BOWLING GREEN - Reba Biggins is pretty sure there isn't a leak in her above-ground pool at her Grand Rapids house.
So where some 2,000 gallons of water went over the weekend is a mystery to her -- and to the Wood County sheriff's department.
Mrs. Biggins filed a theft report over the missing water with the department earlier this week.
"It just disappeared," she said in a telephone interview from her Pratt Lane home. "We don't know where it went."
The case of the missing water began on Saturday, when Mrs. Biggins paid I.D. Woodbury Water Service, of Bowling Green, to fill her five-foot deep pool. It was filled to the skimmer, an entrance near the top of pool that keeps debris out of the filter.
She was away from home on Sunday. On Monday, she checked the pool and found it roughly half full.
"I looked around it and could not find any leaks," she said.
Her daughter, Karla Gonyer, of Bowling Green, waded around the pool on Monday looking for leaks, without success.
The sheriff's department was notified. A deputy could not find any leaks around the outside of the pool.
Apparently, the sheriff's department feels it may be, well, in over its head on this one.
"Complainant realized there is not much we can do about this problem, but wanted us to be aware of it," according to the theft report.
And the water didn't just vanish into thin air. Glen Frey, a meterologist at Bowling Green State University, said an average pool could lose up to 2 feet of water through evaporation over the course of an entire summer.
He estimated that about 3 to 6 millimeters in an average pool would evaporate per day, depending on weather conditions.
He suggested that a still-undiscovered leak in the liner or children playing a practical joke.
Mrs. Biggins, who estimated her loss at about $40, said she doesn't understand how anyone could have gotten that much, water out of the pool.
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The Crescent-News, Thursday, October 14, 1993, Defiance, Ohio
NEY -- Water, Water, somewhere...
News from the Ney water board revealed to village council Wednesday that more than 300,000 gallons of water used in town were unaccounted for in September.
Today, Mayor Charles Brenner said he learned that the Ney Washington Township Fire Department had "a couple of practice sessions," which the mayor said would explain much of the difference between the number of gallons pumped and sold.
Brenner added that when taking into account the additional water used by firefighters, the average loss of water is "down to normal."
At the meeting, officials said monthly water reports indicated wild fluctuations in the water shortage. In July, 8,000 gallons were reported unaccounted for, and council believed that a fluctuation of more than 290,000 gallons in two months could not occur.
Possibilities discussed at the meeting included the wrong figures being tabulated or leaks in one or more lines....
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THE BLADE: TOLEDO, OHIO WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26, 1994
The utility board has declared a state of emergency and imposed mandatory conservation measures on the town's 700 residents. Consumers have been told to ration water and violators could face up to a $2,500 fine.
The town's 150,000-gallon water tower was at less than 40 per cent capacity Monday, said utility manager Jim Nelson.
"We're in a serious situation," Mr. Nelson said. "We only got one well and it may go dry."
Officials have been bringing in water from Greencastle, Ind., about 12 miles southwest of Bainbridge, to fill the tower.
Water meters will be monitored this week to see how much is being used. Officials also will check water pipes underneath homes to see if they have been damaged.
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THE BLADE: TOLEDO, OHIO, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1994
The village normally pumps about 370,000 gallons a day at this time of year, officials said.
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THE BLADE: TOLEDO, OHIO - SUNDAY, AUGUST 18, 1996
Officials at Bay County water department and the Bay metropolitan water treatment plant are checking large industrial and commercial accounts to see if there are any malfunctioning meters.
The loss, $68,000 worth of water last year, represents an increasing pattern in which the water plant has treated and pumped more water into the system than has been sold to customers.
We could find something to realize a major reduction in our losses or it could just be a lot of little things that add up," said John DeKam, superintendent of the Bay water treatment plant.
The water systems have lost between 19 per cent and 22 per cent of their water every year since 1990, Mr. DeKam said.
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