Singin' in the rain

Water keeps cascading into the Big Dig and a state auditor has found virtually no improvement since the state swore to plug the leaks. From the Boston Globe: "Leaks still plague tunnel"

Last month, Michael P. Lewis, the turnpike's director of the $15 billion Big Dig project, released a report saying the amount of water being pumped out of the O'Neill Tunnel had been cut nearly in half from 2003 to 2006.

But a report by the state's consulting engineers to Transportation Secretary Bernard Cohen largely rejects Lewis's reassurance, saying the overall leak volumes went up again in 2007 -- and making it impossible to conclude there has been any progress. The consulting engineers from Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates said that Turnpike officials still need to figure out where the water is coming from and stop it to avoid long-term damage to the tunnel, the centerpiece of the Big Dig system of highway tunnels and ramps.

Adding insult to injury, the state water authority has revoked the Turnpike's permit to pump water through the sewage system because it's 50 times what was originally predicted. Your tax dollars at work.