UPDATE: November 17th 2022.
The Kershaw St. leak was repaired over the past week (see photo below). The Sumter St. leak has not yet been addressed. Notice was resubmitted to the City this morning through the City of Aiken Explorer app.

Last month, I learned about the City of Aiken Explorer app* which, among other things, provided a vehicle for addressing my concern of the moment: a puddle in the middle of Sumter Street that has been there for eons. App users can not only report issues like city water-leaks, but can optionally include photos, which is exactly what I wanted.

I dislike apps and would prefer sending my missives to humans rather than ether, but I relented and, on October 23rd, (or was it the 24th?) I downloaded the app. The exact date is unknown to me, as I wrongly assumed the app would preserve a history of my report to use as a reference, should I need to follow up with the City.

That’s the thing about ether. It exists in a realm outside our purview.

Given access to a human being, I could have received confirmation that my report was seen by a person; I might have been given a typical timeframe for the City to assess and/or address such issues. Who knows? I might have learned that this wasn’t even a leak but, rather, an exuberant spring that habitually floods across the roadway; I might learn that plans are afoot to use this spring to water a future community garden in the adjacent, now-vacant lot where, not too long ago, (before someone declared it needed demolishing or moving), there stood an architecturally beautiful boarding house inhabited by people who were one degree away from homelessness.

Yes, a community garden would nicely complement the Salvation Army shelter and soup kitchen located across the parkway from the now-vacant lot.

Getting back to the app, I actually had two infrastructure issues to report, both on Aiken’s historic northside: the longstanding Sumter St. leak and a second leak several blocks to the north on Kershaw St, the latter of which smells like raw sewage.

Below are the October photos my friend and I took of the leaks to make my reports on the City of Aiken Explorer app. The larger of the two leaks is on the southbound lane of Sumter St. between Richland and Park Ave. The Kershaw leak, which I only recently discovered, is on the northbound lane leading to the Smith Hazel Recreation Center, seen in the background of the Kershaw photo.

In retrospect, I regret not acting on it sooner. I kept assuming that, surely — what with all the gentrification commencing along the Richland-Park Avenue corridor —a city worker, employee, shareholder or stakeholder would spot the pond and report it.

At any rate, it’s now been 2 weeks since I made my official report on the City of Aiken Explorer app. I continue to check the status whenever I’m in the neighborhood. Last week, I saw a gathering of crows enjoying enjoying a drink of water over at Lake Sumter. This is a positive for the birds, but for the people who live on the northside, it sends a clear message: the City of Aiken does not care about your neighborhood.

Meanwhile over on Kershaw St. the standing water still smells like raw sewage. Maybe it’s the rotting vegetation to blame, or maybe there is a leak in the municipal sewer line. Someone should go over and check it out.

The City of Aiken Explorer app is a great idea, but to honestly serve its purpose, the app needs to — at the very minimum — provide users with confirmation that their reports have been received by a human being. This way, we can know if our missives got lost in space, or if it’s something else to blame when our concerns are ignored.

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*City of Aiken Explorer app available on Google and Apple