Aiken breaks our mains and then blames residents if they are poisoned. Living in Aiken, I routinely observe the failures of our government to protect public safety in our water system. Today, I fight once again through the Press, where OpEd News is frequently the only weapon for Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press to fight our Aiken government to protect us.

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Living in Aiken, I routinely observe the failures of our government to protect public safety in our water system. Today, I fight once again through the Press, where OpEd News is frequently the only weapon for Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press to fight our Aiken government to protect us.

From June 25, 2025 through June, 29, 2025 (and continuing), widespread complaints about 'brown water' were reported by Aiken residents. By reading local newspapers, everything seems to be okay, but I fiercely disagree. The Aiken Standard reported that "Discolored Water Is Still a Problem for Aiken Customers", click here. After four days, Aiken is still flushing out the muck from water mains but not addressing the real problems.

Heat has Mistakenly been Blamed for Brown Water

Heat has been blamed as a primary cause of recent discolored water ("Discolored water reported throughout Aiken as extreme heat takes toll", click here). However, temperatures are slightly hotter this year than last year ("Weather History in Aiken", click here), when brown water was not so large a problem (see Figure 1). In short, surges of brown water complaints drastically increased in August 2022, July 2023 and May 2025, but not during the summer of 2024. Temperature and hot weather are clearly not a driver for brown water increases. Water hammer provides an explanation for these three incidents and smaller incidents throughout the years, where such hammers are created by operating pumps and valves.

A new water system was being placed in service, and a water hammer during startup may have blasted corrosion debris loose throughout the system. That is, a possible cause of Aiken brown water on June 25, 2025, was operator error, rather than weather or infrastructure improvements. Confirmation data is unavailable to the public at present. Aiken staff may not even be aware of the possibility or occurrence of a water hammer, since hammers are frequently not heard when pipes are securely fastened and cannot bang when hammered.

Facing Our Government Again

Accordingly, I sent the following unanswered letter to the Aiken Mayor and all members of the City Council.

We have serious problems that are not being addressed for the Aiken water supply. Please note the conclusion below: 'In conclusion, Aiken breaks our mains and then blames residents if they are poisoned.'

Aiken Brown Water and Parallel Health Hazards (6/7/2025)

Although brown water in the Aiken drinking water supply is generally considered to be reasonably safe, water hammers that generate rust in our drinking water continue in Aiken, and those same water hammers endanger our drinking water safety. Aiken is spending tax dollars to fix the symptoms of health problems and health problems accelerate. Aiken needs to stop damaging our water system to protect our health.

On June 23, 2025, an Aiken City Council meeting promoted more money for unidirectional flushing, which effectively washes away rust in water mains. This method flows water into fire hydrants and flushes rust out through the next closest fire hydrant. Aiken is even installing more hydrants to increase the flow rates between some hydrants to remove more rust from our water mains.

Published by commercial water companies, brown water is claimed to not present a health hazard, since iron in rust is not a health hazard, and small quantities of detrimental manganese in rust are not usually present in high enough concentrations during brown water events to affect health. In other words, the brown water problem can be washed out of sight, but the acceleration of brown water creation hammers forward.

Peer reviewed publications and supporting scientific research prove that Aiken is not addressing the primary cause of rust in water mains, where water hammer creates brown water, or rust, in water mains ("Water Hammer Causes Water Main Breaks", click here). Basically, the operations of water pumps, industrial valves and fire hydrants cause high-pressure shock waves in water mains that travel throughout the city to crack water mains and generate rust in those cracks, and subsequent hammers disperse brown water to residents.

Until we stop the water main breaks in Aiken, we will have more cracks, more rust, more brown water, and more water main breaks ("Aiken, S.C. Officials Destroy Our Water System and Endanger Our Lives and Health", "Money is Gone in My Home Town of Aiken, and the Water Main Breaks Keep on Coming", and "Water Main Breaks Will Continue in Aiken", click here).

Far more importantly, water main cracks increase lead poisoning and infectious diseases in drinking water ("Our Water Mains Contaminate Us with E. Coli, Lead and Copper - Illness and Death Follow", peer reviewed, click here). Aiken officials have joined other cities to refuse to further investigate and stop these significant health hazards ("A One-Man-Fight Against Small Town and U.S. Water Main Breaks").

