PUT IT IN WRITING

For years, it has been a practice in Cape Girardeau to require developers to dig separate ditches for water lines and electrical wires. The basis for this requirement was based on safety. Workers who months or years from now might make repairs to those lines wouldn't have to contend with one or the other when digging down to reach trouble spots.

However, the city has never incorporated such a requirement into any of its building codes or ordinances. So when the developer of Lynwood Hills Estates subdivision received a letter from the city saying he couldn't put water and electric lines in the same ditch as planned, the opportunity arose to clarify the situation.

There are those in the construction and utility industries who maintain burying both lines in the same ditch isn't that much of a problem. The city has relented in this particular case.

But the question ought to be clarified and resolved. The city should decide whether or not it wants to allow water and electric lines in the same ditch, and then it should take appropriate action to codify that decision instead of leaving the matter up in the air.