Checked all my faucets, then went out and checked meter. Thankfully no leaks at the Roga Ranch.

Then took the pup out for his morning walk and saw a huge stream of water running down the next street  over from a broken water main. 

 I hope the water company doesn’t cut the gas line like the last time there was a broken water line in our area. Took 10 or 11 hours to fix that mess with firemen going door to door telling people to not smoke or light a fire of any kind.

It's been a few years ago that I woke up one morning to little-to-no water pressure. I walked over to the next door neighbor and asked if their water was out. We went inside and turned on one of their faucets and it was running great.

Hmmm.

I went back to my house, went inside and checked a faucet again, in case it had coincidentally come back on while I had gone next door. Nope. Nuthin'.

Hmmm.

I walked back outside to the meter. No signs of water leaking there. I think I checked in my basement, looking for a leak. Nuthin'. I went back outside, just looking around randomly, looking to see if I could see anything. I began walking down on the lower end of my yard, and there it was. A literal stream of clear water was coming out of a hole in the ground. I was like 25-30 feet away from my house. The water line didn't run anywhere near that area. I began looking more closely up toward my house. I found that there was a hole in the ground right next to my house, up under my front porch, and water was running through it. The pipe had split there, washed out that hole, and the water had made its way UNDERGROUND, running from that hole (where the incoming main line from the meter had split open) a good 50+ feet, and only coming out of the ground because of the slope of the yard down on that lower end. I have no idea how that happened.

I had to call the man, who came out and spliced in a new section of pipe right up next to where it comes into my house. Been knocking on wood ever since, hoping that this doesn't happen somewhere else within that stretch of line coming from the meter. Probably going to have to replace that entire stretch of pipe one of these days.

(08-23-2024, 08:21 AM)Replying to RockmartDawg

I don't know how the meter wasn't running if the line was broken between the meter and the house.  All of that water had to go through the meter.

(08-23-2024, 08:51 AM)Replying to JC-DAWG83

I don't know how the meter wasn't running if the line was broken between the meter and the house.  All of that water had to go through the meter.
[/quote]

We had a guy in Walker County get in lots of trouble several years ago for bypassing the water meter and stealing water.  Pretty sure there was jail time involved in the penalty.

(08-23-2024, 08:55 AM)Replying to Rogasingingdawg

I don't know how the meter wasn't running if the line was broken between the meter and the house.  All of that water had to go through the meter.
[/quote]

We had a guy in Walker County get in lots of trouble several years ago for bypassing the water meter and stealing water.  Pretty sure there was jail time involved in the penalty.
[/quote]

Water bill or jail? I’ll pay the bill.

(08-23-2024, 08:57 AM)Replying to McDonoughDawg

I don't know how the meter wasn't running if the line was broken between the meter and the house.  All of that water had to go through the meter.
[/quote]

We had a guy in Walker County get in lots of trouble several years ago for bypassing the water meter and stealing water.  Pretty sure there was jail time involved in the penalty.
[/quote]

Water bill or jail? I’ll pay the bill.
[/quote]
Yep. I have a couple of acquaintances that both Walker County water and well water.  They have their houses plumbed with cutoffs so they use only a minimum of public water, running 1 bathroom or something like that.  But Walker county will not issue a building permit to any address where public water is available without hooking up to it.

(08-23-2024, 09:05 AM)Replying to Rogasingingdawg

I don't know how the meter wasn't running if the line was broken between the meter and the house.  All of that water had to go through the meter.
[/quote]

We had a guy in Walker County get in lots of trouble several years ago for bypassing the water meter and stealing water.  Pretty sure there was jail time involved in the penalty.
[/quote]

Water bill or jail? I’ll pay the bill.
[/quote]
Yep. I have a couple of acquaintances that both Walker County water and well water.  They have their houses plumbed with cutoffs so they use only a minimum of public water, running 1 bathroom or something like that.  But Walker county will not issue a building permit to any address where public water is available without hooking up to it.
[/quote]

Most counties and cities are that way.  The cost to install and maintain water systems is so high the municipality can't afford for residents who have access to the system to not be hooked up to it.  The tap fee and minimum monthly bill is enough to satisfy the city/county.

I don't know anyone who is/was on a well that didn't want to be on municipal water.  As far as bypassing a water meter, that is a huge no-no with severe penalties.  I knew of a guy who used some sections of copper pipe to steal electricity by jumping across the connections in the meter base.  He worked for a heating and air company and had enough knowledge of electrical work to not get killed doing it.  He got away with it for years before Ga Power caught him when they came to fix a neighbors service line and saw his meter base.  I think he spent some time in the jail house too.

Y'all scarin' the shit out o' me.

I live 1/4 mile back in the woods, and I'm on county water.  1375 foot of 1" schedule 40 pvc.

I've had two leaks in the 35 years or so I've been on county.  First time got a bill for $400.00.  They took an average of the last 6 months bill and I had to pay that.  (After proving busted pipe by showing them the old pieces, and the receipts where I bought replacement pipe.)

Second time was about 4 years ago.  Got bill for $4000.00!  After negotiations, I ended up having to pay $1100.00.  Took a while to notice that leak.

Now I try to walk the waterline at least every other week or so, just to see if I see any obvious leaks.

(08-23-2024, 08:51 AM)Replying to JC-DAWG83

I don't know how the meter wasn't running if the line was broken between the meter and the house.  All of that water had to go through the meter.
[/quote]

Sorry. I should have written it more clearly. I was looking for water to be visibly running from somewhere around the meter, not looking at the meter to see if water was running.

I've seen that happen in some places... a break happens where the line connects to the meter, or very close by. My wife and I were walking our neighborhood one evening. As we walked past one house there was water running down beside the curb. We got up to where their water meter was located and it was running heavily out from under and around the meter lid. We went to the door to let them know, which they told us later it ended up that the break happened on their side of the meter. Yes, the meter was running as water poured out of the leak. It was doing the same on ours. Once I saw the leak coming from underground I went out and turned off the water at the meter to stop the flow.

hope it all got repaired......