Many years ago, hurricane Isabel knocked out electricity throughout Hampton Roads and virtually every other private utility service for up to a week. Do you know what the water utilities across the area heard from their citizens? They said, “Thankfully the water and sewer did not go out.” They knew they could manage without electricity, TV, telephone, and internet. But they also knew that without clean and safe water and the sanitary sewer system, they could not last in their homes for more than a day or two.
In Hampton Roads, the drinking water system utilizes more than 6,500 miles of pipes to deliver safe drinking water to homes and businesses across the region. The wastewater system steps in to carry dirty water away when we send it down the drain. It takes more than 5,800 miles of pipes to carry our dirty water to treatment plants to be sanitized before it rejoins our local waterways. These systems work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year to bring clean, safe water to our taps and take it away after we use it.
But what if these systems were suddenly not available? What would life be like with no water for a whole ENTIRE day?
We use water for a lot more than just drinking.
We use it to wash dishes, grow food, flush toilets, and upkeep our yards.
It keeps hospitals in service, the aquarium full of marine life, and breweries brewing.
It is critical for day-to-day operations like fire protection and helping communities grow and prosper.
We here at askHRgreen.org value water immensely, and we’re dedicated to raising awareness about its importance to every aspect of our lives. By joining forces with people around the country to Imagine a Day Without Water, we’re hoping to remind you of the thousands of pipes buried underground in Hampton Roads that bring water to and from your home.
And while water falls from the sky and flows through our lakes and rivers, drinking water is far from free. Processing it, treating it, bringing it to and from your house costs local water utilities millions of dollars a year. By continually maintaining systems, upgrading pipes and deploying new technologies, local water utilities are able to prevent disruptions to daily life and protect the health of citizens and the economy.
Maintenance programs implemented by water utilities require the support and attention from everyone including citizens, community leaders, elected officials, business owners, workers, and more. Without strong voices advocating for this maintenance work, our aging pipes will continue to hide underground until something happens to remind us just how critical they are to our quality of life.
So join us as we promote the importance of our communities’ water systems by participating in this year’s national campaign to Imagine a Day Without Water.
What would you miss most on a day without water? #ValueWater
— askHRgreen.org (@HRgreen) September 15, 2016