Pinhole leaks in pipes causing water woes for Plainview residents

PLAINVIEW, Long Island (WABC) -- A Long Island neighborhood is dealing with a disastrous slow drip, involving leaky pipes, damaged homes, and thousands of dollars in repairs.

But what's causing the water woes is a tougher question.

There's been a lot of repair work going on in Plainview lately.

"There were leaks in the kitchen, there were leaks in the basement and now these the new ones are in the crawl space," said Plainview resident Melissa Blezow-Yulet.

They're coming from pinhole leaks, particularly in people's hot water copper pipes, forcing homeowners to spend thousands of dollars putting in new piping, removing ceilings and in some cases entire walls because of water damage.

"My neighbor next door just had a pinhole so she had to have that fixed, my neighbor across the street is just starting now to get the pinholes," one resident said.

We spoke with at least a dozen homeowners all over Plainview who say they've been experiencing this problem over the past few weeks.

"Something is going on, so many people are having this issue and it causes so much damage," said resident Jennie Riegler.

"Pinholes are a nationwide problem, it falls a lot to aging infrastructure," said James Neri of H2M Architects & Engineers.

Neri is the consulting engineer for the Plainview Water District.

He says there are a variety of things which cause pinholes including improper electrical grounding.

And also copper pipes - he says - simply don't last forever.

"These homes are getting to that age when things need to be repaired. A lot of people do their bathrooms, their decks, their kitchens. But who goes in and replaces all their pipes?," said Neri.