Don't do something right and 44 years later, it will bite you.

A 66" water main that broke in December and sent a river of water down
River Road in Bethesda Maryland, washing cars down the road in two to
three feet of rushing water, ruptured because it was installed against
jagged rock 44 years ago, instead of on a layer of gravel, as it
should have been, according to a consultant's analysis released on May
20.

A four-foot tear was found in the part of the pipe that had been laid
against the rock.

The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission has 5500 miles of water
pipes and serves 1.8 million people in Montgomery and Prince George's
Counties.

Paraphrased from the Washington Post, May 21, page B1.