Ledger Inquirer: What’s that leak at Hughston Clinic?

Orthopedic surgeons must not do plumbing.

A reader emailed us about a constant water leak coming from the lawn in front of the Hughston Clinic on Veterans Parkway. The reader said it’s been going on for months, and even sent a link to Google Maps Street View that shows the problem clearly.

There’s no way to tell when the Google photos were taken, but if you scroll back a few blocks to find a gas station, regular was going for $2.99 a gallon that day. The last time gas was around that price was around Christmas, but it’s also passed through that price range several times over the last three or four years, according to gasbuddy.com.

I called the Hughston people and a nice lady there said she’d have someone from maintenance give me a call. As of close of business Friday, I hadn’t heard back from them.

But while I was waiting, I called Cliff Arnett, senior vice president of the Columbus Water Works.

Arnett said if a leak is on public property, the Water Works will send out a crew to take care of it. If it’s on private property, they contact the property owner. He said he wasn’t aware of anyone having reported the Hughston problem to the Water Works, but he’d have someone look into it.

“I’ll have one of our folks go over there right away, check it out and make the proper contacts -- or fix it, one way or the other,” Arnett said. “I can’t imagine they wouldn’t want to fix it the way water is these days.”

Special thanks to Bruce Hutchens for alerting the Ledger Inquirer. Keep ’em coming to mowen@ledger-enquirer.com.

This story was originally published April 4, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Ledger Inquirer: What’s that leak at Hughston Clinic?."