You do something dozens of times a day, hundreds of times a week, and thousands of times a year without putting much thought into it. Yet miraculously, water flows into your house, school, or business virtually every time you turn on a faucet or flush a toilet. Then just as quickly as the water came in, the water drains back out again. Every time, right where you need it, right when you need it. The wonder that is modern plumbing is often taken for granted in America. Reliable and unfailing.
Usually. Until it stops working, then things become very unsettling very quickly.
Your home's plumbing isn’t that complicated, especially if you are a professional plumber. It can sometimes, however, be intimidating to the average person. If you have taken the time to become familiar with your home's water and wastewater system, you know it is a complex set of hot and cold water lines running through your home to your fixtures supplying fresh water in and a set of drain lines taking the excess or used water out. The average home has hundreds of feet of water lines and drain pipes running through the walls and floors.
As involved as this is, it pales compared to the vast web of the City of Bridgeport's water and wastewater system. Based on the fiscal year 2021-22 Public Service Commission report, the city purchased almost 536 million gallons of water for our community and treated over 632 million gallons of wastewater. The report shows that Bridgeport has over 116 miles of main water lines and nearly 102 miles of sewer lines serving over 5,100 homes and businesses. In addition to these lines, the system operates the Waste Water Treatment Plant, 39 Sewage Lift Stations, 526 fire hydrants, four Water Booster Stations, and six Water Distribution Tanks with a storage capacity of approximately 3.4 million gallons of water.
All of these require constant inspection, maintenance, repair, and replacement. Overseeing this extensive enterprise is the Bridgeport Utility Board. Its members possess impressive backgrounds and experience in utility management, engineering, business, and the law. Their primary job is to aid the city in running the enterprise and planning for improvements and expansions of the system. It is a job they do very well.
Important as the Bridgeport Utility Board is, there is a group that may be more essential to the city. The responsibility for physically maintaining and repairing Bridgeport’s water and wastewater system falls on the Bridgeport Public Works Department, the Waste Water Treatment Plant, and the Bridgeport Engineering Department. The hard-working men and women of these three departments are always on the job to ensure we have the water we need. Often going unnoticed and under-appreciated, they go about their work in the most dedicated and selfless way. They are truly unsung heroes for our city.
Whether it is 96 degrees on a steamy August afternoon, a sub-zero snow-covered February morning, or called out to a lonely stretch of road in the pitch-black middle of the night, you can often find them ankle-deep in a muddy trench replacing a faulty valve or repairing a failed water line with water blasting skyward. This may sound like an exaggeration, but it is most definitely not. These are mild compared to some of the stories they could tell. The thought of working in the claustrophobia-inducing confined space of a sewage-filled lift station is enough to give any reasonable person pause.
While not always as dramatic as these examples, much of their work is still essential in keeping our water flowing. Detecting leaks, replacing lines, monitoring the treatment plant, clearing tree root-compromised pipes, and so much more are all necessary. They are also ongoing. If you subscribe to Bridgeport’s RAVE alert system, you receive frequent notifications of water disruptions around the city. That alone is enough to keep any department busy. However, understand that this work is only a fraction of what Public Works and Engineering are tasked to do for the City of Bridgeport.
So, Why Bridgeport?
We are fortunate to have a first-class water and wastewater system. It didn’t happen by accident. It is the result of the hard work put in by the employees of the Bridgeport Public Works Department, the Waste Water Treatment Plant, and the Bridgeport Engineering Department under the watchful eye of the Bridgeport Utility Board. They are united in providing our community with an outstanding water and sewer utility. We should never take it or them for granted.
So the next time you have the opportunity, tell a member of these departments what a great job they are doing. Or if you see a City of Bridgeport truck with a group of workers down in a muddy trench working on a water line, stop and tell these unsung heroes “Thank You” for all they do to keep our city’s water and wastewater system connected and flowing.
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