Rural water well / shared well drama

Hello, new poster here, and I very well may be posting this in the wrong forum. Any direction would be appreciated. I live in a rural area of Virginia, and have a shared well with one neighbor. Last Feb. we had a particularly bad snow storm, lost power for a few days. A few hours after the power was restored, the power lines behind our houses came down, melted the snow and started a pretty good fire on the mountainside. The power company shut off the power, fixed the lines. Power was once again restored, except that we didn't have water. The pump was running at the well, but no water was being pumped to the houses. We had a well repair company come out. They said there was a water line problem, probably where the water line [3/4" PVC] ran under the power line. The well people speculate that the voltage and fire may have melted the pipe, which should be about 2 foot under ground.

My dilemma. The water line / power line fire issue is on the neighbor's property. Their insurance company won't even open a claim for this issue, as I understand. Neighbor has a HO-3 policy. Power company says "turn it in on your insurance". My insurance won't even come out because it isn't on my property. This water line runs along a rocky mountain side for several hundred feet, and may cost a small fortune to trench and replace. We ran a line overground in the mean time to the houses, but with freezing temperatures, we only have water from dusk till dawn.

Any thoughts of how to proceed with a claim against either one of our insurance companies, or the power company?

Is the power company liable for an "act of god"? This is a legal issue.
You don't need a plumber to advise you, you need a lawyer.

On the bright side, if it was trenched in the first time, it shouldn't be that bad to excavate the same run.

Pursue the power company. Put it on THEIR insurance. They ruined the pipe. You can sue them in small claims court also. Call the public utility commission and ask them also.

ballvalve said:

Pursue the power company. Put it on THEIR insurance. They ruined the pipe. You can sue them in small claims court also. Call the public utility commission and ask them also.

Click to expand...

Thats what I've been fishing for. I understand this is not a "plumbing issue", but I don't know where else to turn. This gem about the utility commission might help. My insurance says "not on your property, we aren't touching it". Neighbors insurance says "Go ahead and dig it up. If it is from the power line, we MIGHT consider a claim". Neighbor is a retired Marine, fighting for each day due to cancer. His remaining days may not use up many digits. Chemo, radiation, complications are using up his available resources mentally, physically and financially. My money tree caught blight and croaked a few years ago.

This water line runs across the face of a mountain side. I don't even want to watch a piece of equipment attempt to trench there, let lone try it myself. I've wore out two 580 Case backhoes, so I have an idea of what is feasibly done and what might be questionable. The slope averages 51 degrees. A bit complicated, and with the complication comes expense. I do not know how an insurance carrier could deny the ability to open a claim. Is there a better area of the forum to discuss homeowners insurance issues?

Free legal advice \/. These posters appear competent.
http://www.expertlaw.com/forums/
They'll like this oddball case.

If you end up having to sue, figure your odds of prevailing and your legal costs vs. the bids you get on fixing this problem. If your lawyer says he/she doesn't know the odds, ask other lawyers.

It might even be worth asking an actuary. That's what your insurance company does.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actuary

Once you have your odds it's a simple go/no-go calculation.

Having running water is a health and safety issue. If you can embarrass the major players, their lobbyists and the judges they might be cozy with, they might fix it.
Contact your state Board of Health.

Ask for everybody's answers in writing "for your files."

Failing that, a local paper might be interested in this story, especially if the players have been bad boys and have not shown "due diligence" in serving the public.

Thatguy said:

Free legal advice \/. These posters appear competent.
http://www.expertlaw.com/forums/
They'll like this oddball case.

If you end up having to sue, figure your odds of prevailing and your legal costs vs. the bids you get on fixing this problem. If your lawyer says he/she doesn't know the odds, ask other lawyers.

It might even be worth asking an actuary. That's what your insurance company does.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actuary

Once you have your odds it's a simple go/no-go calculation.

Having running water is a health and safety issue. If you can embarrass the major players, their lobbyists and the judges they might be cozy with, they might fix it.
Contact your state Board of Health.

Ask for everybody's answers in writing "for your files."

Failing that, a local paper might be interested in this story, especially if the players have been bad boys and have not shown "due diligence" in serving the public.

Click to expand...

There will be no lawsuit. I tried my best to describe my neighbor's financial and health condition. He is dying. His pension is being gobbled up with hospital visits and just trying to deal with his devastating treatments. I am trying to recover from a bankruptcy, lost my business, and have not found full time employment. There isn't any money to retain an attorney. Between our two homeowners policies and the power company, I'm looking for a button to push, an avenue to pursue to get this resolved without litigation.

We had the 100 year fire and it burned up all my poly culverts from one end to the other like cigars. But any pipes buried more than 2" deep were okay. Burned so hot that a pallet of 4" pvc was reduced to just a shadow of dust on the ground. And no fuel [brush] for 100'.

Rocky, brush covered hillsides too. You should have leaks only in places where the pipe was high due to rocks, and you should be able to find that leak pretty easy.

Not many guys will dig on a 51' angle in a rockpile. Too dangerous. Maybe it was put in by hand?

When a powerline around here hits the ground, a fuse blows quick somewhere upstream.

Pardon my practicality, but If your dying neighbor has a pension, he has a big life insurance policy, so maybe the repair will happen by the next of kin that obtains the land.

If the pipe defrosts each morning, its not too cold there. Maybe letting it run at night is cheaper than a trench.

Have you looked for the leak ?

We paid the well company 750 bucks to find the leak. No luck. They don't know exactly where the trench is. Water is not coming to the surface. The well company drilled the well 16 years ago. Their invoice / records indicate the house contractor installed the water line later. That contractor is deceased. The well company is recommending installing new line from well to house, although they do not want to do the installation.

Any ideas on how I can locate the leak that would be feasible? Meaning, short of starting at the well and digging across the mountain side? I was not present when the well company came out. They said they pressure checked the line. They said they probed and searched for the leak. I called "time out" until we determined who would pay for this.

You know where the pipe starts, so dig down to where its without elbows and shove a 100' electricians pull tape inside. Try a metal detector.

or some 3/8 rebar to at least get a start on a direction. Go out at sunset with the sun at a sharp angle and look for the inevitable depression from the original trench. If its burned it shoud be easy.

If YOU wore out 2 backhoes, just walk the site and figure what path YOU would have taken.

And call the PUC too, thats your best bet.

I GUARANTEE if a fiber optic cable from the phone co. burned in that fire, the electric company paid for the repair.