Flush it
Some of you may have had a problem in the past several days, getting your city water service to do what you expect it to do. I know the other night I started to fill the bathtub and decided that at the rate it was trickling out of the faucet it would be dawn before I was able to take a bath. I decided to just wait until morning and try again.
The restaurant stocked up on containers of water at the first mention of water leaks and pressure problems. The staff there knew the drill. School was dismissed at noon Monday because there wasn't enough water pressure to allow the "facilities" to function. And so it went, all over town.
We are spoiled. We want good water pressure when we step into the shower and we want that water pressure to remain steady until the last bubble of soap or shampoo has run down the drain. We expel certain products from our bodies and we want to be able to push down on the handle of a white porcelain apparatus and watch a swirl of water carry those products off to the sewer pipes running under our homes and streets.
Some weeks ago I think I addressed this very issue in a discussion on this page about municipal services, what we expect, and who is going to pay for them. It was city budget time and the mayor and council members were hard-pressed to give you people everything you want for no increase in the mill levy. Remember? We talked about this. Well, I talked. You were stuck on listening end.
I believe I basically said, "If you want services, you are going to have to pay for them."
And now we have arrived at what life is like when the faucet is dry and the flushy thing doesn't do what is supposed to. Uh-oh. This is not even a problem of our own making. We didn't consciously choose to take a stand against the cost of city services and have them disconnected or anything brazen like that. We are the victims of the maintenance and painting project on the water tower.
The complaints aimed at the city office, the public works employees, and even the FAMILIES of the public works employees indicates a bit of impatience and unhappiness amongst consumers of city water and sewer services these days. Imagine that.
Imagine also that this is just a taste of what our lives would be like without those services. As soon as the maintenance on the water tower is complete we will be back to normal, but it might be worth it to remember the inconvenience of this week.
Just a thought for those of you complaining about your interrupted service.
— SUSAN MARSHALL
