14 DAY TRIAL // Should you ever find yourself in a social situation where conversation is pretty much lagging, here's one topic you can bring up to get people talking: some 80% of pipeline spills are discovered not by state-of-the-art detection equipment, but by average Joes and Janes.
Think Progress tells us that, according to a recent investigation, leak-detection software, special alarms and 24/7 control room monitoring more often than not fail to pick up on the fact that something is off with a given pipeline in charge of transporting oil from one region to another.
Thus, after looking at data provided by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration in the Unites States, specialists discovered that, out of 251 spills documented throughout the course of 4 years, most were discovered and reported by ordinary folks.
More precisely, it appears that people living close to the pipeline and company workers are about 3 times more likely to discover a spill than state-of-the-art equipment currently in use is.
As environmentalists would like to point out, this proves that transporting oil by pipeline is not in the least a very good idea.
The good news is that, should companies agree to invest in better detection systems, their spill detection rates are very likely to increase.