When Alex and I went to Millvale this past weekend, we saw a “real gem” of an infrastructure: an *analog* gas pressure logger! Seeing this system still in use made me realize that one of two things is true.

One, the gas distribution system, at least in Pittsburgh, is antiquated. There seems to be no, or very little, central logging or telemetry data collection infrastructure for the gas distribution network. The system would be slow to respond to an abnormality, as people would have to drive around and collect these paper discs to get a full picture of the system and isolate the problem. The electrical grid, on the other hand, seems much more modern and centrally monitored and controlled.

Or, possibility two: infrastructure’s modernization is place-contextual. That is, infrastructure is newer in newer neighborhoods (obvious), but more interestingly, maybe older neighborhood’s infrastructure is not *updated* as newer technology is released. Maybe infrastructure “decays” or ages along with the neighborhood. Pipes would, of course, but maybe above-ground things (control systems, for instance) do the same. If this is true, it seems like an awfully big burden on the system operators, as they would then have to support a multitude of different systems that report data in different ways. But then again, why upgrade a system if you don’t have to?

One really interesting example of this is the cable TV network. In Larimer, a disadvantaged neighborhood in Pittsburgh, the water mains suck. We saw a few leaky ones in our informal walks through the neighborhood. The neighborhood does have, however, a modern (hybrid fiber-coax) cable TV network. Interesting.

Back to the gas, I’m guessing the real reason is the first. Equitable Gas (or Equitable Resources as they now want to be called) invested a lot of capital in fixing the underground gas pipelines in Pittsburgh–I’m guessing they’re just pushing investment of control/telemetry systems off as long as they can. Gotta’ please those investors!