Ugh ... What Timing!
By Marie Anne
@Ldyjarhead (10233)
United States
July 16, 2008 10:24am CST
I was just out playing with some of my plants in my container garden, pulled up some plants that are done for the year, played in the dirt, pulling out small roots to get ready to put in some veggies that like the cooler temps.
It looked like some of my plants needed watering too, so I grabbed the hose and turned it on to give them a quick squirt - nothing.
Hmm, that's weird. Check hose for kinks. Nope.
Came inside to wash up - same results. No water!
I just called the water company and they said there's a leak in the area and they're working on it, but they don't have a 'get well' time. Oh boy, this is not good. My hands are filthy and I need to fix some lunch too. I suppose I could use the stash of baby wipes I keep in the car, but I hate the chemical smell and there's no way to rinse it off.
Have you ever had something like this happen at a time that was very inconvenient? I know the woman across the street has several kids in her home that she babysits, so I'm sure she's worse off than me!
8 people like this
14 responses
@mclendon (308)
• United States
16 Jul 08
I know! I absolutely HATE that! I think they should be required to somehow notify residents before they just suddenly cut off the water or power for a few hours; especially if it not an emergency! They could have a phone tree or knock on a few doors, or put a little hangy thing on your doorknob the day before, or SOMETHING! I've been at home with a small children and had the power suddenly cut off for a repair and they couldn't tell me how long it would be. Are they going to pay for the eating out if I can't make the next meal for the kids? If I'd known ahead of time I could have made plans! AAARRRRGGGHHH! It's not right! Water is a necessity!
What if you were on the toilet with terrible diarrhea and vomiting and suddenly couldn't flush or clean up? Wouldn't that be horrible!? Why aren't they required to notify people?
@Ldyjarhead (10233)
• United States
16 Jul 08
I'm sure it's not something they knew about in advance, but yes, it's terribly inconvenient. I do have some water in a bucket outside (rainwater, and what drips from the faucet. I save it for my plants).
If push comes to shove, I can use that to 'flush' the toilet.
2 people like this
@nova1945 (1612)
• United States
16 Jul 08
Oh no, what a bad time for that to happen. I'm afraid that would mean a quick trip to the closest store for a gallon of their cheapest bottled water for me. It's only about .69 cents for the store brand so one gallon wouldn't break me. But everything else would have to wait for the water to come back on. Love my plants but I'm not about to water them with bottled water.
Good luck.
2 people like this
@Ldyjarhead (10233)
• United States
17 Jul 08
LOL, no, I wouldn't be using bottled water on my plants, that's for sure. Fortunately I do keep buckets outside and store rain water in several plastic jugs, so I was able to water my container garden a little. I sure wasn't about to drink that, though!
@stephcjh (38473)
• United States
16 Jul 08
I'm very sorry to hear that. i have had something a little bit similar to that, happen to me too. I was washing my laundry and got it all done. I had no clean towels or wash cloths to use until I washed that load. I needed to take a shower but couldn't. My water was a rusty brown color because they were flushing the lines and did not tell anyone they was going to do that. I had to wait to take a shower and I also had to rewash my clothes a few times to get the brown color out of them. I couldn't cook either because of the bad water.
2 people like this
@Ldyjarhead (10233)
• United States
16 Jul 08
Oh yuck. I've had that happen too, but they always notified us beforehand that they were going to do it, so again, we could prepare for it. I think they tell you that you have to flush your own pipes for a good while, even after it's clear.
1 person likes this
@thebeaddoodler (4262)
• Lubbock, Texas
16 Jul 08
Yes, I've had it happen. Not even a pitcher of cold drinking water in the fridge or any in the teakettle which is nearly always full. The water in your commode tank (not the bowl) is clean. Use it to wash up.
2 people like this
@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
16 Jul 08
i had that happen to me when ihad a beauty. got to work, saw water running down the street, called the city, got some color on a lady's hair & they cut the frigging water off. went out there & ask then very nicely if they'd turn the water long enough for me to wash the color out of her hair. they would not. then i showed my ugly disposition & the lady had to drive to her house & wash her hair. what a bunch of idiots!! they wouldn't have known about the leak if i hadn't reported it & i told them the town could be flooded & i wouldn't report it again along w/some choice words.
@Ldyjarhead (10233)
• United States
16 Jul 08
Oh no! I can't even imagine how ticked off you were, and the woman that had the color in her hair? Oh my goodness ...
1 person likes this
@jonesy123 (3948)
• United States
16 Jul 08
I hate when that happens. We are on a hill and the water just runs down the pipes from the water tower on the top. The pipes are always filled with water. So when they turn off the water, there is still some in the pipes to use. Apparently quite a lot, too. We noticed one day that the water pressure was down but didn't think much of it. Then it went down to a trickle. Our neighbor knew why and said it'll be a couple of hours. He said to fill some buckets to be able to flush the toilet, but if it gets down to barely nothing to stop, because you can ruin your water heater. Great! We already had the trickle.
