Someone Is Stealing Water From Fire Hydrants In Flomaton

July 31, 2019

The Town of Flomaton says someone has been stealing water from fire hydrants, and that’s a problem.

The town says they’ve had several theft reports from hydrants throughout the town.

“We would like to remind everyone that doing so is a federal offense, punishable up to jail time,” the town said in a statement. “We are proud that we provide safe drinking water and wish to keep it that way.”

Anyone that has information about the theft of water from fire hydrants in Flomaton is asked to call the town at (251) 296-2431 or the Flomaton Police Department at (251) 296-5811.

File photo.

Comments

20 Responses to “Someone Is Stealing Water From Fire Hydrants In Flomaton”

  1. David Huie Green on August 5th, 2019 2:46 am

    REGARDING”
    ” that’s only possible if… they did not add check valves which allow flow in one direction only. keeps contaminated water from flowing backwards into clean sections of pipe if one section breaks”

    Very unlikely, especially if the line is on a loop.I had a devil of a time getting a check valve installed years ago to keep from pulling a vacuum on Pine Barren Road. (Different water system.) Couldn’t use it now anyway since the new well is up there now as best I recall.

    And, actually, it wouldn’t be very hard to put something into the water — hydrant tool, old hose, small pump — say a biological or radioactive agent and months before anyone noticed, assuming even samples were properly taken and the culprit long gone. Your main security is that nobody’s very likely to do it to Century.

    David for the law of averages

  2. Sunny on August 1st, 2019 3:21 pm

    It appears that a person needs special tools and equipment to remove water from those hydrants.

    AND, how do you know that someone isn’t loosening the hydrant at the connections? Doing so would allow water to leak out. After several days, thousands of gallons would be missing.

    To stop this stealing, place locking covers on them and give a set of keys to First Responders and the Water Department.

  3. Trina Coburn on July 31st, 2019 11:26 pm

    Have you checked with the road construction crew?

  4. A Alex on July 31st, 2019 7:58 pm

    Most likely when you run water thru a fire hydrant at a high volume, you stir the inside of the main and will cause cloudy muddy appearance to your kitchen-vath faucets. Clogs your filters to.
    Retired plumber

  5. Yeap on July 31st, 2019 6:07 pm

    Yeap so do they in the Christian home area also,,,turned in but dont know what happened,,,,we water our animals and pay for it then they were not

  6. Jim on July 31st, 2019 5:24 pm

    @ Rick wins ~ Rick, they aren’t stealing hydrants, they’re stealing water.

  7. Richard on July 31st, 2019 3:42 pm

    Question . How do you know someone is taking water From a hydrant ? There’s no meter on them.

  8. rick wins on July 31st, 2019 1:29 pm

    Rick beat me to it…….. I was going to say that Century has resulted to stealing hydrants from Flomaton now to offset costs incurred by the gas department. Each of those hydrants is a few grand that Century can’t afford any more!! Every hydrant reappropriated to Century makes it easier to pay for the gas managers salary!

  9. Mark Holloway on July 31st, 2019 12:18 pm

    Have they spoke with the fire dept?

  10. chris on July 31st, 2019 12:08 pm

    @ retired: is the slash pad a dangerous place to visit?

  11. Mark Holloway on July 31st, 2019 12:03 pm

    How do they know this is happening?

  12. k on July 31st, 2019 10:21 am

    @ Willis: the hydrant is an exit only. it IS possible to do what you think, but there is some expensive equipment necessary to do this – and particularly in the amount necessary to affect anyone enough to notice.
    and that’s only possible if… they did not add check valves which allow flow in one direction only. keeps contaminated water from flowing backwards into clean sections of pipe if one section breaks … i could show you the engineering on it.

    back to the original question… how much water has to be stolen for it to be noticeable – we must be talking tens or hundreds of thousands of gallons?

  13. Mike on July 31st, 2019 10:07 am

    We had something similar near Cantonment a couple of years ago…turns out the road repair crews were filling their tanks without permission, or payment.

  14. Bob on July 31st, 2019 9:49 am

    rick,

    You win the post of the day award!!! Excellent comment!!!

  15. retired on July 31st, 2019 9:42 am

    @ Rick
    it is used at the slash pad

  16. Teresa on July 31st, 2019 9:35 am

    @Rick, thats a good one. Lol. I was thinking the same thing. I’d like yo know how its done. Can’t be easy

  17. Matt on July 31st, 2019 9:23 am

    Could be any number of people for whatever reasons but a lot of people who run their own pressure washing businesses are notorious for stealing water. All you need is a wrench and a small fire hose and you’re set. It is a danger though to the public cause not only could they contaminate the water they could also blow the line that the hydrant is connected to if they shut it off too quickly.

  18. Willis on July 31st, 2019 8:24 am

    Point being they could just as easily be putting something in.

  19. rick on July 31st, 2019 8:16 am

    I heard it was Century trying to supplement their water supply to offset their lost gas revenue :)

  20. Sam on July 31st, 2019 7:17 am

    Hmmmm? How is that done? It’s not like turning on a faucet. What are they putting the water in?

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News