A 2024 City of Aiken Water Report [that was a flyer delivered to customers] described water treatment before water enters water mains (Click Here). Also, Aiken tests and [reports]' 'drinking water once per year or less, but Aiken tests 60 locations daily per the Aiken Mayor, but Aiken does not specifically check water from water mains after known water hammer events. Also, there are 22,000 connections to the water supply, and Aiken does not yet know where all of the lead pipes are located for customers. At present, lead contamination levels throughout Aiken are not known. In other words, we do not know when all of our water is safe or not.

In that report, Aiken stated that we, the Aiken residents, "share the responsibility for protecting [ourselves] and [our] family from lead". In conclusion, Aiken breaks our mains and then blames residents if they are poisoned.

The Facts of Aiken Water Main Destruction

A parallel unanswered letter was sent only to the Aiken Mayor to provide further technical basis for these claims.

Aiken Keeps Breaking Our Drinking Water Supply (6/27/2025)

Evidence in Figures 1 to 3 below clearly proves that Aiken brown water complaints, water main breaks, and city-owned water system leaks continually rise. With respect to brown water complaints, Aiken is unnecessarily destroying the Aiken water system. That is, brown water is caused by water hammers, as I testified as an Expert Witness in Talbert vs. American Water in 2023. Aiken fails to protect our water system and fails to protect our health.

Figure 1. Brown water complaints caused by water hammers - mostly preventable - June 25, 2025 major complaint surge not shown since data is not yet publicly available.
(Image by Leishear Engineering, LLC)   Details   DMCA

Figure 2. Aiken water main breaks caused by water hammers - mostly preventable.
(Image by Leishear Engineering, LLC)   Details   DMCA

Figure 3. Aiken city-property leaks caused by water hammers - mostly preventable.'
(Image by Leishear Engineering, LLC)   Details   DMCA

Data for these three figures was obtained from Donald Moniak ("City of Aiken, Water Main Breaks", enchronicles.com/water-main-breaks). Zero values in the figures indicate that data was unavailable.

The Coverup Continues

Once again, I suggested to the Aiken Mayor that we meet to work together to improve the Aiken water system. I received no response ("Aiken Coverups and New Scientific Advances in Water Main Breaks"). After sending the above letters, I sent the following unanswered letter to the Mayor of Aiken.

City Council Workshop? (6/28/2025)

Perhaps you would now be willing to discuss the problems with our water main system. In my [professional] opinion Aiken staff does not have a clear understanding of how they are damaging our water system. My extensive experience and extraordinary education can help them accomplish success with respect to brown water, water main breaks, lead poisoning, and disease transmission.

Water Hammer as the Brown Water Cause

Aiken is working 'around the clock' to fix this problem, but they are a likely cause of this problem in the first place. In my nearly 35 years of water hammer experience, I have learned that sometimes the largest water hammers - and the most damage to water systems - occur during startups of new facilities, similar to the June 25th case considered here.

In such cases, pressures can be near 1,000 pounds per square inch in 100-pound-per-square-inch water systems, which could certainly break loose a lot of rust to create brown water. From the scant information that is publicly available, such a water hammer is possible, but further information is needed from Aiken.

A possible cause was a 'scheduled shutdown' 'to connect the new water plant to the water main'. In fact, 'the water main at US 1 and the water plant underwent a scheduled shutdown last night [the night of June 24, 2025] to connect the new water plant to the water main (.cityofaikensc.gov/alerts).' This situation provided the conditions for one of the largest potential water hammers within the Aiken water supply. A Freedom of Information Act request (FOIA) was submitted for closure of this water hammer concern, as follows.

FOIA Request (6/28/2025)

Please provide SCADA, or other electronic data, plus log book entries, and any other pertinent operations, maintenance, and construction data for June 24-26, 2025 for the new water plant near Highway 1. I would like to see if operations at this plant caused the recent brown water event in Aiken.

Additional detailed information was requested in a subsequent FOIA to better understand operations at US1 prior to the brown water fiasco.

