What lies beneath? A reader was surprised to be told Watecare uses plastic pipes for water mains. File photo / Dean Purcell.
Last month we had a mini-Mt Vesuvius mains waterline eruption on our front lawn. My neighbours said this was a common thing, about the fifth or sixth such incident in the street in recent years, and told me not to worry as it is a Watercare problem
and I wouldn't be billed, although I'm aware the property owner still ends up paying via their rates.
I expressed amazement that a copper/lead joint should rupture and the workman told me that they aren't copper/lead or any sort of metal anymore and that all of the joints are now plastic imported from Asia. When I asked how long it would last, he replied: "Oh, It should do at least two years."
Someone in Watercare is lovingly looking at their KPI-inspired spreadsheet which proved that by importing cheap Asian import joints, the company could save a substantial amount of money.
Given the disruption, waste of water and the labour costs involved, one has to wonder at the logic of continuing to use cheap Asian imported parts which are predicted to fail in a relatively short time, thereby perpetuating the whole costly, wasteful repair cycle.
Mark Hanson, East Tamaki Heights.
We are currently experiencing a drought and a high number of leaks are appearing, due to ground movement. We have more than 150 repair staff working around the clock on priority one leaks.
Our contractors are regularly spoken to by members of the public whilst they work. They do not recall this specific conversation but we can confirm that products made of brass or lead are obsolete.
Our water pipes are made from high-grade plastic products, that are industry-approved and have a 100-year lifespan.
Maxine Clayton, media stakeholder liaison advisor.
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Instead of telling people to have shorter showers and turn the tap off while they brush their teeth (who doesn't already do those?) perhaps the message could be to save washing your car or waterblasting your house, deck, fence etc for another month.
I've seen several people waterblasting not only houses but fences in the past few weeks and there were queues of cars at Washworld when I passed by recently, hosing probably thousands of gallons of water per day down the drain for a clean car.
Also, it would help if WaterCare or whoever is responsible for leaks/burst water mains, would fix these right away instead of leaving them haemorrhaging water for weeks, seemingly every time we have a water shortage.
R Howell, Onehunga.
Persons suspected of having the Covid-19 virus are asked to "self-isolate" for 14 days.
A quick search reveals that New Zealand's paid sick leave entitlement is one of the meanest in the world, at five days a year. Australia at least has 10. Do we seriously expect people to take a week's unpaid sick leave for this - and have no leave left for genuine sickness? Some businesses are seeking government compensation for the consequences of the virus. What about the workers?
Some employers, DHBs and universities, among others, offer unlimited sick leave and find it is not abused.
As the virus spreads through the country, we can reflect that we are paying the price for decades of institutional meanness.
I believe the phrase is "false economy".
R Porteous, Balmoral.
Surely with a nasty virus here plus the flu season looming it is time to push a big public health message on TV and elsewhere about respiratory hygiene.
My daughter usually travels to work by train and bike from Panmure and commonly sees people coughing and sneezing freely on the train.
Come winter and knowing many people are now forced to live in crowded conditions, it is only going to aggravate a possibly nasty situation.
Liz Patel, Hobsonville Point.
As a geographer, I am bemused by the current general consternation.
If one chooses to live in a city founded on a narrow isthmus then transport solutions have to include many bridges and tunnels. For at least five decades, advocates for these have been ignored or the issue sidestepped.
Instead of pouring billions into downtown development, how about turning that Central Rail Link borer around to drill north under the Waitematā for public transport for a start?
Juliet Leigh, Pt Chevalier.
We must build light rail because there is a climate emergency. Yeah, so maybe, for the tiny fraction of total travel that might end up transferring to light rail, there'll be a tiny decrease in travel-related emissions, if ridership levels achieve the forecasts. Yeah, that'll stop the seas rising.
For light-rail systems that fall below a certain utilisation rate (and this is many of them in actual practice) the emissions per person-mile of travel are worse than cars.
Climate change mitigation as a "popular" strategy, is riddled with stupidity and bad faith.
Philip G Hayward, Naenae.
Your correspondent Simon Twigden (NZ Herald, March 6) bemoans the fact common sense was not applied when he used a T3 transit lane. Mr Twigden's error is in thinking that the transit lanes are there to relieve congestion rather than exasperate it. The council and AT are hell-bent on creating congestion in the mindless ideology that it will force people out of their cars. This is evident all over Auckland with on-ramp signals, entire lanes closed to buses only and the misnamed "transit" lanes. Mr Twigden wasn't fined for using a transit lane. He was fined for not sitting needlessly in traffic and adding to the congestion.
