matters to attend to.

You called the Kanto Water Company yourself and were told what you have related here?
 
Actually, that was a tad careless of me. You jogged my realization that the Kanto area might just have other public entities besides the one that handles my area in charge of handling these fresh water (drinking water) related responsibilities.

This one is titled Tokyo Waterworks Bureau, and that 'waterworks' is written on my bill as one word. Afraid my English sort of lets me down on whether that is correct, but I assume it's correct. I don't use the word 'waterworks' very often.

As for the point about whether we are suffering a drought, or water shortage at the present time, I really don't think I ever see any of the 'Save Water' notices indicating that we should only be concerned with saving water when there is a drought. Were you by chance making some point that has gone over my head?
 
Yeah....guys might be busy working on some of the flood related crap.

So, you called your local waterworks and were told directly by them what the situation was?
 
The folks at the local waterworks bureau didn't know about the particular situation of which I am writing about, but when informed of the amount of water that may have been dumped into the drain and the approximate 4-day timestamp on the event they then explained that if that pipe was on private property, which it is, then there was nothing they can do.

Now, while that sounds to me rather strange, I have to believe them.

But then I get to thinking and I wonder just how that works. How much water has to leak out and for how long before somebody other than the property owner does something?

Let's say a piece of land has a house removed but the water pipes underneath are still there and let us even think that maybe an owner is not close by and a pipe breaks and the water is flowing directly into a stream.

So the water isn't flooding a public road. The city isn't involved. It's private property. The owner may even be overseas and knows nothing about what's happening. So from what I have learned the water just flows and flows and flows, and nothing can be done, right?

Sounds kind of spooky to me.

Oh yes, we have no flooding in this area to be diverting the attention of that contractor.
 
You're all over the map.

The water company hired a contractor to fix a leak they didn't know about? Or you're just irked at their hypocrisy for not fixing a leak they didn't know about?
 
Excuse me, but I haven't written anywhere in this thread that a public waterworks bureau hired a contractor to do anything during this event. In fact, I do not believe the issue of who hired the contractor has yet been brought up. But it seems fair that some confusion might have been caused in some manner. The property owner hired the contractor.

And in case you might further wonder, I am not the property owner in question. My property is adjacent.
 
What the heck is a private contractor doing working on the water main, then? Or are you actually talking about the line from the main that connects your neighbor's home?

How do you know the water company had no knowledge of the leak? How do you know they couldn't do anything about a leak in a pipe under private property? For the third time....Did YOU speak to anyone at the water company and get this first hand?

I feel fairly certain that the water company could have come out and turned a valve to shut off your neighbor's line and would have done so if asked to do so. I suspect that what happened is despite the leak your neighbor still had some water pressure in the house and the leak was before his water meter, meaning it would be in his own self-interest not to let the water company know about the leak. If the leak was before the meter and the company found out, they could certainly suspend service (isolate his line from the main) until he had repaired whatever section of the line he is responsible for. Anything after the meter....they wouldn't give a damn.

I still don't get why you're so worked up, seemingly at the water company, for apparent hypocrisy in promoting responsible water usage then failing to fix a leak they didn't know about. At any point did you take it upon yourself to call and tell them about the leak?
 
The information that the water company cannot fix a pipe on private property did come directly from them at approximately 0835hrs this morning on August 18th.

Yes, I may have some doubts about what they stated, but if anyone can state for sure that the information given out was wrong I would hope they will see this thread and post here.

As for what I am on about, I thought what I have already written made what bothers me clear. But maybe not.

The most reliable information I have at this time of writing is that if there is a substantial water leak on private property the Tokyo Waterworks Bureau is not authorized to do anything about it. I am having trouble with at least one possible scenario I wrote about already -- the water in the creek idea I wrote about above.

I personally am witness to a conservative estimate of 10,000 liters (or more) having just been dumped into a rainwater drain over about a 4-day period. I took a video this morning just after 0700hrs so an expert might be able to better state just what the flow rate was.

Bluntly, it seems the laws need fixing if the water company can't stop that sort of water wastage. And my purpose for posting here is for some feedabck. Maybe somebody can make the claim stick that it's no big deal to waste 10,000 liters of water. Or more. Just looking for some discussion on this matter.

And, Mr. Cash, if by this post of mine you aren't getting what I'm worked up about I do not think I have any hold over you to force you to post anything else. And I'll thank you for your attention to this matter thus far.
 
Have you asked your neighbor why he (and his contractor) didn't have the water shut off?

While the water company has no right to mess with private property, it can disrupt service to individual customers by shutting off the water. That doesn't involve digging up private property and incurring the expense of repair. Perhaps you're just asking the wrong question....it isn't a matter if the water company fixing the pipe, it is a matter of whether they could/would shut off the water had they known about the leak.

(Could you update your profile, please? It shows you living in Yamanashi).
 
My mistake. I thought you were an admin. Any chance you received the PM and it simply didn't get put into my "Sent" folder?
 
Last edited:
I tried to use the PM to answer your last question, but I don't see anything in the "Sent" folder. I don't wish to discuss my private business out here on the main board, thank you. And I wish for this to be deleted when you read it. Thank you.

I have no control over deleting things.
 
Back
Top Bottom