Unusual Leak in Sperry Sprinkler System

This is one for the ages. This particular water line supplies sprinkler heads in a 21-year-old part of our landscape. Sometime after the line went in I changed the grade slightly. Now, two decades later, a leak has developed. The cause wasn’t evident until we dug down to the pipe. An old piece of edging had been put squarely above this pipe. Until the old, rusty metal was removed a couple of weeks ago the stake had apparently completely filled the hole it caused. The pipe was only filled with water when the sprinklers were running so the problem was extremely slow to become evident. It just goes to show you that you have to stay on top of sprinkler systems. They are moving targets that always need tweaking.