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| author | Charles.Forsyth <devnull@localhost> | 2006-12-22 20:52:35 +0000 |
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| committer | Charles.Forsyth <devnull@localhost> | 2006-12-22 20:52:35 +0000 |
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diff --git a/lib/ebooks/oebtest/BlueWater.html b/lib/ebooks/oebtest/BlueWater.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..438e87b0 --- /dev/null +++ b/lib/ebooks/oebtest/BlueWater.html @@ -0,0 +1,293 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "+//ISBN 0-9673008-1-9//DTD OEB 1.0 Document//EN" + "http://openebook.org/dtds/oeb-1.0/oebdoc1.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/x-oeb1-document; charset=utf-8" /> +<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/x-oeb1-css" href="DrBillBio.css" /> +<title>Bill Wattenburg’s Background: Blue Water Contamination</title> +</head> + +<body> + +<h1>Blue Water (Copper) Contamination in Homes</h1> + +<h2>(1991)</h2> + +<p>This is the latest of Wattenburg’s bizarre escapades reported in press stories all over the +country. We contacted many of the people who were on the scene to get interesting parts of +this story that were not covered by the press.</p> + +<p>Hundreds of expensive new homes in the affluent area of Danville, California, had suffered +serious copper contamination (blue water) for several years. Lawsuits were filed in all directions +because homeowners had to use bottled water, children in schools had become sick, and home +values were dropping. Neither the water company (EBMUD) nor the home builders would take +responsibility. Both had spent over $5,000,000 on water corrosion experts and lawyers who were +investigating the problem.</p> + +<p>A professor of civil engineering who was on the project at times has told us that he could +show us hundreds of technical reports on blue water from around the world in the last fifty years +where corrosion experts have been unable to completely explain the cause of “blue water”. He +told us: “In many cases the problem just mysteriously goes away for reasons that ‘corrosion +experts’ cannot adequately explain, although most take credit for doing something the solved their +local problem. However, each one claims he found a different solution that does not seem to +work everywhere else.”</p> + +<p>We called Wattenburg to tell us why and how he solved the problem in Danville. He +cautioned us immediately that he did not completely solve the problem, in spite of what the +newspaper and technical journals reported. He said: “It is one thing to isolate a problem and then +make it go away. I do that with obnoxious people all the time. But it is another thing to explain +why they came around in the first place.” (This may have been a message to us, but he softened +up after that.)</p> + +<br /> +<p><b>Here is his story:</b></p> +<br /> + +<p>He said he got involved when some Danville home owners called him on his KGO radio +show in May 1991. They pleaded with him to help them because they were losing their life +savings in the value of their homes. They described the blue water problem to him on the air. +They told him that there was conclusive proof that the contamination was copper hydroxide. +They told him that the only copper pipes were the water pipes in their homes. He says he “shot +his mouth off and told them that good scientists should have no problem finding the problem very +quickly if they did the proper experiments.”</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>“They asked me how much I thought it should cost. I stupidly said that it shouldn’t cost +more than a few thousand dollars for a good scientist to make the right measurements. I told +them to call the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory which is right near them. The next day, +I got a call from the Livermore Lab saying they were getting calls from people pleading with them +to help, and the newspapers were asking them why the laboratory didn’t help solve this serious +problem. Livermore said they couldn’t get involved because there was litigation going on and the +water company was a public agency that had not requested their services. I got the picture, but I +was stuck. I went out there the next day to take a look.”</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>A civil engineering professor who was working on the problem as a consultant to the +homebuilders told us the story we summarize below:</p> + +<p>He says that Wattenburg quickly made a startling discovery right in the faces of the water +corrosion experts who had been working on the problem for a year. They had been studying +only the corrosion characteristics of the water in the house pipes. They had expensive water +chemistry testing laboratories set up in the garages of two blue water homes supplied by the +builders. Wattenburg walked out of one of these laboratories while they were still telling him +about all their experiments. He got some things out of his car. Then he stuck some small copper +rods into the ground at various points around the house and measured the voltages between these +points with a little voltmeter that he carried in his pocket. They thought he was a little strange.