We drink a lot of bottled water as the water quality here isn't that great. We used that to cook and wash hands, even to flush the poopy toilet once. Can't exactly tell the little ones to hold it, lol. But I would have greatly appreciated a warning of some sort although this apparently was a burst pipe causing the shut off.
Hope your water will be turned on again soon!
2 people like this
@Ldyjarhead (10233)
• United States
16 Jul 08
I drink mostly water too, but I drink it straight from the tap. I don't even have anything in the refrigerator to drink at all, and I'm thirsty. I just had a popsicle and that helped, but it's not going to last for long.
It's been out about three hours now. I sure hope they hurry up.
1 person likes this
@sweetdesign (5142)
• United States
8 Aug 08
Hey there,
How is the garden going? I am getting ready start plating again the benefits of living in florida.....year round gardening! Got to get my zuchini going tomorrow. I am excited about getting our backyard garden built but bummed I have to wait till we get the money to do it. We are putting in raised beds.
1 person likes this
@Ldyjarhead (10233)
• United States
8 Aug 08
Tom ate the first tomato last night and was grinning from ear to ear. I've eaten several cukes and the beans and snap peas are all done.
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
8 Aug 08
We had a water main break on our street in the middle of winter. That is, with snow on the ground all around the house, and twenty below at that. So here I was finding all the ice cream pails I could think of and filling them with ice and dumping them into the Double boiler and large sauce pan I had, because it was Saturday and bath time, so I had to have the water heated. Then there was also get another pail, or two pails and heat the snow up to wash the dishes, because we could not use the dishwasher. It did get fixed up, but that was a long night.
@hezoid (2144)
•
8 Aug 08
What a pain!!! Well i think i would be ok becuase we have some bottled water i could use if i was desprate and some of that sanitising hand gel (the sort you don't need water with) that i could disinfect my hands with if need be, plus wet wipes but i know what you mean about the smell. I hope you get the water back on soon, i guess if there's a leak they can't really give notice.
1 person likes this
@tanniebabe78 (2934)
• United States
17 Jul 08
I have been there and done that. Latest one made me mad because I have a baby that needs bottles washed like constantly so to have it shut off any length of time.... Whoa boy!
1 person likes this
@Ldyjarhead (10233)
• United States
17 Jul 08
Oh, I know that has to be really hard to deal with. Fortunately it was just me at the time, it came on probably a half hour or so after my husband got home. I asked him to stop at the store and pick up a jug of bottled water so that was enough for drinking/cooking until the water runs clear again.
@underdogtoo (9579)
• Philippines
16 Jul 08
I guess Murphy's Law was at work again when it happened to you. Sometimes I think that there is something to that law and the ancient Greeks explained it as one of the antics of the gods and there were plenty of those gods who were bored in Mt. Olympus and had their fun with hapless humans down below. Cheers!!
1 person likes this
@alori61 (344)
• United States
17 Jul 08
Hows this for timing? I get in from work have the house to myself, (ahhh no kids) decide to jump in the shower, wash hair, put in conditioner, lather up with the body wash, and the water goes totally away. Road crew working on a bridge up the road cut the water line, to the entire town! I had to drive 10 miles up the road to work to rinse off the soap and get the conditioner out of my hair in the bathroom. Water did not come back on till the middle of the night, and I got to get up to two flooded bathrooms because the kids had left the water on in the sinks. So not only good timing going off but coming back on as well.
Hope your back on by now.
1 person likes this
@Ldyjarhead (10233)
• United States
17 Jul 08
Oh no! That definitely does not sound like fun (before OR after).
Yes, mine is back on now, but still can't drink it. They say it can last for up to three days but it better be right before then or I'm not paying my full bill.
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
17 Jul 08
hi lydjarhead oh yes i had it happen just last year.I had walked ro the little grocery store just a block from our apartment and coming back I noticed this absolute gushingstream of water flooding down beside the sidewalk. I knew the guys were working on some street repairs and other stuff and had dug up a big hole in the center of the street opposite our apartment complex. well I went in to my apartment and was dying of thirst, no water, not one drop.time to fix my supper,a nd no water. I called the watercompany and they said the workers had broken into the main watermain and it would probably be an hour before they could turn the water on again. so I drank orange juice and fixed a
frozen dinner as I could not wash my pots to cook with. had orange juice and a tv dinner. about nine oclock they finally got the main repaired.boy I should have known what happened by all the water running down the street lol lol lol.
1 person likes this
@Ldyjarhead (10233)
• United States
17 Jul 08
Ouch. You know they always warn us about calling before digging in our yard so we don't hit underground piping or power lines, you would think that the professionals would be a bit more cautious.
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
17 Jul 08
yes, thats strange, it just happened a couple weeks ago here. about 10am in the morn with no warning. luckily i had some bottled water. about a six pack which i always keep on hand and at least i'd already had my coffee. it just sucks tho if you cant flush your toilet for hours and have to go. yuck!1
@Ldyjarhead (10233)
• United States
17 Jul 08
I did have to use the bathroom, but fortunately I had a large bowl in the sink that I had made the muffins with, so that was full of water. Just enough to pour into the toilet to make it flush!
