Old Wooden Water Infrastructure Discovered
Water workers in South Carolina recently unearthed a pipe that seemed, by today’s standards, ancient.
“They quickly knew it was really, really old,” The Post & Courier reported.
The 20-inch diameter pipe discovered in Charleston “was made of wood staves held together with metal bands, sort of like a tubular barrel,” the report stated.
It is not the first time water workers have found themselves on something of an archeological dig. For example, utility crews in Maryland unearthed a wooden pipe three years ago that appeared similarly old.
“Long-abandoned wooden pipes left beneath older communities aren’t unheard of, but century-old utility plans typically don’t pinpoint their location and rarely is one ever dug up, utility officials said. Even some veteran WSSC pipe experts had never laid eyes on one. Water utility and infrastructure nerds rejoiced,” The Washington Post reported.