In my professional opinion, a brown water incident of this magnitude was initiated by a high-pressure water hammer. As soon as the facts are available from Aiken, the sooner this brown water mess can be resolved, where many residents are affected and restaurants have closed ("Aiken water troubles impact local business", click here).

In this developing story, the Mayor of Aiken stated that they are working 'continually', as of 5/27/2025 to correct brown water ("City of Aiken Discolored Water Release", .cityofaikensc.gov/discolored-water-release). Even so, an investigation of a possible water hammer related to this significant brown water incident, and other certain brown water incidents, should be investigated. The only obstacle between me and the truth of this brown water fiasco is the Aiken government.

There are many Aiken brown water complaints on the internet. One such complaint provided the following June 26, 2025 photo. Another such complaint noted that Aiken Regional Hospital was affected, but the hospital would not confirm or deny.

This brown water problem has affected much of Aiken. Brown water has been reported in downtown Aiken, the north side of Aiken, the West side of Aiken, and the south side of Aiken. Sen so, I live on the South side of Aiken, and we have good water quality, i.e. no brown water at all.

Will Aiken Ever Stop Damaging Our Water Mains?

In an effort to address the current brown water situation in Aiken, I sent the following unanswered Letter of Request to the Aiken Mayor and City Manager, including a copy of Figure 1.

June 25, 2025 - Possible Brown Water Cause (6/28/2025)

Would your staff show me what they did at US 1 on the night of June 24th to remove the water main to the plant from service. If so, we should be able to determine the cause of the current brown water situation, which would prevent future occurrences? High demands cannot explain the fact that there were spikes in brown water complaints during 2022, 2023, and 2025, but not 2024, where summer temperatures were comparable each year. Water hammer from operations at US 1 can provide such an explanation.

Along with the following letter, a link to this Op Ed was forwarded to the Aiken Mayor, City Manager, and City Council immediately after publication of this Op Ed.

Please Stop Breaking Our Drinking Water Supply (6/29/2025)

The following Op Ed was published today, "Aiken, S.C. + Drinking Water = Brown Water + Parallel Health Hazards". Comments are welcome.

For the past six years, I have asked Aiken officials to stop water hammers. As I have previously published, water hammers create increasing rust, increasing cracks, increasing brown water, and increasing water main breaks; and water hammers contribute to infectious diseases and lead poisoning in water supplies. Yet, you continue to hammer our Aiken water system to cause increasing damage.

The Lead Question and the June 25, Brown Water Fiasco

I hesitate to address this issue since all of the facts are not yet available, but this issue is too important to ignore. Assuming that a major water hammer started at US 1, that pressure wave had the ability to travel to many parts of the system in seconds. In such a case, lead from lead service lines to older homes could induce lead poisoning into drinking water.

Disclaimer

This Op Ed is based on available information and is subject to change as information is made available. Access to information is hindered. I emailed the City Manger a simple question about how many brown water complaints have been received, and rather than answer, he responded that I should fill out an FOIA request, which can take up to 10 days for response. Guessing what information has been withheld from the public limits a public understanding of how this brown water fiasco unfolded. Aiken refuses to discuss this issue to improve our water system.

As a foremost expert in water main failures, I have raised serious public health concerns, but I am blocked by Aiken government. In fact, I invented peer-reviewed theories to explain brown water creation and water main failures that were misunderstood for the past century. These scientific discoveries should be the backbone of this Aiken investigation but are not.

Addendum (6/30/2025)

I requested the mayor and City Manager to expedite my FOIA request so that I could provide pertinent information as brown water continues in Aiken. They refused and are executing a grave injustice against the people of Aiken. In other words, I asked for information to improve public health, and I am being stonewalled from receipt of that information.

Addendum (7/2/2025)

As a new finding, both water main cracks and water main repairs provide viable pathways for Cryptosporidiosis into our drinking water. The following list summarizes health hazards due to preventable water hammers in water mains.

1) Water hammer corrosion causes lead and copper poisonings in drinking water due to internal water hammer cracks in lead piping. Lead scanned in 1996, and lead was widely used for home construction in the 1950s.

