I must admit defeat, for now, in my fight for safer drinking water in my home town of Aiken, South Carolina. Aiken's coverup and lies have been effective to maintain the status quo for continued city income from preventable water main breaks, which infect drinking water with disease and poison. We, all of us, are the losers.
The Fight
Years of my volunteer research have proven that most of the yearly 260,000 U.S. water main breaks, associated infectious diseases, and lead poisoning are preventable. Our health and our lives are at stake.
A Long Fight
My fight with Aiken started in 2018 and is specifically documented in 11 OpEd News articles, 5 Letters to the Editor of the Aiken Standard, 2 Fox 54 television interviews, 4 Aiken City Council speeches, and 2 peer reviewed engineering journals. These publications are part of my 104 related publications on water hammer and water main breaks. (leishearengineeringllc.com).
Scientific facts had no influence on the broken Aiken political machine. Water main breaks rage forward in our town. The lies are intact.
Final Accusations Against Aiken for Safe Drinking Water
As a final thrust against an Aiken coverup of water main break causes and associated health hazards, I sent the following letter to the Aiken City Manager, the Mayor, and the City Council members,
'Lies and More Lies for Aiken Drinking Water Safety, 1/12/2026
I decided to send the following revised letter by email instead of in person to the City Council. Talking to the City Council in person has been shown to be useless.
Bcc: Aiken City Council members'My drinking water was black today due to another preventable Aiken water main break. Aiken will have their own, sadly well-earned chapter in my forthcoming 2026 book, titled "Industrial Murder for Profit in the Water, Oil, Gas and Nuclear Industries."
[The] Aiken City Manager and his staff lie to the people of Aiken about our drinking water. He is very persuasive and very knowledgeable. - however - money is misspent in our city and public health is threatened. There is danger to our community with respect to drinking water safety.Let me list some, but not all of his lies along with the facts, where a lie is a misstatement of fact. [Per Merriam Webster, a lie is 'an untrue or inaccurate statement that may or may not be believed true by the speaker or writer'.]
1) He [lied] that Aiken drinking water is safe. However, Aiken City Water Quality Reports state that lead poisoning and deadly Cryptosporidiosis are present in our drinking water. Department of Heath records indicate that deadly Legionella, E. Coli, Cryptosporidiosis, and Listeria are present in Aiken County water.
2) He [lied] that sediment in water mains is naturally occurring. However, sediment is rust that is caused by preventable water hammers.
3) His staff [lied] that the Aiken Brown Water Fiasco was caused by changes in flow. However, a preventable water hammer was the cause. ]More than half of the city had brown water for days.]
4) He [lied] to smear my character, which stymied the prevention of these water main damages. ]When I told him in a City Council meeting that his smear was in 'black and white' he did not respond.]
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