Fiber in water pipes is not likely to be popular

Everything new is old again. A company called Aqualinq is proposing to run fiber cable through water pipes. It is not really a new idea.

The idea of putting fiber in sewer pipes is at least fifteen years old. I talked to numerous public works people then, and they were emphatic that they would not allow it. It was used in some cities in Europe successfully because they had older, larger sewer systems where the fiber could be attached to the ceiling well above normal sewer flows. It never caught on in the U.S.

There may be some limited applications for putting fiber in water systems. The article mentions getting under railroad crossings, crossing highways, and crossing creeks and rivers. These are usually more expensive when doing traditional underground or aerial fiber, so if there is a water pipe in the right place, that could save money. But this is not going to "unlock the flood gates for faster fiber deployment."