A One-Man-Fight Against Small Town and U.S. Water Main Breaks

I have the right to fight against water main breaks, using freedom of speech. This right of freedom of speech was crushed by local government. I surge forward in my fight against water main breaks, using freedom of the press. This Op Ed tells part of a story of my ongoing fight against our government.

Tenacious Government Resistance to Science

My hometown of Aiken, South Carolina - population approximately 33,000 - is but a microcosm of a national resistance to change that is based on money, ignorance, or both. Water mains break in cities all over our country, and cost estimates vary between $15 billion and $60 billion per year for 260,000 water main breaks per year in the U.S. alone for this international disaster. One city's resistance to technology that can yield safer drinking water and lower taxes is presented here along with the background of this international disaster. This waste, fraud, and abuse by Aiken government is but a microcosm of the U.S. local and national government landscape of waste, fraud, and abuse.

Breakthrough science is here to stop water main breaks, but cities throughout our country thwart science and risk our health. Is such a coverup of a threat to our health and lives a crime?

Inventions of Novel Science

Starting in 1991, I invented novel theories to stop water main breaks and industrial disasters by voluntarily investing more than 20,000 hours of my time and $200,000 of my money. To do so, I earned two master's degrees, earned a doctor's degree, earned several corrosion certificates, and wrote 55 publications - all of which were directly related to water main breaks. I continue to invent new science, where the existing body of research fully documents the experimental and mathematical proof of the following theories. I created new knowledge where that knowledge did not previously exist.

Based on Newton's Law of Physics, large-scale experimental industry testing experience, the Leishear dynamic stress theory proved that the effects of water hammer pressures to expand pipes are nearly quadrupled, when water hammer pressures are created as near-sonic-velocity shock waves that crash through water mains to break them. These shock waves are created by operating valves, pumps, and fire hydrants, and pressures can exceed hundreds of pounds per square inch or even a thousand pounds per square inch ("Fluid Mechanics, Water Hammer, Dynamic Stresses, and Piping Design", Click Here, "Water Hammer Causes Water Main Breaks", click here).

Based on experiments, testing, industry experience, and physics, the Leishear fatigue corrosion theory proved that water hammers create piping cracks, which in turn accelerate corrosion to break water mains ("Water Hammer and Fatigue Corrosion: I, II, and III", Click Here, Click Here, click here).

1. Together, these two theories explain nearly all water main breaks, where water hammers are the primary cause of water main breaks (Fig. 1).
2. Based on extensive studies of public health reports and proven water main break theories, the Leishear water main infectious disease and lead poisoning theories demonstrate recently discovered pathways for lead poisoning. Listeria, E. coli, Salmonella, and Legionella enter our drinking water, where underground water main cracks induce health hazards ("Our Water Mains Contaminate Us with E. Coli, Lead and Copper - Illness and Death Follow", Click Here). Mostly effective efforts are made by cities to stop health hazards when water mains are repaired by spiking the water with chlorine - however - no efforts are made at all to disinfect water at myriad leak sites throughout the rest of our underground water systems, where more than a trillion gallons of water leak from our water supplies every year. These leak and crack sites induce health hazards. Every year in the U.S., many people are hospitalized and killed by gastrointestinal diseases (Fig. 2), where the exact quantity induced through certain water main break infections needs to be quantified.

An Example of Government Resistance While Money is Raked In

As an example of resistance to technology, Aiken City officials met in backrooms, made up stories, and keep on breaking water mains. On the one hand, the Aiken Mayor claimed to be addressing the breaks, and on the other hand Aiken staff asked for another $625,000 to fix the breaks since their staff cannot keep up with repairs. This example of wasted taxes, fraudulent coverups, and abused power are consistent with government politics and agency policies across the U.S (Fig. 5).

A Summary of Waste, Fraud and Abuse

• [Describing waste], Aiken refuses to stop water main breaks as money continues to be spent to not solve the city water main break problem.
• [Describing fraud], the Mayor of Aiken claimed that 'I have spoken to several council members and everyone seems to be on the same page that we are confident that the city engineers are addressing the water hammering issue at this time.' While they may be 'on the same page', their opinions falsely conclude that water main breaks due to water hammers are under control - the mains keep breaking. Per Merriam Webster, fraud is defined as 'deceit, trickery; specifically: intentional perversion of truth in order to induce another to part with something of value or to surrender a legal right'. I do not believe that Aiken's mayor has done anything deceitful, where we shared lunch and I was very impressed with her. However, she has made decisions based on false information. Specifically, incorrect statements were provided to her and the City Council in a City Council Workshop, and I was refused the opportunity to defend my character and prove that false statements were made in that meeting. I believe that such actions were overall supported by city government for 'intentional perversion of truth', and that these actions endanger our drinking water safety and burden citizens with unnecessary taxes. I believe that the decision to continue water main breaks in Aiken is fundamentally flawed and as such appears to be fraudulent. Claiming that Aiken water main breaks are under control has not been 'truth' for years and is still not 'truth'.
• [Describing abuse of government power, Aiken government officials refuse] to allow me [the opportunity] to present the facts to counter the false statements by city staff in their efforts that controlled 'misspent dollars', i.e., water main breaks keep on coming ("Money is Gone in My Home Town of Aiken, and the Water Main Breaks Keep on Coming").

