Friday, September 10, 2004

Water Water Everywhere

Sometimes I wonder...

It all started two days ago. The entrance way to our building was wet...the apartment next to ours apparently had a leak. Normally this wouldn't be my problem, but our neighbors had moved out, and the apartment was empty. I heard the landlord there a few days ago, but nothing since.

I didn't do anything about it the first day. I spoke to a few of the neighbors, asked them if they knew the landlord. They all gave the same response. No, but he is not a nice person. He owes 800 shekels ($175) for repairs when the waterline to our building broke.

So I waited another day...

Now the mail in the entrance way is getting soaked...it is just junk mail, and not my mailbox either, but this is really problematic. I need to walk down the stairs with my daughters, and they are very slippery.

I called the Municipality....their response "call the Water Department."

I called the Water Department...their response "turn off the water for that apartment"...but how do I know which one it is? They aren't labeled, and none of the meters appear to be running. No answer...

I tried calling the old number for the former tenants, hoping I would be given their new number. Nope, the line is disconnected and no new number listed.

Day three...I decide to turn off one of the valves. But which one? There are four apartments, one of top of each other (Ours is on the other side of the building). I figure...maybe they are in the order of the apartments...lowest is lowest etc? So I turn off the one I assume is theirs. I then knock on the door of the people below. The elderly woman living there didn't even know there was a leak!!! She says her water is still working...so good so far. I go to the other apartmen which has tenants. No answer when I knock, so I call, no answer.

An hour later, the mother comes home and says her son called to say there is no water. I tell her I must have turned off the wrong valve, and I try another one. Might I add that this "son" is at least 25 years old, lives at home, and probably couldn't figure out how to turn the valves on or off!

I checked again with the elderly woman--she still has water. So I think I have the right valve.

But wait there is more....

The former neighbor is a police officer, and there were a few police officers on the street this morning, so I decided to do the only thing I could think..I asked the policeman if he knew our former neighbor, and asked if he could contact him, so that he could contact his former landlord about the leak! The policeman was very nice and said he would contact him.

The real question here is why am I the only one who cares about this? There are four families whose mail is getting dripped on. There are six (additional) families who have to walk through the water to get in and out of the building. One person called his plumber (he by the way is not one of the families affected at all).

To be continued......