Paramount Theatre
How About Repairing What We Have First
RECEIVED Mon., June 13, 2011
Dear Editor,
One consequence of the in-process City Council run-off election has been a revival of the Water Treatment Plant No. 4 debate. This back-and-forth blather inspired me to take a closer look at Paul Robbins' Austin Water report. My reading of this report indicates that we are losing about 15 million gallons a day due to leaky water pipes, and that there are 1,050 miles of old cast iron city water pipes which need to be replaced to prevent these leaks.
I ain't no mathematical genius or nuthin', but it seems to me the money spent on WTP4 would have been much better spent massively accelerating the replacement of these cast iron pipes, all of which are more than 50 years old. One would think the first priority should be fixing leaky pipes before adding additional capacity. Now I can understand that City Council members are far too busy to think about mundane issues like the water supply, but no one at the water utility thought of this, either? Really? Does this help to explain why water is more expensive in Austin than it is in any other major city in Texas?
One consequence of the in-process City Council run-off election has been a revival of the Water Treatment Plant No. 4 debate. This back-and-forth blather inspired me to take a closer look at Paul Robbins' Austin Water report. My reading of this report indicates that we are losing about 15 million gallons a day due to leaky water pipes, and that there are 1,050 miles of old cast iron city water pipes which need to be replaced to prevent these leaks.
I ain't no mathematical genius or nuthin', but it seems to me the money spent on WTP4 would have been much better spent massively accelerating the replacement of these cast iron pipes, all of which are more than 50 years old. One would think the first priority should be fixing leaky pipes before adding additional capacity. Now I can understand that City Council members are far too busy to think about mundane issues like the water supply, but no one at the water utility thought of this, either? Really? Does this help to explain why water is more expensive in Austin than it is in any other major city in Texas?
Patrick Goetz
[Editor's note: Read Paul Robbins report posted online with "Water Fall," News, June 17]