I should keep my mouth shut about this, but I just can't. Government inspectors and regulators from the local guy all the way up to the EPA have no idea what they are doing. They make all these rules like for what materials can be used, how many check valves are needed and such, yet they have no idea what they are doing, and the rules are all different from one state/city to the next. One of the worst is our own Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). They are still working from a rule book that was written in 1973, and don't even understand that older stuff, much less any newer technology. I have tried to explain a few things to them, and you can just see the blank stare that shows a complete lack of understanding. They will make you adhere to the 1973 rules, as best as they know how, even if it is a health risk and/or is going to cost many times more than it should. But they really don't know how to test for or see if even the old rules are being followed. None of them have ever installed a pump or even a waterline. I believe they have the job they have, because they couldn't get a job where they would have to really understand how pumps and systems work. They wouldn't last a day working for me before I would fire them.
Here is just one of many examples. A guy who runs a community water system told me they came out to do a routine inspection of his system. At the time he had some major problems. There were holes in his pressure tank, so it had been valved off. One of his pumps was in pieces laying all around on the floor. His chlorination system was not working, and several other things. He said he just kept his mouth shut as the inspector walked around and looked at everything. Before the inspector left, he was written up for the security fence being a couple inches too short. That was all the inspector found when there were literally dozens of real problems. I hope I didn't give enough information for them to figure out who I am talking about.
All the pump installers, private engineers, and water system operators know this. But they cannot complain even the slightest, as these agencies are all powerful and could yank their licenses and permits if they wanted. I myself would never have said this out loud when I was drilling wells and installing pumps everyday, as my licenses would have been in jeopardy. But I no longer need my license, and I am just getting old and don't mind telling people what Peter wrote on the rock.
Every government agency from the local inspectors all the way to the EPA need to be overseen by a group of individuals who actually work in the industry. Inspectors are the same as any political job, anybody who actually wants that job should be eliminated from ever having it. We may have to draft some individuals from the general public to oversee these "politicians", as nobody with real life experience wants the stigma of actually being associated with these government agencies.
