Water Under The Bridge, Err Street

New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board is losing about 15 million gallons of water a day to leaks in the distrubution system.

The article give us an idea of the scope of the problem.

Even after plugging a major water main fissure this week, the city’s water system is leaking enough water every day to fill 129 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Altogether, it is pumping out 135 million gallons of water per day, compared with 120 million gallons per day before Katrina.

But the problem goes much deeper than the city having to treat more water than is needed. The fire department is having to fight low water pressure in addition to house fires. This has led, I'm sure, to much more property loss than would have occured if the city had seen fit to repair a utility with the same priority as other utilities.