</p> + +<p>He found electrical voltages of about half a volt in the ground all around the homes and +between the ground and the water pipes in the homes. “He did this within about twenty minutes +after he arrived. The gadgets he had in the trunk of his car looked like an electronics laboratory. +He then told us to go to the hardware store and buy all the small copper wire we could find, I +remember the driver asking him how much? He calmly said: ‘Oh, about a mile of it, if you can.’ It +was rather amazing what we did all the rest of that day.”</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>“Wattenburg made some more measurements around and inside several more blue water +houses. Then he told all the corrosion consultants who were gathered around that the problem +probably wasn’t in the houses or in their copper water pipes. The real cause was most +likely coming from the power lines or EBMUD water mains somehow. At that point, most of them +walked away shaking their heads. Wattenburg told me that he was surprised that these guys were +corrosion experts. He said that the corrosion was most likely happening because there was +electrochemistry going on in the copper pipes. He said that they obviously hadn’t worried about +what was producing the ‘electro’ part of the electrochemistry they thought they were studying. +It made sense to me after I thought about it a while. …</p> + +<p>“I remember one of them asking him what degrees or credentials he had as a corrosion +engineer. I’ll never forget what Wattenburg said to the guy. He asked the guy how long he had +been working on this problem. This very huffy guy said he had been working on the project for a +year. Wattenburg told him: ‘Where I went to school. we don’t give degrees to engineers who +can’t solve a problem in a year.’</p> + +<p>“Fortunately, I knew who Wattenburg was. I remembered what he had done to a lot of +big-time engineers on the BART project many years earlier. I found it best to just help him and +see what would happen. …</p> + +<p>“The water company, EBMUD, claimed that Wattenburg’s theory was nonsense. The +water mains leading into the houses were plastic lines. They said these lines couldn’t possibly +feed electrical current into the house water pipes. Wattenburg asked them to explain the electrical +voltages he found in the ground and between the houses. They pointed the finger at the power +company, PG&E. I remember Wattenburg smiling as he told us: ‘Well, that will get PG&E out +here to help us in a hurry, won’t it?’</p> + +<p>“The next thing he did was cut all the electrical power off from the test houses and measure +the voltages again. The voltages in the ground and on the house water pipes were still there. I +saw him go down the street opening manholes to the water mains all over the place while +suspicious EBMUD employees got on their mobile phones and called their office.</p> + +<p>“Over the next few weeks, Wattenburg used his long copper wires to measure voltages +along the large steel water mains which were buried deep underground. The water company had +told him that there was no way they would dig up the lines at various points so he could measure +them. So, he figured out a very clever way that no one had thought about before. The water +mains were protected by devices called sacrificial anodes which are connected to the lines below +ground. But electrical wires attached to these devices are brought up to the ground at various +places along the lines, about every half mile. This is why he wanted the mile of copper wire. We +stretched the copper wire between the anode stations and he measured the voltage from one to +the next. In this way, he mapped the voltages on the steel water mains all the way to the water +storage tanks where the lines began up on the hills.”</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>The home builders assigned one of their construction superintendents to help Wattenburg. +Here is what he observed: </p> + +<blockquote> + <p>“The Power company, PG&E, was real happy to help him. He was getting them off the + hook for ten million dollars of liability. I remember one day he calmly told them to cut the power + off of a whole area in Danville because he had to be sure that these water main voltages were not + coming from the PG&E power lines. I couldn’t believe it when a whole goddamn shopping center + went dead right before my eyes about fifteen minutes later. … He only wanted it off for a few + minutes. … Hell, they’d have put me in jail if I had even cut their power accidentally.