Any indication as to when your water is going to be potable again?
sorry mods, i could not resist.
Please use thread titles that give some hint of the subject of the thread. Thread title edited.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Does anyone know whether:
- The toxicity test has been used for decades and this was the first time it was measured as toxic or
- The toxicity test has just been used in the last few years?
[Apparently there were major algae blooms in Lake Erie in the 1970s–I wonder if it was actually toxic then?]
I’m not in the affected area, but I’m able to receive Toledo TV, and switched it on yesterday morning. The mayor said in his news conference then that the current testing procedures have been in use for 8 years.
The water has been deemed clean (enough) now. I heard that there was no more water to be had on any store shelves at the end of the ban.
Toledoan checking in.
They are saying it’s safe to drink now (as of Monday morning) but they’re also saying it could happen again: http://www.13abc.com/story/26195830/city-official-water-crisis-could-happen-again
As for availability of water during/after the ban, it is true that bottled water sold out in town and in the surrounding areas very quickly. The original announcement was at about 2 am Saturday morning, and as early as 6 am some stores were sold out, and people were lining up at other stores before they opened to get water. In the early announcements in the morning they were actually saying to not even TOUCH the water (that changed later) – that did NOT help with the level of panic. People were buying carloads of cases at a time and then other folks were left with none. Some places had to put limits on the number of cases you could buy, and there was definitely some price gouging going on. Police were needed some places regarding “disruptions” over water. I was sure glad I keep a small pack of bottled water on hand in case of emergencies, not to mention we had plenty of pop (that’s the proper term for soda around here) so I didn’t have to deal with any of that firsthand.
However, by later in the day Saturday there were multiple stations where you could get water brought in by the National Guard and Red Cross. Neighboring towns not affected also had places where you could fill up if you brought your own container. I heard some stories about people with well water allowing folks to fill up at their homes or even one guy who hoarded water for emergencies giving away most of his supply; it was good to hear stories like those as opposed to all the ones about people being greedy selfish assholes. By the end of the day there were few if any people who couldn’t get clean water to drink.
Officials also asked for shipments of water to be diverted to local stores. Sunday evening I went to a local Meijer (think Wal-mart but sucks less) and they had stacks and stacks of water up and down the main “big horseshoe” aisles plus huge piles by both entrances. I heard one of the employees say they had so much they didn’t even have room for all of it on the floor. I was actually kind of impressed how well they managed to get supplies in so quickly.
Luckily there were no confirmed reports of people getting sick, I heard many anecdotes of folks who had their coffee in the morning or whatever before hearing about the ban and did not get sick, although of course many others who said “oh, now I know why I’ve been feeling sick/got this rash” but nothing was officially attributed to the water at any of the hospitals, etc. Some are questioning if it really was as dangerous as they were saying, or if it was more of an abundance of caution/just in case kind of thing. In any case, hopefully the incident will bring needed attention to environmental / pollution concerns regarding Lake Erie.
At least some folks managed to have a sense of humor about the whole thing. Toledo is known as “The Glass City” and the hashtag that caught on for the incident was #EmptyGlassCity. I lol’ed.