Emergency Plumbing Expenses

My name is Kevin Carson.

Starting in July, I've had a series of plumbing emergencies one right after the other.

For the past three years, because of leaks in my water line, I've had to keep my water turned off at the meter and just turn it on every day long enough to shower, do dishes and laundry, &c. The line is about thirty years old and was apparently the cheapest option available, and the plumbers have repeatedly advised me that it needed to be replaced.

I went out one day last month after I'd had the water turned on, and saw water bubbling up out of the ground in a flood. In only an hour I'd lost about 3000 gallons. So I went several days relying on water in jugs from the grocery store until the plumber could come. I should mention that I always dig the leak out myself with a shovel before the plumber gets here, in order to save on labor cost.

A week or so after that, I called because the water pressure was disastrously low and barely coming out of the faucets in a trickle.

Another week or so later, I discovered I'd failed to turn the water completely off at the meter and went out to do so, only to find a couple of guys from the water department out there who'd come to investigagte a leak. Apparently I'd lost about 13,000 gallons in the previous several hours. So for the ten days it took me to uncover the leak, I went to a daily routine of positioning buckets under my faucets, turning on the tap, and going out to turn on the water main for just a minute in order to restock my supply.

That's three expensive plumber visits so far. I decided I needed to act immediately to replace the line, or this would keep happening. So I've been doing all the digging work myself, uncovering several feet a day of the 200 ft or so from the meter to my house, in order to minimize the labor cost when they come to replace it.

Altogether, with the three bills so far, the elevated water bills, and the estimated cost of replacing the line, I expect it to come out over $2000.

That's a catastrophic addition to my debt load.

I totally understand that a lot of people are having a hard time making ends meet, but if you can comfortably afford to help me with this and care to do so, I will appreciate it very much.