</p> + + <p>“It really became a circus after that. The water company, EBMUD, realized what he was + doing. They refused to give him permission to measure the voltages on their water mains at + places where their lines were behind fences and near their pumping plants. Wattenburg just told + us to get more copper wire. PG&E sent out two more line crews that very day and they helped + stretch the copper wires around these areas for a mile or more while EBMUD employees stood + guard at their gates to make sure he didn’t trespass on their property. It was like two armies + facing off each other on the battle line. It was ludicrous. These are two companies that are + supposed to be public utilities. …</p> + + <p>“Wattenburg’s answer was to call the newspapers and tell them to come out and watch + what was happening. The reporters showed up in droves. It was on the TV news for several + days. Finally, the general manager of EBMUD threw in the towel and asked to see Wattenburg. + Wattenburg told him to come out where he was working. They had a private conversation while + Wattenburg continued to make measurements along the water mains. EBMUD announced that + they were going to join the investigation the next day. The EBMUD gates and all the pumping + plants were opened for Wattenburg.</p> + + <p>“A PG&E engineer told me that an hour after Wattenburg walked into the first EBMUD + pumping plant, I think it was called the New Scenic East Plant, he found a major problem that + EBMUD engineers had told the newspapers just couldn’t possibly happen. I remember this + big-shot from EBMUD saying on television that all the EBMUD water mains and their pumping plants + were completely isolated from the power lines. He said that they had double-checked that there + was no electricity getting into their water mains or plants.</p> + + <p>“Wattenburg got PG&E to cut off the power to the plant for a few minutes and he did + some measurements that even the PG&E engineers didn’t understand. They objected as well as + the EBMUD engineers. However, the PG&E manager ordered them to do what Wattenburg + wanted. I think the PG&E manager’s name was Walt Musso from Walnut Creek. Wattenburg + then showed EBMUD that they had a major electrical short across the water mains leading into + and out of the plant.</p> + + <p>“This hit the newspapers the next day. The EBMUD public relations people were eating + crow. EBMUD construction crews were working for the next month digging enormous holes + around the plant to find and fix the short in the water mains that were supposed to be isolated + from the PG&E lines.”</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>He told us a funny story that happened next:</p> + +<blockquote> + <p>“Wattenburg casually told the EBMUD construction foreman one day that they should not do something he had observed them doing + with a big backhoe near this enormous water main that led into the pumping plant. The foreman + said that he had been operating backhoes for twenty years and he had never broken a water line + yet. He said that he was going to dig out all the dirt around the large main line for about a + hundred feet. He bragged that they wouldn’t even have to turn off the water pressure in the line + and interrupt service to their customers while they were doing it. Wattenburg told them that that + was what he was afraid of. Wattenburg did a quick calculation of the pressure forces in the + curved pipe they were exposing. The foreman laughed and said that EBMUD engineers had done + their own calculations, or something to that effect.</p> + + <p>“Wattenburg told the PG&E crews working with us that they should get the hell out there + for a while. About an hour later, while we were having coffee at the Blackhawk Cafe, the water + main burst and it looked like Niagara Falls had appeared on the hillside above Danville. + Wattenburg didn’t even look surprised when we hollered at him to come see what had happened. + He didn’t even look up from the newspaper he was reading…”</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>A PG&E lineman remembered:</p> + +<blockquote> + <p>“Wattenburg did most of his work at night for the next two months. He would show up + sometimes at two in the morning and work until dawn. PG&E would send my crew out to help + him whenever he wanted us.”</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Finally, Wattenburg put the word out that he had located the source of the blue water +problem. There was a big news conference. Wattenburg showed the press some maps of how he +had traced the electrical voltages all over the maze of water mains in the +Danville–Blackhawk area. The voltages all followed one new water main that EBMUD had installed a few years +earlier, the New Scenic Line, I believe. This was one of the new super-insulated water mains that +was wrapped with a thick plastic coating so that no electrical current from the ground could get +into the line and corrode it. Wattenburg explained that this also turned this new water main into +a very good insulated electrical power line that could carry small electrical currents for long +distances without the current being dissipated into the ground. Older water mains that are not so +well insulated quickly lose any current that gets onto them.</p> + +<p>Walt Musso, the PG&E manager who was assigned to work with Wattenburg tells about +the dramatic meeting that he attended with Wattenburg the day before the press conference:</p> +<p>They met the engineering and operations managers from EBMUD at a PG&E office in +Dublin. Wattenburg had asked them to bring their maps of the entire EBMUD water system in +the Danville area with them. The EBMUD engineering manager had been very defiant toward +Wattenburg all along. He had been insisting to the press that Wattenburg was just on a wild +goose chase and a publicity stunt.