By Mark Stinson
Bear Creek, NC – Some of you remember a statement I made a few years ago about my fire hydrant or lack of one. Sometime mid-1982 a man from the county came out with his pitch for everyone getting wonderful clean dependable water from the county. Everyone on this road had plenty of good clean well water. Our well had plenty but did have minerals but was sweet water if you know what that is. Point being we didn’t want county water.
We did however see a benefit of a fire hydrant. The county man stated that if we all signed up for county water we would get our fire hydrant but everyone had to sign up. We, my daddy, my grandparents, my great aunt and uncle all signed up for county water on the condition a fire hydrant was placed in front of daddy’s shop. It would be centrally located and be of assistance in the event any structure caught fire here. I was part of that conversation and I clearly heard the man from Chatham County say that was a done deal. A hydrant would be placed in front of the shop.
The water lines went in some time later while I was in high school that year. The contractor who was in charge of the install couldn’t cut the line in the ditch right of way and instead cut a trench down the middle of Merritt Brooks Road. We paid to have our feed line ran out the road where the water was hooked up. No fire hydrant was installed at that time. Daddy made several calls to be informed that they would be installed by a different contractor.
It’s 42 years later and no fire hydrant.
Here is what I have learned. First, the contractor who was supposed to install the line subcontracted another person to install the line. Secondly, the county did not inspect the installation.
If they had they would have discovered that:
The water line was illegally installed in a state up-kept road without a DOT easement.
The water line was not a six inch line, the minimal requirement for a fire hydrant but instead a two inch line for three homes and a business and a farm.
It was not the correct type of water line. It is waste water PVC drain line not meant for pressurized water flow.
Lastly no provision for a fire hydrant was ever made.
Over the years I have had conversations with several different water department heads who had discovered that our road was not unique but in fact a common issue across the county. The water line on NC 902 burst near the old Doc Gaines store. When they dug up the main feed line they had what the county water maps stated was the right size pipe to repair the line with. However, not only was the pipe in the ground not the type stated on the water maps it was four inches smaller than what was stated on the map.
They had to source a pipe to patch that line. We are talking miles of substandard and undersized water line that feed many secondary lines. I had that discussion with one of the men working on the line that day as it happened. It was a cluster f*** as he stated.
So now they want us to pay more for water that’s not run through a proper treatment facility through substandard lines all while trying to “grow” new developments that will put significantly more strain on a substandard water supply system.
We do have a good water department; they have great employees. They are tasked to make chicken parmesan from chicken shit many times when they dig up lines to make repairs. This isn’t about them, it’s about how screwed up our local government is to not oversee projects it spends our tax dollars on with due diligence.
I hate to think what kinds of problems these new developments will deal with down the road with water supply issues if they continue to tie into a system that is minimally functioning to substandard in many cases. This had been swept under the rug for decades and every commissioner since the late 80s had some idea of the scope of the problem.
With that stated, the current commissioners continue to rubber stamp new developments that put additional strain on our infrastructure without addressing the problems that already exist. You can’t go back and do anything to any of the folks who let this go but we can darn sure demand the current powers that be fix it. If they can’t do better with our tax dollars to insure homes are inspected correctly, our infrastructure is safe, up to par and dependable they need to go! People are buying homes with their hard earned money that are taxed to death, while we have commissioners who can’t make sure it is all done right.
And they feel they deserve a $4,000 raise! Oh, hell no!
New development is one of the worst hits on tax revenues. Why? New developments do not carry their weight in new infrastructure expenditures; schools, fire departments and law enforcement. It is not fair or right that people who have lived here all their lives deal with poor internet, water and bad roads, but yet have their tax dollars used to offset new development. It’s wrong to over tax people. Many of us are taxed without any representation on a county level. The ones in those positions do not care and my question is why?
BTW, I still want my damn fire hydrant!!!!