I wish Mr Twigden won his case, but he would have been better off arguing against the council's ideology than for common sense to prevail.
Kent Millar, Blockhouse Bay.
I'm retired and own my own home. I'm thinking of changing my vote from National to Labour. The Government has looked after me. The Greens won't let the RMA be amended to make more land available for housing thus restraining supply and Labour has continued to let in more immigrants thus increasing demand so the value of my home has been steadily increasing. New Zealand First prevented a capital gains tax being put in place so we're able to hold on to this unearned capital. Labour is making university education free so when my grandsons, currently in private school, go on to varsity we can save on their costs. And they've retained the Concert Channel, giving me circuses at the expense of bread for the poor.
What's not to love?
Nick Hamilton, Remuera.
It sometimes gives me great satisfaction that I did Latin. Not that it has done me any good materially.
It is just that some things feel, well, more conceitedly satisfying when you think of them in Latin.
How about an appropriate epithet for today? "Quos deus vult perdere prius dementat." It sort of means, "If fate wants to knock you off, it first sends you on a toilet paper buying frenzy". See, Latin can be quite contemporary.
Malcolm Grover, Epsom.
Mike Scott, the postman from Great Barrier Island (NZ Herald, March 6), has obviously missed the huge publicity campaign around the vegan Trumpet.
"Bravo!" to Tip Top for this delicious alternative to a dairy favourite, made not with a fake substitute but with legitimate coconut milk.
Tip Top has recognised the growing worldwide demand for environment-friendly, animal-friendly, healthy alternatives to dairy and is meeting the challenge admirably. The UK alone has had a 37 per cent increase in the vegan market. The Tip Top vegan Trumpet is veganism becoming mainstream at last.
Rather than a term for "a moment of great disappointment", I suggest "vegan Trumpet" will come to represent the 21st-century move into enlightened, sustainable and cruelty-free food systems.
Paul Judge, Hamilton
It's high time that we followed France's example and set limits on the number of visitors a patient in a public hospital can have.
A friend told me that children from one large family visiting another patient were actually trying to bounce on her bed, and there was a cacophony of noise in her small ward. The nurses are powerless to intervene.
Once upon a time, only two visitors were allowed at any one time. Some rules would be very welcome.
Pamela Russell, Orakei.
Nobody would class me as a rugby expert but can there really be a more ridiculous rule than that regarding deliberate knock-ons?
One player reaches up to intercept a pass, knocks it forward, retrieves the ball and runs 80 metres to score a try between the posts, to be proclaimed a hero. Another tries it, fails to retrieve the ball and is penalised and possibly yellow-carded.
The unfortunate Jordie Barrett paid the ultimate penalty, sent off while watching the Blues presented with a penalty try. If Barrett had retrieved the ball his team might have been 14 points better off and would have retained a very valuable player.
If all knock-ons were treated the same there would have been a scrum and the Blues halfback would have rolled the ball into his second row as usual, enough of an advantage.
Alan Tomlinson, Herne Bay.
On coronavirus
Just when facial recognition technology is adopted to identify individuals in publicum, crowds are wearing facemasks recte. Robert Franich, Rotorua.
"Yes, go out," says the PM. Stay home and stock up, say elected men. You got to let me know, should I stay or should I go (out). With apologies to The Clash. Glennys Adams, Oneroa.
I have just read that only a few years ago China opened its first Biosafety Level 4 Research Centre, 300 yards from the market in Wuhan. I can't help thinking the bat out of hell is getting the blame for what the man out of hell has created. Jeff Cooper, Goodwood Heights.
On farming
It is just as much the urban population, abetted by tourists, that is causing the serious degradation of our once pristine environment. Stop beating up on farmers as the sole national desecraters. Robert Burrow, Taupo.
On education
When your children's primary school principal declares that students don't need to remember any information these days because they can just look it up on Google, what hope is there really? Tatiana Kalnins, Papakura.
On media
Why is it that the more experienced media interviewers get, the more they seem to think we want to hear them, rather than the person they are interviewing? Peter Hawley, Hahei.
On Harry
Surely the appropriate non-royal title for the Sussex couple is Mr & Mrs Harry Windsor. Nothing could be less royal than that. Brian Earnshaw, Mt Roskill.
The 19-year-old disappeared without her wallet or mobile phone.