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| WNYC |
Opening up a fire hydrant to cool off is a longstanding New York tradition, but it's one with a high and rising cost.
There have been 4,458 complaints to 311 for open hydrants running in full as of July 6, according to public records, a jump from 3,845 calls during the same period last year and 4,020 in 2013.
The city's Department of Environmental Protection said it takes those complaints seriously because one hydrant can disperse 1,000 gallons of water a minute, risking lower water pressure for surrounding buildings and damaging the hydrant in real emergencies.
6 comments:
I used to enjoy playing under open johnny pumps (remember) when I was a kid, but people today have to think of what California is going through and cease this tradition for a while, despite of how consistent and suffering the humidity is.
Especially in neighborhoods like say Jamaica where gentrification plans are taking place and some opportunist scumbag might try a little arson to make some properties available. Would be nice to have some of that water left for the fire dept. to put it out.
Also lost money to the city. The water rate is $3.81 per 100 cubic feet (748 gallons). At 1000 gallons per minute that's $5.09 per minute or $305/hour.
They should have the fire department riding around looking for open hydrants so they can close them.
There are water fountains in the park and public pools for kids to play in.The people who do this should be deported. Water is a precious resource.
@JQ: Our water situation is very different than California. We're not even close to a drought.
That said, open hydrants waste a ton of water, and people can get a fitted cap on local hydrants so the kids can play in it while only using a fraction of the water.
I complained about a trucking company in Jamaica using a fire hydrant to clean one of their trucks (and had photos) and was told, "he probably had permission to do that, and he is not really using that much water". That was the answer I got.
They fucking kill me, they want you to report issues, the only thing is no one ever does anything about the problem in this city.
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