Description
My water meter has been leaking for about 6 months. I first reported this problem in January. A few weeks later someone painted the cap on my water meter and part of the sidewalk indicating the location of the water line --- but that's been so long ago the blue paint is starting to wear away.
I've called each month to check on any progress in getting this repaired. The customer reps are always polite and pleasant, but the calls invariably follow the same pattern: they tell me there's an open ticket on this matter; the rep tries to contact someone in the other department actually responsible for the repair. They get no answer, send an email, and offer to call me back when they get an reply. Alas, I never get a call.
My typical water bill is 7-9 CCFs a month, but over the past 6 months the usage has risen steadily until this past month it was 75 CCFs (!). Fortunately the leaking water doesn't rise to the surface (although the water meter well is constantly full of water), nevertheless, all that water is going somewhere. In fact, the ground and sidewalk are starting to settle and shift, as I've tried to show in the attached photos: the meter well used to be flush to the ground, and the sidewalk tilting is increasing.
Also water pressure is slacking off, most noticeably on the second floor. And in the basement where the water line comes into the house I can hear a constant hissing of escaping water.
My concern is that this leak will worsen until I'll have no water pressure at all and water will instead be geyersing into the street.
At that point I guess I call the emergency number -- but do I really have to wait for that extreme situation to get this leak repaired?
Is there some other number I can call? Some other reporting procedure to follow? Or is there such a backlog of repairs that
I just need to wait (and hope)?
Thanks for any help or advice you can offer!
4 Comments
Acknowledged RVA: Customer campaigner (Registered User)
pvetree (Registered User)
Well, somebody came and repainted my meter cover, grass, and sidewalk. So that's something.
This month's water bill was for 79 CCFs, and there's a new crack in the sidewalk.
And, idealist that I am, I'll be calling again tomorrow, expecting the usual routine to play out as it has for the past 6 months. At least they're polite.
pvetree (Registered User)
FIxed, finally. A platoon of friendly guys showed up suddenly last week (fortunately everybody had showered by then), did their work with shovels, axes, pumps, plumbing tools, and backhoe, and were gone in under two hours.
I'll add a further message when the bill is eventually adjusted; the length of time the adjusting takes may be interesting info for anyone else who encounters this same problem.
pvetree (Registered User)
Well, here we are, about 4.5 months later, and my bill has at last been adjusted. It looks like the correct amount, too -- although I may go back through my previous bills
and do a little arithmetic to be sure. But I'm not going to quibble; the credit balance I've got now should carry me through well into next year!
It was a nice surprise to get a (sort-of) Xmas present from the city utility department. :-)