Joe,
last week I was riding along down in a industrial park and saw an excel swimming pool water truck, go up to an out of the way fire hydrant and just start filling his truck...I thought this seemed fishy so I called the police to check it out, while I was waiting for the police I called the number on side of truck and asked where they get there pool water from, and the lady said all over the place...Willards, Salisbury, we just go up to fire hydrants and fill up.
The only thing I heard on scanner was that dispatch had asked the company to send them the agreement from the City on there using the hydrant. How does the City keep track of how much water they are using, especially with the water rate increase. It just seemed odd and thought I would mention it to you.
It's an excellent question and one very much worth looking into. I did make mention of it to the TWO City Council Members I know would be happy to look into it for all of us. The rest will simply say, "We'll get back to you on that." LMAO! I'll keep you posted......
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
19 comments:
There is a meter we have to attach to the hydrant, or it's a crime. It works on a good will system, and we use it. Worry about someone else.
Here is what I would be interested in knowing, do they pay for that water and how can they in good faith resell it.
They are supposed to have a temporary meter on the hydrant itself and pay by the gallon. This is a fairly common event in all jurisdictions.
Chip Carper
Hebron
Several years ago when I as on the SPD force I caught a local power washing company at a city hydrant filling up a 500 gallon tank in the back of his truck. The city office was contacted and he was subsequently charged with theft. The city water dept provided us with a cost per gallon and that was the value of the theft. This goes on more and more all over they just dont get caught.
The city should bill the fire departments for using the water also.
I work in the industrial park and I see it all the time, but there are no police to monitor the area during the mids of the night when its happening. In 4 months, I have seen 3 police officers driving the area.
good will system in todays world..especially with the rate increase...
I'll tell you an even bigger scandal.
Almost every single residential pool I've seen installed in Wicomico County I have yet to see a backwash sediment containment basin constructed.
So some people might ask what is a sediment containment basin?
Well if they don't have it . . .and most people don't. . . when the pool owners backwash their filters to rid filters of the trapped debris. . . the water is pumped either directly on the adjacent street or out in the open on the peoples property.
As far as I'm aware, there is no County or State authority enforcing the construction of these backwash filtration systems at the County level.
This information should be submitted to the highest authorities including the Chesapeake Bay Authority, Marypirg, and Assateague Alliance as I'm sure they will be most interested.
Owe by the way. . . if either one of the above mentioned agencies wants to see one in action. . .I have several I can show them.
anon 8:19 The Fire dept should bill you for responding to a fire at your residence!!!
The Fire Dept should get rid of its chief See, volunteer deputy chief Gordy and deputy chief Hoppes, then we can talk about charging people for anything. They've already charged us $10million on a substandard building and more for the dump site it sits on. Now we're being charged for 5 new TOYS. F**K the city and it's fire department wannabe leaders.
Well, here we go. I have said years ago that the next real crisis in the world will be water. And here we have people using water for pools and car washing, etc. the question is, what will all of these businesses/individuals do when we actually begin to run out of potable water? In point of fact, it has already begun in quite a few area's, including below us here. Best we wake up now and solve what will be a bigger problem than the oil problem!
A. Goetz
i was working had to go to the industrial park to retrieve a part. i saw the same tanker there with the cop,(city boy), i was wondering what was up with that. we have a pool and i believe it was 3 tankers worth of water we had to have to fill our pool. we paid about $ 900.00 for the loads. i dont know if the company we used fills up on city water or not. the tractor trailor they used was operated by a woman, i thought that was kinda cool. she drove it like a champ. seems a little fishy to get city water for free and then be able to sell it for profit.
I have spoken with the Owner of this company and I can assure you, NO ONE is stealing from the City's Hydrants. Not this Company anyway. There will be a follow up Post on this situation and I think everyone will find it very interesting what they pay and how the system is monitored.
Its a good deal for everyone, they move the hydrants around where they can load up, they pay for their water, and it acts to flush the lines so the city doesn't have to go around just letting it run into the streets. A win-win for everyone.
Anon 8:19 you must be crazy or someone who has a lot of money, if towns/cities started billing FD's for water use, then the cities and towns would just turn that bill on over to you in the form of a raise in your taxes...duh Some people just don't think before they speak.
seems like this story has a good ending, killing couple birds with one stone.
Anonymous 8:44 AM
You stated: "Almost every single residential pool I've seen installed in Wicomico County I have yet to see a backwash sediment containment basin constructed."
"Well if they don't have it . . .and most people don't. . . when the pool owners backwash their filters to rid filters of the trapped debris. . . the water is pumped either directly on the adjacent street or out in the open on the peoples property."
I have owned two houses with inground pools. The only time the water was pumped into the street or the property was when the professional pool people pumped the water out of the pool to put in a new liner. The water used to flush the filter is sent into the sewer system. Even the water pumped into the street goes into the sewer system via the street storm drains. Both of these pools were in city liimits and built to the city specifications. What is backwashed from the filters contains less debris and contaminants than what is flushed from the city toilets.
When I was managing a local apartment community, they were building some townhomes next door. I have no idea why the townhomes needed it, but they needed a bulk quantity of water for their property (maybe they were filling their own pond?) and they actually started pumping water from our ponds without saying a word to us. lol..... Property managers see it all! That job taught me how to tell people things they didn't want to hear.
8:19, you were just kidding, right? Please tell me you were just kidding.
Be extremely careful what you let go down the storm drains, they go straight to the river and the bay.
Post a Comment