What's the problem with ALPUC water mains?

At Alpine Lake, much of the water pipe simply is not adequate for the pressure it carries, and very little of it was properly laid. It is fragile/brittle and was improperly laid in clay and heavy rock without compacted sand or shale to protect it. The PVC material from which the old mains were made is not adequate to withstand 100 pounds (per square inch) of water pressure, a level that must routinely be exceeded in order to get water from our well to our main storage tank so that it can be gravity-fed to our customers. The rock in which it was laid frequently saws away at it, which is why main breaks occur so often during freeze/thaw periods. Because we have improved our existing system by adding more valves, very few houses generally lack water when mains break and are being repaired. When ALPUC replaces broken sections of water main, it uses better quality pipe than was originally installed, and it is packed in shale, in keeping with the current industry standard. It is unlikely that the new pipe will break again any time soon.