Let's be upfront about corrosion

Earlier this month, a pipeline spilled over 5 million gallons of raw sewage into the Buena Vista Lagoon, outside San Diego: .

A little up-front planning and consultation with experts/ engineers who understand this stuff, and I'd be blogging about a different subject today. Instead, Vista and Carlsbad: are running up a hefty $250,000 bill to repair the pipeline. Worse still, a mini environmental disaster is hurting the ecosystem, killing dozens fish and threatening the habitat of nearly 100 species of birds.

The Buena Vista Lagoon is just the latest victim in our country's constant (losing) battle against corroding pipelines. No matter how much is spent to repair pipelines, the problems seem to start all over again.

I know hindsight is 20-20, but remember, this is not the first significant pipeline leak - they are an all too frequent occurrence. Perhaps spending a little more effort on the front end to implement measures that prevent pipeline leaks, we, and our water, will all be a lot better off.