The Aiken City Manager seems to control the Mayor and City Council in a coverup of Aiken water main breaks. I may have the right to fight Aiken politics in South Carolina, but politicians censor free speech by refusing me City Council public access to refute deceit and fight the manipulations of the City Manager.

A Right to Fight

I have the right to fight against Aiken water main breaks. I have rights.

• The right to fight against Aiken staff false accusations, or smears, against my business and character.
• The right to fight against city officials to stop water main breaks.
• I have the right to stand against Aiken staff who threaten to beat me up.
• The right to state facts about Aiken water main breaks.
• The right to fight against wrong science by Aiken engineers and staff, which destroys our water mains.
• The right to fight against fire hydrant unavailability while water mains are repaired.
• The right to fight against illness and death due to water main cracks throughout the U.S, i.e., E. coli, Legionella, and Listeria illness and death seep through water main leaks during power outages or other causes of pressure drops in water mains.
• The right to fight against illness and death, where there is a known risk that illness enters drinking water during repairs of water main breaks. Chlorine is used to spike drinking water and kill infections, but people who are unaware of boil water notices are at risk.
• The right to fight against lead poisoning from water mains due to water hammer cracks and corrosion that lead poisons people to create birth defects, illness and intellectual disabilities.
• The right to fight against the collapse of roads due to water main breaks, where dirt is scoured out under roadways to create sink holes.
• The right to fight against geysers of water bursting up into the air through roads from broken mains.
• The right to fight against fish kills from chlorinated water leaking from water main breaks.
• The right to fight against water main break taxes.
• The right to fight against taxes to fix other leaks in city water supplies.
• The right to fight against the increasing destruction of our Aiken water system.
• The right to fight against long accepted myths surrounding the causes of water main breaks. Myths include underground water main failure causes due to oldness, coldness, hotness, ground shifts, climate change, tree roots, and traffic. Water hammer and water hammer-induced corrosion are the primary causes of water main breaks in metallic, concrete, concrete-asbestos, or plastic water mains. In other words, when people do not understand physics and do not have facts, they make up things that sound reasonable and then lie that these myths are facts.
• The right to fight against these myths that politicians and businesses drown us with to protect the immense fortunes that can be skimmed from water main break taxes.
• The right to fight for science rather than myth. Water main breaks are primarily caused by water hammer. Water hammer is complicated. Casually grasping at water main breaking myths may be easy to understand, but misunderstandings will not stop water main breaks.
• The right to fight against the local government coverup of Aiken water main destruction.
• The right to fight against city governments across our nation to stop water main breaks.
• The right to fight against city governments that break the water supply pipes to homes and then make the homeowners pay for that city destruction due to city-caused water hammers that broke the pipes to begin with. That is, cities make the laws, break the mains, and make us pay for the destruction that the cities cause.
• The right to fight against the U.S. government and other agency coverups to stop water main breaks.
• Further details of these rights are available ("I Have the Right to Fight Against Aiken Water Main Breaks", censored by Aiken politicians, Click Here).

The Fight Gets Real

To clearly document these fights, a political and scientific Op Ed was published ("Aiken Coverups and New Scientific Advances in Water Main Breaks", Click Here). The first paragraph of that Op Ed follows.

The coverups get bigger although science moves forward in Aiken. Aiken had a power outage, I expected water main breaks based on my scientific research, and sure enough there were two near-simultaneous breaks. When I went to one of the water main break sites, workers were very cooperative at first, but the situation changed. I was blocked from seeing water main damage, and I heard one worker say, "Do you want me to beat him up" (Fig. 3).

My son told me in anger that he would have immediately stood up to such threats against me if he had been there.

I fight against the Aiken government, and I am prohibited from challenging false opinions in a City Council Workshop meeting. This government resistance to the truth is the blatant action of a coverup. Transparency in government is demanded by circumstance.

Crushing of Personal Rights

The Aiken mayor crushed my rights, censored my opinions to the City Council, and continues Aiken water main breaks. There have been more monthly breaks during March 2025 than there have been since August 2022, where the extent of available records for evaluation is limited.

