Quote:
Originally Posted by beach6
no water in the heights /water tower drained of water / no alarms no pump operators on duty/ unbeleivable that no one knew this for 6 hours / what are we paying these workers for that are supposed to be on duty / the head of the water dept should be fired /the alarms were not working and they knew they werent somebody has to accept responsibility
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Water service now appears to be restored around most of the Heights. Here is the NBC-40 report -- with a clickable video link -- about the problem.
http://www.nbc40.net/view_story.php?id=6783
Quote:
LIGHTNING STRIKE KNOCKS OUT VENTNOR WATER
Christina Stolfo ( ) - 9/6/08 01:11 pm
Last Updated - 9/6/08 11:41 pm
VENTNOR--A lightning strike is to blame for knocked out water service to residents in Ventnor and Ventnor Heights.
Just after midnight, a water tower was struck by lightning causing a leak in the tank.
Crews had to shut down the tank as they made the necessary repairs.
The tower has been fixed, but crews must now work to refill the tower with water, and are working with Atlantic City's Water Department to do so.
"Meanwhile we're getting emergency connections for all these homeowners along Surrey Avenue so they have water. Meanwhile the tank is filling back up with water and we expect services to return to normal within the next several hour," says Andrew McCrosson, City Administrator.
Some residents are still getting a very low pressure of water or no water at all.
But crews are hopeful that the system should be back to normal before the night is over.
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A somewhat related item of reporting addresses the request for cellular transmitting equipment at the Ventnor water tower.
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/1...ry/250666.html
Quote:
Bad reception calls for stealth cellular towers
By LEE PROCIDA Staff Writer, 609-457-8707
Published: Sunday, September 07, 2008
On Tuesday, the Barnegat Township zoning board will hold possibly the last of a series of hearings regarding a Cingular Wireless proposal to install a cell tower near Lower Shore Road, a project that, like in many other towns, has met passionate opposition from residents.
"There is no hiding a 150-foot cell tower in a flat part of Barnegat," said Toms River attorney Edward Liston, who represents a nearby resident challenging the project. "This is a thumb in the eye of a beautiful section of Barnegat Township."
Barnegat is one of several southern New Jersey areas that could benefit from better cell coverage, as a short drive to the western township limits sends most carriers' bars dropping.
But, as is evident with the current Cingular proposal, cell towers are a quintessential NIMBY issue: People want better service and fewer dropped calls, but as far as placement of towers goes, most are quick to say "not in my backyard."
So service providers have had to get creative. In the past few years, elevators, church steeples and even grain silos have been built nationwide with antennas inside. Carriers have utilized any tall objects they can, such as the water towers in Brigantine and Ventnor, or camouflaged the equipment to look like anything they can, such as the AT&T flagpole in Lakewood Township.
And companies still need plenty more, as more people want five bars, indoors, deep in the pinelands, during peak hours, so they can download music from the Internet on their iPhone.
Or, for that matter, while partying in Ri-Ra in the Tropicana Casino and Resort. That's where George Higgins, the tri-state area Verizon Wireless manager of network performance, found himself with no service, which is why he was part of a project to put Verizon antennas throughout The Quarter.
"They would look like smoke detectors to most people," he said - if they were gazing up at the clouds painted on the ceiling.
Verizon also installed antennas through Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa and its new Water Club tower, hiding them completely out of view while providing service throughout the buildings.
Hiding cell sites has even become a small industry, with businesses specializing in stealth antennas.
Invisible Towers, for instance, disguises cell towers as trees, covering them in a bark-pattern wrap and installing branches. On its web site it bills itself as, "the company you want in your backyard."
SteepleCom has even more of a niche market, providing wireless leasing assistance to churches that have been approached by wireless companies. While that may seem rare, churches throughout the country have proved to be prime locations since they are usually in downtown areas and tend to be tall structures.
Those types of options are perfect for cell carriers, who are well aware of the public's aversion to cell towers.
"We never try to build towers," said Ellen Webner, spokeswoman for AT&T. "But we're always trying to improve coverage."
Webner said a typical cell site covers a 1-mile radius, and providing service is like building a highway: there shouldn't be any gaps when traveling from one place to another, and in heavily populated areas you want as much capacity as possible.
Using that analogy, there are still parts of southern New Jersey that are basically dirt roads. But cell carriers are always expanding in the region. Higgins said his priorities right now are parts of Ocean and Cape May counties, as well as Absecon and Galloway Township in Atlantic County.
"We know where our weaker areas are," he said.
E-mail Lee Procida:
LProcida@pressofac.com
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At the August workshop where a cell phone provider made a request to use the Ventnor water tower and presented preliminary details, Commissioner Weintrob inquired if the company might be willing to pay the cost of painting the tower and remarked, when later asked, that a rough estimate for the next round of painting was over $200,000. Since a lightning strike might destabilize a cellular transmitter, and since there might be bid-letting documents to cellular providers to see which one gets access to the tower for mounting equipment, it might be advisable to investigate if the bidders should be required to provide electrical grounding or a lightning protection system of some kind to the Ventnor water tower as part of their bid responses.
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09-06-2008, 04:53 PM
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