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Water, Water Everywhere!

May 9, 2013 By Talya Tate Boerner 9 Comments

super early monday morning…

“If you get bored today…” John began…followed by a pregnant pause as he carefully weighed words while thinking oops I hope she doesn’t think that I think she doesn’t do anything all day long…

“Yes??????” I asked peering over my MacBook in mid-blog post while thinking bored? I never get bored. There is always something to write. 

“Maybe you could call the water department and find out what’s going on in our neighborhood? File a complaint.”

Whew, I could do that. 

Something strange is happening in our neighborhood. For two months, give or take, the city of Dallas blasts the water lines for hours, flooding the streets, wasting water. Sometimes twice a day.

Worth Street
Water, water everywhere.
Did Dallas forget we are in the midst of a historical drought? Did Dallas forget that for over a year we have been under water restrictions that determine when and how much we can water our lawns?

Maybe the city’s constant water line flushing is causing the North Texas drought… Okay not really, but still the sight of water pouring into storm drains for hours on end is sickening!

My neighbors across the street have nasty brown water flowing from their faucets. Inside their house. They shower at the gym and bathe their newborn at a neighbor’s house. Clearly something is b-a-a-a-d-d-d-d wrong. Other neighbors have the same disgusting problem.

The city’s solution is to flush the water lines.

Over and over again.

The water from our faucets is crystal clear, but I bet poisonous contaminants can sometimes be colorless, odorless, deceiving.
Either the city doesn’t know what’s wrong or doesn’t know what to do to correct the problem. Wasting water doesn’t seem to be a helpful solution. 
Junius Street
Always.Something.To.Write.
talya
By the way, we had that water brought in specially for you folks… –Erin Brockovich 
Musical Pairing:
Good Morning Starshine
(I like this goofy song but it has nothing to do with this post 
other that the words are nonsensical like our water situation…)

P.S. Munger Place peeps – there is an emergency neighborhood water meeting tonight at Jill D’s house. 8:00 p.m.  T.

Filed Under: East Dallas, Home Tagged With: Munger Place

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Comments

  1. Robin Loyd says

    May 9, 2013 at 5:49 am

    You have no idea how much I lookforward to your post. I totally agree! ‘There’s always something to write’

    Reply
    • Talya Tate Boerner says

      May 9, 2013 at 6:01 am

      Thank you Robin! I so appreciate your comments. These sort of comments keep me going:))

      Reply
  2. Lana88 says

    May 9, 2013 at 5:58 am

    How terrible and frustrating!! I hope you get to the bottom of this. I can’t imagine why they would want to blast water during a drought… Please tell us what they say when you find out, I am just dying to know!

    Reply
    • Talya Tate Boerner says

      May 9, 2013 at 6:04 am

      We have neighbors who have tirelessly worked on this since last Thanksgiving. The city gives us the runaround, but apparently the bottom line involves old water main pipes that need to be replaced. Cracked and split, they allow rust and chemicals and who knows what into our water. Certain houses are fine, other people have brown water, so they have been boiling water for months! The city says it will take 2 years before they can replace the line. I think the newspapers and television people are becoming interested…

      Reply
    • Lana88 says

      May 10, 2013 at 4:02 pm

      That is just awful – I am so sorry! Hopefully the media will give it some attention and speed things along. I imagine that must really hurt the real estate prices in that area as well, which is no good for anyone, on a personal level or county level.

      Reply
  3. Gary Henderson says

    May 9, 2013 at 8:29 am

    I have a friend who used to frequently stay the weekend at my house, but he would never drink water from the faucets. I asked him why, and he said he was convinced I had something noxious in my water because he could smell something funny. I had never smelled anything, but to placate him, I bought a water test kit at Home Depot and tested my water. There was nothing out of the ordinary in it. But you guys might try that in your neighborhood. They cost a few bucks and they’re not entirely intuitive to use, but they’re easy to read and it would at least help to know what’s going on. Or what’s not.

    Reply
    • Talya Tate Boerner says

      May 9, 2013 at 11:39 am

      Several neighbors have tested the water. I will find out the results tonight in the neighborhood meeting. In the meantime, I think that’s why my knee has been hurting…

      Reply
  4. Tim Hardin says

    May 9, 2013 at 9:37 am

    Well, ‘water’ you gonna do when the city seems to have little to no clue as to the brown water problem. Am I mistaken, but isn’t it 2013 and not 1913? Isn’t this the United States we’re living in which the last time I looked, wasn’t a third world country? Maybe we’re quickly heading that way, I don’t know. Anyhow, I think Gary has a good solution to at least feel safe about the water you’re drinking. And maybe a little news media will help bring a solution to the problem. And who knows, Talya, you could be the next Erin Brockovich.=)

    Reply
  5. lynnelives says

    May 9, 2013 at 11:03 pm

    Sounds dreadful and enough to send me back into campaign mode if that happened here.. I hope it gets sorted soon. Does anyone know what their rolling programme for updating the pipes is and why they’ve said 2 years? I hope, whatever water companies you have, they’re providing clean water in the meantime.
    Absolutely love that song, took me back!
    Take care xx

    Reply

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Talya Tate Boerner


Hi! I'm Talya. Writer, Reader, Arkansas Master Naturalist / Master Gardener, Author of

THE ACCIDENTAL SALVATION OF GRACIE LEE (2016)

GENE, EVERYWHERE: a life-changing visit from my father-in-law (2020)

BERNICE RUNS AWAY (Now Available!)

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