</p> + +<p>Musso remembered that Wattenburg began the meeting with a short discussion of what +happened to all the top BART engineers years earlier when they had refused to tell the truth about +technical problems in the BART system that endangered many people. Then he pushed a map +across the table to the EBMUD managers. This map showed that the voltages he had measured +all centered around one new water main that Wattenburg had tracked for so many days and +nights. Wattenburg let them study the map for a while. The EBMUD engineering manager said +this was “all a lot of bullshit.”</p> + +<p>“Wattenburg turned to the EBMUD operations manager and told him very sternly: +‘You know damn well that all the blue water houses are served by just this one new water main, don’t +you?’ The engineering manager got up and walked out. The others wouldn’t answer for several +minutes. Wattenburg confronted the operations manager: ‘You’ve known this all along, haven’t +you? God-damn-it, I’m giving you a chance to keep your asses out of a lot of trouble. Now make +it quick, or I’m going to turn all of my maps and yours over to the district attorney. I notice on +your new water service maps that you carefully didn’t show which water mains all the blue water +houses are connected to, but you show the connections for all the other houses in the +area.’</p> + +<p>“The operations manager nodded sheepishly and admitted that Wattenburg was right. That +is all he would say for a few minutes. We just sat there looking at each other in disbelief. Finally, +Wattenburg demanded: ‘Is it true that you have known all along that the blue water houses are all +fed from this one new line?’ One EBMUD guy tried to say that the new and old water mains are +crisscrossed all over the area such that one house may be connected to an old line and the house +next door is connected to the new line. Wattenburg snapped: ‘Yes, and that is why some of the +poor bastards put their life savings into a house they thought was safe because the neighbor didn’t +have blue water. They had no way of knowing that their dream house was connected to your +new water main. How long have you known this?’</p> + +<p>“The operations manager pulled out a map that they had not shown us at the beginning of +the meeting. He said they had just made this map ‘a few weeks ago.’ Wattenburg looked at it. It +confirmed what he had discovered in all his work. This crude EBMUD map showed that all the +blue water houses were connected to the New Scenic East Line. Wattenburg told them he hoped +that they could convince a judge that they had just discovered this and hadn’t known it for all the +time that EBMUD had been blaming the home builders and letting homeowners suffer and spend +million of dollars… .</p> + +<p>“Wattenburg asked them why they hadn’t told anybody about this. The operations manager +said that EBMUD engineers and attorneys didn’t consider it significant because it didn’t prove +what was really causing the blue water. It just localized where it was occurring. They still insisted +that the only copper was in the copper water pipes in the homes and that the EBMUD water lines +couldn’t be the problem no matter how the homes were hooked up. Wattenburg told them that +they weren’t sending the copper into the houses. EBMUD’s new water main was clearly sending +something worse that was making the copper come off the water pipes in the blue water houses. +‘And you guys had better find out what it is. I’m sure as hell not going to do it for +you.’</p> + +<p>“The EBMUD engineering manager came back to the meeting and didn’t say a word. He +picked up their maps and they left. Wattenburg commented as we left: ‘You want to bet that +even the FBI won’t be able to find that one map anywhere tomorrow?’ We went over to a +nearby bar for lunch. He curled up in his car afterwards and went to sleep.”</p> + +<p>Wattenburg quit the investigation after the newspapers announced his discovery of the +“Blue Water Pipeline” (San Francisco Chronicle, September 19, 1991, page A17). He said that he +had done his part and he didn’t want to get involved in litigation. EBMUD’s New Scenic East +Line became known as the ’Blue Water Line’ after that. EBMUD didn’t deny it any longer. They +organized a multi-million dollar task force to solve the problem. Later press reports say that they +and the homebuilders are working together to try to cure the problem with the water line.</p> + +<p>Our professor contact says that he is surprised that Wattenburg didn’t continue with his +research and publish the results of his investigation in the technical journals somewhere. He +points out that blue water is still a serious problem around the world. He feels that maybe +Wattenburg didn’t want to be associated with “corrosion engineers” whom he often described as +“guess-work artists”. He says that Wattenburg was the only one who wasn’t paid by one side or +the other in the controversy. He said he once asked Wattenburg whom he was working for and +Wattenburg answered: “Me. That way I don’t have to go to court. This is what happens to you +when you shoot your mouth off at the wrong time.”</p> + +</body> +</html>
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