Figure 1: E. coli infections kill 73,000 people in the US every year.

'Water Main Breaks Can Be Stopped - Period!

Every American city suffers from preventable water main breaks. Every year, 250,000 US water main breaks cost taxpayers $60 billion. To this day, water main breaks are responsible for E. coli and Listeria infections along with copper and lead contaminations.

We are misinformed that water main breaks are caused by cold weather, road traffic, or oldness. Southern cities claim that cold weather breaks their pipes, where pipes are buried feet underground, and frost lines are only a few inches deep. Forces from road traffic are woefully inadequate to break pipes. Oldness does not break anything - otherwise - New York skyscrapers would collapse.

We have been provided such nonsensical causes for water main breaks for a century. The time has come to apply science rather than fiction to stop our water main breaks.

To this end, I proved and published that a phenomenon called water hammer breaks water mains. When valves, fire hydrants, and water pumps are operated, repeated high pressure water hammers crack water mains. Geysers then rip upwards through our roadways, or leaks scour out dirt under roads to cause road collapses.

Simplified recommendations are available. See "Water-Main Breaks in Mississippi and Across [the] U.S. Can Be Stopped" (https://www.mississippifreepress.org/30418/water-main-breaks-in-mississippi-and-across-u-s-can-be-stopped).'