[kodah]

Yeah, you'll find lots of surprising stuff if you care to look. For instance, when I took NASSCO certification I was exposed to the sewers that are made of brick in San Antonio. Pipes made of redwood are new to me but not that surprising.

Secondarily, don't be too suspect of the city not knowing where in-ground infrastructure is. This business is tricky. You have to take calibrated GPS land markers out (that are hopefully properly calibrated) and document things like depth. Often it's contractors doing it rather than the actual city workers, and they're usually paid on a per inspection basis (but this can vary). Much of this was drawn on really huge maps that went into equally huge books back in the day, now of course ESRI is used for everything but much of that was lift and shift in most cities that I'm aware of, so data should be trusted but verified.