2) Induced by water hammer, cracks ingress underground E. Coli, Listeria, and Legionella into drinking water in some cases, where adequate chlorine concentrations kill some infectious diseases. Note that chlorine is added to water treatment plants, and high concentrations of chlorine are used to spike water mains during repairs.

3) Induced by underground ingress through water hammer cracks and water main repairs, Cryptosporidiosis immune to chlorine.Accordingly, both repairs and water main cracks can cause infectious disease.

(Article changed on Jul 03, 2025 at 7:56 AM EDT)

Authors Website: http://www.leishearengineeringllc.com

Authors Bio:

Robert A. Leishear, PhD, P.E., PMP, ASME Fellow, Who's Who in America Top Engineer, Who's Who Millennium Magazine cover story, NACE Senior Corrosion Technologist, NACE Senior Internal Piping Corrosion Technologist, ANSYS Expert, AMPP Certified Protective Coatings Inspector, NACE Cathodic Protection Tester, Structural Steel Worker, Welder, Carpenter, and Journeyman Sheet Metal Mechanic, is a Consulting Engineer for Leishear Engineering, LLC, and worked as a Lead Research Engineer (Principal Researcher) for the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Savannah River National Laboratory (IQ = 161). He has also worked as a design engineer, test engineer, and plant engineer in nuclear waste facilities and nuclear fuel reprocessing facilities.

Additionally, Dr. Leishear worked as a lead electronic packaging design engineer for military aircraft and missile systems. In this position, he designed the first wireless aircraft radar system, and he patented an electromagnetic interference mechanism to ensure that aircraft radar computer systems remained operational for second strike capabilities in the event of nuclear war, where this mechanism was installed on all personal computers and printers for decades.

Dr. Leishear has written more than 190 technical publications on water hammer, nuclear plant explosions, and other research. Publications by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers include two water hammer and piping design books and Honors Journal publications.

Dr. Leishear received the Mensa, Copper Black Award for Creative Intelligence for his research on nuclear power plant explosions and petroleum industry explosions. He was appointed as an ASME Fellow for his research on water hammers, which are directly applicable to industrial explosions.

Dr. Leishear earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University, and at the University of South Carolina, he earned M.S. and PhD degrees in Mechanical Engineering, and also earned a Master of Engineering degree in Nuclear Engineering. For these degrees he studied, fracture mechanics, water hammer, fluid mechanics, mass transfer, gas dynamics, materials science, fatigue cracking, advanced thermodynamics, reactor thermal hydraulics, risk analysis, engineering law, reactor design, reactor physics, radiation shielding, reactor materials science, nuclear fuel cycles, reactor water chemistry, nuclear material safeguards, finite element analysis, structural vibrations, machinery vibrations, HVAC design, combustion, explosions, and structural analysis.

He has also extensively studied nuclear reactor physics, nuclear reactor thermal/fluid modeling, and nuclear reactor fuel design through Oak Ridge National Laboratories, the University of Illinois, the University of Barcelona, and the U.S. NRC; 12 corrosion courses through the Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP/NACE); water treatment classes through the American Water Works Association; 7 combustion courses through the Combustion Institute at Princeton University and CERFACS; 20 Fluent and Ansys computer modeling courses; plus International Nuclear Law at the University of Singapore and International Radiological Protection at Stockholm University in Sweden through the OECD, Nuclear Energy Agency.

He also completed two years of full-time training at the DOE, Savannah River Site to understand infrastructure, diesel engines, pumps, compressors, fans, heat exchangers, evaporators, steam systems, air and nitrogen systems, mixing, instrumentation, calibrations, machinery design, fire protection systems, safety analysis, emergency response, radiation worker, electrical worker, first aid, explosion risks, plus 17 ASME courses on pressure vessel design, inspection, and piping design. At SRS, he also studied nuclear industry processes, which included chemistry, radiochemistry, and physics for nuclear waste disposal and nuclear fuel reprocessing. He was also trained for 6 weeks at SRS as an HVAC, electrical, and electronics systems mechanic.

Prior to his academic education, Bob Leishear earned his indenture papers through a four-year sheet metal apprenticeship, and he attended six months of training to learn to weld, build steel plate construction, and cut steel with an acetylene torch.