I offered to provide services to Aiken, where costs were planned to be supported by government grants. The mayor said 'No', claiming that the city is 'addressing' water main breaks, which is completely false. Why is free money thrown away in favor of breaking water mains and paying more taxes to fix the breaks? What is going on in the backrooms of Aiken government? A coverup goes forward.

Crushing the Public's Rights to Safe Drinking Water and Lasting Water Systems

In addition, the Aiken Mayor stated that she does not have support from the City Manager, the City Council and the public to pursue my work to stop Aiken water main breaks. It seems ridiculous that the public - our fellow citizens - do not support the stopping of water main breaks, do not support the stopping of potential illness, do not support stopping an increase in rusty water complaints, do not support stopping leaks in our water system, do not support the stopping of boil water notices, do not support stopping potential lead poisoning and do not support stopping the increasing destruction of our water system.

Aiken representatives turned away potential government grants worth $3.2 million. The goals of these crushed grants were to study the history of Aiken breaks and health hazards from disease and lead poisoning, crush Aiken breaks, monitor the success of break prevention, and publish results to crush water main breaks worldwide.

Having dismissed the opportunity to stop Aiken water main breaks, the City Council and Mayor are now breaking our water mains. Potential health effects and water main breaks are on the rise in Aiken (Fig. 4). The City Manager - in a city with an $85 million, 2024-2025 budget - had no justifiable excuse to falsely attack my character and keep the water main breaks going. He deceived the Mayor and Council members, and the Mayor and Council chose lockstep to block the truth. The Mayor and Council have executed a serious mistake against the people of Aiken, where much of this article has been forwarded in different letters to affected Aiken officials.

Resistance to the Crushing of a Dream of Improved Health for All

I dream of stopping water main breaks, where I see a future not yet seen by others. I have sent letters to fight many cities and government agencies, from New York to Los Angeles and from Houston to Chicago along with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Center for Disease Control. No government actions have been taken, and no responses are typically provided to stop water main breaks and improve public health.

My goal, or dream, in Aiken was to let Aiken serve as a success story for the rest of our country to follow to stop the current 260,000 U.S. water main breaks per year. Aiken refused to be the city that leads the way in stopping water main breaks. The next step of my research to stop water main breaks is to find a city unlike my hometown of Aiken, where that city will put the welfare of residents first ("Never Give an Inch - When Will We Stop U.S. Water Main Breaks?", Click Here). My fight to stop water main breaks goes on.

Crush Global Water Main Breaks

Water main breaks affect every city and country across the globe, where monetary and environmental costs are coupled with illness and death. Published technology has evolved since 2002 to stop water main breaks. 'I believe that my work will make our world a little better place to live' ("The Price of Engineering Ethics, A Personal Story", click here).

I am tired at depth of being cheated and lied to by governments and businesses, who break our water mains and endanger our health by promoting water main breaks. Aren't you? We can stop water main breaks!

Face the Enemy

To face enemies of our rights, the following email was sent to the Aiken Mayor, City Manager and Engineering Director.

'Op Ed About Our Water Main Conflict, 4/6/2025

I plan to submit [this draft] Op Ed for publication' 'Strong disagreements and accusations are included. I believe that great disservice to the people of Aiken has been committed. Any comments before publication?'

No response was received.

After this Op Ed was published, the following letter was sent to the Aiken Mayor, City Council members, City Manager, and Engineering Director.

'A Crime Against Our People?, April 18, 2025

To back up an opinion against representatives of our Aiken government and federal government, I wrote, "A One-Man Fight Against Small Town and U.S. Water Main Breaks" (Click Here). 'Per Brittanica, a crime is 'the intentional commission of an act usually deemed socially harmful or dangerous and specifically defined, prohibited, and punishable under criminal law. Based on many years of scientific research, I believe that our government has endangered, and continues to endanger, the health of our people by destroying our water mains. In my opinion, such irresponsible and intentional attacks on public health should be illegal. Even so, we can still work together to protect the people of Aiken if you choose to do so. Comments?

I can revise this Op Ed if you provide comments or dissenting opinions.'

No comments were received. The people of Aiken are the losers for this effort by elected and non-elected Aiken misleaders to curtail water main breaks and improve health hazards.

Acknowledgments:

As always, Janet Leishear proofreads my work, where she has proofed 200+ publications to improve my communications. Donald Moniak of Aiken South Carolina provided insights into Aiken politics and provided water main break data from City of Aiken news releases, public reports, and alerts.

Disclaimer:

Opinions and comments from this article are not the responsibility of the publisher, their employees, nor their management. All content, opinions, information, and comments in this article are provided as a public service by Leishear Engineering, LLC. Leishear Engineering, LLC expressly disclaims liability for errors, omissions, or damages in whole, or in part, for reliance on information contained herein or in referenced publications, which have been updated here.

(Article changed on Apr 21, 2025 at 10:20 PM EDT)