19 September 2005

Water, water, everywhere...

And running down Temperence Street.

A water main break in the east end of St. John's has been sending water gushing down Temperence street since a week ago yesterday.

Today it was a shooting geyser, reaching upwards of 12 to 15 feet into the air.

Council crews were busily trying to deal with the problem - a week after it started - but so far there is no sign of it being fixed.

Flip over to Lono at large and you'll find Simon Lono's take on the whole problem of the municipal infrastructure deficit, along with a little video that is sure to ruffle the feathers of Mayor Andy Wells.

Municipal infrastructure deficit is a really big way of saying that council has been neglecting the public works it is supposed to be providing in favour of something else.

Great to fund stadiums and all that sort of thing if you have the cash. Not so great if there is a 15 foot geyser in the middle of Duckworth Street blocking accessing to residents of the neigbourhood and keeping tourist buses from an easy route to Signal Hill.

Speaking of tourists, German visitors to the city aboard one of Doc O'Keefe's love boats found the whole thing perplexing. A retired water engineer from Munich was amazed to see the gusher. He found it incomprehensible from the standpoint of engineering and found it troubling in light of the shortage of water in so many parts of the world.

Another gentlemen commented that they have the same sort of thing in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Yes, I replied, but there it is a natural phenomenon.

In St. John's, the geysers now seem to gush from our municipal water supply.