But I knew if I didn't get the drainage right in the garden, many of the plants I wanted to grow would wither and die.
"We really need a couple of days without rain to get any drainage," said Wes Johnson, a spokesman for the city's Department of Public Works and Engineering.
Mohammed Abdul Ali, the school's headmaster, said he had approached local factory owners, as well as Savar officials, trying to get the drainage pipe moved.
"Why would you want a bomb like that sitting north of your city when south of your city you have the biggest petrochemical facilities in the world?" Houston, he said, needs to hurry up and get the drainage system cleaned.
Maybe it's because I've got good drainage.
The Kensico Reservoir, and all of the folks who drink its water, got the drainage from 27 homes diverted to Long Island Sound.
Mr. Ward spent weeks in the hospital, Mr. Hubbell wrote, and wore an expression whose meaning was clear: "If I had done my man-of-the-house duty and gotten the drainage system fixed, he wouldn't be in a back brace".
"There is a huge amount of land, the soils run deep, they are easy to work, easy to clear, they've got good drainage; it's land that lends itself very well to agriculture," said Randall Schnepf, senior economist at the United States Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service.
"But if you spend $500 to fix the plumbing, nobody comes in and says, 'Hey, the toilets flush great' or 'you've got great drainage".' Although some small painting-type projects have been done, Mr. Suozzi said, the work he and his administration have put into economic development in these last two years is almost all about plumbing.
Mr. Restler's strongholds are the gentrifying pockets of Williamsburg and Greenpoint, where he has built a reputation for taking care of constituents' needs: getting the drainage fixed in a dog park, attracting two farmers' markets, saving subway and bus stops.
