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[Igel]

16. Yup.

I imagine buried power lines in my friend Robert's neighborhood.

Water table, just about at ground level. Everything underground has to be waterproofed really well--all the transformers, for instance.

They can dig up the road or the sidewalks, or rip through all the landscaping, driveways, and sidewalks. Sure, they could bore under them--if you knew where the water, sewer, and irrigation lines were. Sometimes a couple of generations of them.

Either way, nasty. And expensive. And unnecessary.

One problem with making such problems national is parochial thinking--what works in one area doesn't work in another. It's one argument for decentralization, where local solutions to local problems can be implemented. If it's expensive in one area to find the optimal solution, so be it: It's expensive in that area.