[Themaintainers] Maintenance & Underground Damages

[Varun Adibhatla (ARGO)]

Hello there kindred maintainers,

Varun here. Hope all of you are well and maintaining thyselves through
trying times.
I work at a company that uses Machine Learning and Spatial Analysis to
prevent Damages to Underground Gas Distribution Assets.

Thought I'd share some insights from the 2 years I've spent working
alongside some of the largest underground (and oldest) utilities.

The Common Ground Alliance publishes the appropriately named DIRT report
that illustrates the scale of the Underground damage problem. They cause
the US Economy upwards of $30 Billion every year.

A lot of these damages are caused by excavators (the folks probably opening
up your street right now) who "move too fast and break things" (quite
literally). Here's what I found interesting though. A lot of these damages
are caused by maintenance work.

Specifically, the installation and replacement of road, water and sewer
infrastructure that tends to be deeper underground than Gas / Electric or
Fiber Infrastructure. Often this maintenance work has led to not only fatal
gas explosions, but also  taken out critical fiber infrastructure that
recently took out Virginia's Voter registration system.

I share this story because it offered me some pause in what has otherwise
been a celebration of everything maintenance. If any of you are interested
in talking about leaks, cracks, and holes and digital systems that  offer
preventative maintenance at scale, give me holler @vr00n on Twitter!

Stay well.
Varun
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