Osaka City Waterworks Bureau
Have you seen the price of gold recently?
In the Japanese city of Osaka, one man obviously did, and decided to cash in for the sake of his community.
The mayor and his staff were staggered when they discovered an anonymous resident had presented 21 kilograms of gold bars to the city as a contribution to fix Osaka’s dilapidated municipal water piping.
Built in the post-war economic boom, some 160 miles of municipal water pipes need replacing, and the total investment to do so is far more than the gold. But such high quality investment capital being turned over by a private citizen left the honor-conscious Japanese in the city’s government humbled.
“It’s a staggering amount and I was speechless,” Mayor Hideyuki Yokoyama said. “Tackling ageing water pipes requires a huge investment, and I cannot thank enough for the donation.”
In a statement, Yokoyama’s office said they will strictly honor the donor’s wishes that his capital go to replacing water pipes.
CIVIC-MINDEDNESS:
At current rates, the 21 kilos of gold will fetch some 560 million Japanese yen, enough to replace 1.2 miles of pipes.
The third-largest city in Japan, Osaka recorded some 92 cases of pipe leakages, some of which made their presence known by sinkholes appearing along the city’s roadway.
The Guardian’s report on the event said that Osaka’s municipal water system was built even earlier than other cities, and is now aging out that much sooner.
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