Inoculation Against Hysteria
About 100 years ago these twin houses were built. As different as they look they share many interior architectural features. In addition they share a driveway, and of particular interest, at this juncture, they share(d) a common water line.
The corruption (physical and political) in Flint Michigan has generated a heightened awareness of yet another aspect of our crumbling infrastructure as it relates to a host of environmental and social issues. I would prefer to describe this situation as criminal, immoral, unconscionable, evil, inexcusable, and/or several other adjectives expressing outrage, but in the interest of decorum I will not deign to even mention such amongst the polite company present.
Even in the Rogue River valley all is not idyllic: For your consideration I present, Only on NBC5 News, a comprehensive study will soon be taking place on water in the Rogue Valley, and tonight NBC5 News has learned that lead was recently found in old connection pipes, or pigtails.
“The tests we have show we’re in total compliance,” Johnson adds.
. . . However, recent national events have brought to light that those standards may not be sufficient. We are therefore devoting considerable attention to this matter.
Back to my story: This spring while searching for the source of a leak, city employees removes a couple of meters of lead pipe common to these two houses. When I saw this I exclaimed, "Yes!, can I have that?", and proceeded to tell them of the quantity of pipe (from the downtown area) I had processed thirty years ago. These old pipes are nice because they are free of the ubiquitous radioactive fallout we have created. Nice, trade, I get some clean lead and they don't have to deal with the stuff.
We are good here, at least for the foreseeable future, as any lead water pipes are in the older parts of town like mine. This site was platted when the original railroad was pushed through. We are situated over a "layered cake" of sand and clay laid down in recent geological time by the Platte River. The lead pipe had been undisturbed and accumulating a thick silica annular layer since it was put in place. So, until these pipes are disturbed, the lead is isolated from our water by a "glass" cylinder and from its larger surroundings by a dry bed of sand.
