Water, Water Everywhere...but NONE Inside the House!

So yesterday morning Joe came home from an early church meeting to find our water meter completely underwater. Not good, right?

So he immediately got out the phone book and called the emergency number listed for PG's public works department. They sent a nice man over in his truck, who promptly shut off our water and started to pump water out of the whole so we could determine what the problem was.

I don't know how they determine these things, but he told us that the problem was on our side of the water meter, not the city's. So not only will we be charged for the water leaking out all night, we are also responsible to have the problem fixed!

Luckily we had all showered the night before, so we were clean and able to get ready and go to church. After our church meetings the Wilshaws brought over 15 gallons of water and the Websters offered to let us use their facilities. Aren't neighbors great?

So this morning Joe and Will starting digging to determine what the problem was. All the while it was pouring rain outside.

At this moment we were basically camping inside our house. We had heat and electricity (thank Heavens!) but absolutely no water. Last night we discovered just how much water is required to flush our toilet... so now we have been going over to the Webster's house to do our business. They are very kind and understanding people. You would be amazed just how many times a two-year-old needs to use the bathroom in one day! The Websters even let me shower over there this morning because I had to go to work tonight.

Joe and Will created a pretty large hole in our yard. Jacob thought it looked fascinating and wanted to jump inside. We assured him that the bottom of the hole was full of water, so it was muddy and yucky.

They determined that (fortunately!) the problem was the pipe that went from the water meter down to our main line that comes into the house. It was very corroded and had a small hole in it. That means that we won't have to have a contractor come out and dig up our front lawn to replace our main water pipe! We are so relieved because that could cost thousands of dollars.

We could call a plumber to replace the pipe, but Joe and Will were confident that they could do it themselves. They told me that they should have it finished by the end of the day. Aren't I lucky to have such stalwart, handy men to help fix things? Especially in the freezing rain and in a big mud puddle. They are pretty smart guys... check out this set-up so they can work and not get too wet:

This has all been a very huge pain in the rear, but we have many reasons to be thankful. First we are SO glad that the leak was not closer to our house. Our basement could have flooded, which would have been much worse. We were fortunate that it happened now instead of later in the winter, when the ground would have been frozen and covered in snow.

We are thankful that we have had terrific neighbors who have offered to help us so much while we have been without water. We won't have to spend nearly as much money to fix this problem because of Will's help and Joe's hard work.

At this point I am SO grateful for running water... probably because we don't have any. I can't wait to be able to wash my dishes, take a shower, or get a drink of water in my own house!

Will and Joe got the pipe fixed just before I was going to come to work. Then when they turned the water on they found out that NOW the city's side was leaking. So PG got to send out their trucks to fix our water problem after all! There were tons of trucks outside the house, tearing up the street and our yard. Hopefully they get the water fixed this evening so I can do the dishes, wash our clothes, take a shower, get a drink...