Water leak in Peppertree Park annoys residents

On Monday, November 21, several residents on Inverlochy Drive in Fallbrook’s Peppertree Park had their water turned off without any notice, leaving one 85-year-old man in the shower with soap from head to toe. When the water was turned back on several residents had air in their pipes, causing annoying “moaning sounds.” One resident said all her sprinklers “blew.”

Because it happened in the morning at approximately 10:30 a.m. many residents were at work. Residents were not informed by the Fallbrook Public Utility District (FPUD) that the water had been turned off and then back on, so it wasn’t until the neighbors began to talk amongst themselves did they realize why their pipes were moaning or their sprinklers were blown.

One elderly resident heard a “loud whining sound” emanating from her water heater, so she shut it down and then later had to call SDG&E to come out and restart it. Even after this resident let her faucets run for several minutes the pipes still moaned. The next morning she called FPUD and was informed that she probably needed a new regulator and that if she submitted the bill along with a claim form to FPUD they would reimburse her. “It was all such a bother,” she said, “but it was nice that they offered to pay for it.”

An FPUD employee, Connie, explained that the water was shut down because of an emergency situation. “They didn’t know the scope of the damage until they dug past the asphalt,” she commented. “They then realized the severity of the problem and had to take emergency measures.”

One Inverlochy resident commented that it was “hardly an emergency when water had been leaking into the street for at least three weeks.” FPUD countered with the comment that the road had to be marked first so they didn’t cut into utility lines.