The other day my wife brought home a tomato plant from the market and tasked me with planting it. Since other plants that I had put in the ground have not thrived, I looked for the section of our yard where the grass was the greenest and reasoned that must have the best soil. It never occurred to me that that section might be greener because there is a water pipe running underneath it with a slow leak.

I live in Sacaba, Bolivia, where building standards are much laxer than in the US, and many people construct their own houses, so they are liable to take shortcuts. I’m from the US, where building codes require water pipes to be buried at least 12 inches underground or 6 inches below the frost line, which in Indiana where I grew up, that means water lines are at least two feet below ground. When I grabbed the mattock to loosen up the ground for planting, I never expected to hit a water pipe 6 inches down. Once I saw the water starting to bubble up under the ground I was digging, however, I knew that I had made a big mistake.