Day One
It is morning, when I start the computer and I'm all too familiar buzz of construction equipment to listen to my turf garden.
And 'my day off from work. Fresh out of bed tousled hair, wearing boxer shorts and a white T-shirt ... my plans for the shower and get ready for the day I am disappointed with the first ground tremors. RL Wilson Plumbing is hooking to my house to the city's water and sewer lines. I knew it would come soon, but nobody told mewould be today.
I wonder how long?
I thought about going to ask how long it would be. But still dressed in linen and irritable from Cape Coral flashbacks Expansion Utility Project, calls for the anti-social of me. I got tired of utility. I chalk the loss up to one day lead the blind, and vow to ignore a knock at my door. Please do not let me do anything to finish the job.
The sounds are strong andCuriosity eats me. I use my index finger to pull up a blind to an individual outside the peak. A team of four or five people with hats and shovels safaris are dissecting my garden. A small backhoe clawed away soil and tear than a trench created by my flower bed. Large, coral rocks and boulders shell textures are extracted from the womb of my lawn and irregular stack from the hole. Most of the work is done by hand ... boring, sweaty, working in first personNinety-degree day of the year. I am better than them.
On one side of the lawn is a trench for water and irrigation lines. These two sections of PVC pipe, about an inch and a half in diameter, leading up to where the water enters our house. I wonder where this comes from the water? The research provides the answer: our drinking water comes from deep wells 20-3, most of which are in Hawthorne aquifer below a depth of 650 to 700 meters. The water is then treatedUse one of the largest reverse osmosis plant in the world, before they expelled the pipes into our homes.
Another, larger, trench extends from the bottom near the road toward the front of the house. This is the sewer line. This is a much larger piece of PVC pipe, about six or seven inches in diameter.
Where once the sewers emptied into the septic tank, which now flows into the city and away to one of two water reclamation facilities in Cape Coral (TheSouth West Water Reclamation Fund or the Everest Parkway Water Reclamation Facility).
A few hours later, the majority of the court together again, putting together teams and RL Wilson is gone. Their work is not yet clear finish. There are still holes open. One is the septic tank, others are close to key parts of the pipeline. I do not even know the house connected to the municipal utility still. Probably would have let me know. Right?
What is going to have the time I decided to washWC ... looks terrible groan rises from the depths of the pool porcelain and purple-brown muddy water fills the bowl ... Holy Christ, what have they done? Frantic race, I turned the water valves of the house and watched in horror as the air and spewing mud and water gurgling out of the nozzle. My mind fills with images of days without water and expensive bills as experts try to determine the cause of this problem who have never seen before. My sink and a bathtub full of sand and dirt. TheThe water pressure drops in the direction of nowhere. A slow trickle of drops of water from the taps. It is broken. My water broke. Why must everything be so difficult?
I have been on the phone with the plumbing company, are "What's going on here? I have no water ... I have nothing."
"You are all now work to the city in flames. The result, start by using the bathtub, no shower or anything else, about five minutes ... You need to have sand in the washHook-up lines like him. If you run it on all your faucets and shower heads that can clog other screens with the dirt and you need to clean them. "
It would be nice if someone let me know in advance.
I go to the bathroom and turn on the tap. Burping air and water pressure in the tank full empty. Once the air is moved past the water washes the rest of the dirt, and everything is working properly. The woman on the phonetells me that the work is not yet complete. You have to stop until tomorrow, the septic tank to break and close the remaining holes. You can not bury the pipes have seen them in an inspector of the city.
End the call by hanging up the receiver, and in the direction of the tank to investigate the water. It is clean, warm the coldest setting, the pressure would be adequate ... and it costs me money! For the first time since I moved to Florida, my water cost meMoney! "Run for five minutes," the lady said to me ... just to say to them ... She does not pay the bills.
I turn off the water and spend the rest of the night looking for a piece inside of my toilet clogged with coarse sand and fixed panels.
Second Day
And 'morning and the truck is strong at the door, with a lazy tube snaked across the lawn, pumping the septic tank.
Twenty minutes later, and my property is quiet again.
Another two hours and a small teamThe men are at work again. Planks must be secured in a path of my war-torn turf in an effort that put behind the rat race and the next track excavator. The industry giant yellow its course my yard for a final showdown with the cave-like remains of a septic tank obsolete. Most of the underground tank to another bed mulched and landscaped pool. The mulch pile is driven. The black fabric weed barrier is torn in irregular patterns.The dirt and the plants will be moved and thrown away. The upper part of the long-buried septic tank is built in the sunshine of Florida and the air for the first time in my home four years ago exposed. Then begins the destruction.
The excavator is stabilized and begins to beat on the ribs and black plastic septic tank with all products, abuse, violence can apply his toothed claws. Repeated shots to destroy and crush the septic tank, putting an end to their immediate and permanent short-termExistence.
Complete destruction of the excavator with the speeds on my driveway and the road until it comes out of view. A few seconds later returns with a payload of clean sand fills his bucket loader. The sand into the hole where the septic tank that was once thrown. I do not know where the sand is, but made the same trip six, and six charges including sand, these fragments of plastic debris that once served a noble cause.
The landscape ispatch together again. The plants are set back approximately to its original position. The barrier grass, now a death-jacket of any kind, is pushed into place with the pile of mulch.
The septic tank may have met a violent end, but at least has a decent burial.
Third day
For three days the workers have already come and go on autopilot, finishing the job I paid them to do.
There are still three open holes in front of my house in anticipation ofArrival of the city inspectors. The work must be checked for compliance with city codes before the test can be hidden.
I'm not sure when the inspectors arrived, or what they did when they arrived, but sometimes back in the early afternoon, installers, finally to complete the work. The holes are filled with open and efforts are made to reduce the visible effects of the work is done.
Before leaving, one of the men prominently places a sign in my yard. AnotherProfessional Plumbing Sewer Hook Up by RL Wilson. Wait until the truck away, so I'm going to immediately pull out of the sign and throw it in the garage with the rest of my weekly waste. Do not get me wrong, RL Wilson has done a good job and completed everything I paid for ... It 's just that my property has suffered enough disgrace in the last 12 months. It requires no more. My yard will serve as a billboard for anyone.
The Aftermath
My road iscolored with black track marks from the comings and goings of heavy dredging equipment. Some of my trees and plants are suffering and mutilated. And my front lawn, which was not great to begin with, a heart-crushing eyesore has been reduced. It may have been ill before, but now is in critical condition and requires immediate resuscitation and expensive.
Two of my toilets are broken and, apparently, all internal parts are replaced. Compile and thenrunning, quiet and sharp sound with a brand new dollar sign attached to it.
What once was free now costs money. It is not the way everything in this return America to us lately?
It 's time to change habits. Cycles of washing dishes and clothes must comply with water conservation measures must be coordinated. No more letting the water run while I brush my teeth and shave. Shorter showers and hot baths. Less waste and more caution. There is aBalance in this mess, somewhere, I hope.
I'm just glad that my experience with ready-4 expansion project of the Southwest Cape Coral utility, and for all.
The operation was successful, but the scars are deep and the bills are high. Now is the time to heal ... and pay. And pay. And pay.
