Friday, October 06, 2006

High and Dry in Jamesburg

So, I am sitting at my desk at work, when my phone rings. It is my son, calling from home, in Jamesburg. He is about to get ready to go to work, but there is no water coming from any of the taps in our entire house. My first thought, of course, did I pay the bill? My second thought, there is a broken main somewhere under the house, spewing millions of gallons of water into my crawlspace. Either one required a phone call to NJ American Water to figure out what was going on.

I called their emergency repair line, and after being placed on hold for 10 minutes (listening to the sound of running water- whose idea was that?) I finally got through to someone who informed me that this was a scheduled shut off in my area to install a new water main. I should have gotten a notification in my mailbox. When I said that I did not, she began reading off all the streets. The streets on either side of mine. The streets perpendicular to mine. My street was nowhere to be found on the list, therefore, no one had let us know.

I'm very happy I got to take my shower early before they shut things down. My son was not so lucky, and I suppose, his coworkers even less lucky. I hope there is enough water in the dog's bowl to hold her all day - maybe when I get home I can put her out in the yard to lap up some of the rainwater from the grass.

American Water says the water will be back on after 4 pm. We shall see. If it isn't, I may be sending my son to your house for a shower.

No comments: