"Gloucester cleanup measures underway; Water tanks to get chlorine scrubbing" by Brian R. Ballou, Globe Staff | September 1, 2009
GLOUCESTER - .... The need to clear the water supply has taken on even more urgency because thousands of children are scheduled to return to school today. Water fountains have been capped, and bottled water will be made available throughout each school.
Schlichte said that while the coliform may or may not lurk in the three supply tanks, the city’s aging water pipe system may contain the bacteria....ALL THAT TAX LOOT GIVEN AWAY and AL, THOSE TRILLIONS for WARS and BANKS!
Meanwhile, you CAN'T GET a CLEAN GLASS of WATER because of S***TY PIPES!!!!!!!
Health officials have been monitoring area hospitals and pharmacies and have not detected any spike in illnesses that can be attributed to the coliform contamination, said Jack Vondras, director of the Gloucester Health Department....
And don't worry; if they do, they will call it swine flu!
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Trying to pinpoint the source of coliform bacteria that has forced city residents to boil their tap water for about two weeks, officials announced yesterday that new measures are underway to decontaminate the three massive tanks that feed the city’s contaminated system.
The tanks, at the Babson Plant on Poplar Street, will be drained of water and sludge and will get a top-to-bottom chlorine scrub-down. That process, started yesterday, is expected to take about a day. In the meantime, the city has tapped its reserve tanks at Bond Hill, which hold about five days’ worth of water that also must be boiled, said Miles J. Schlichte, Gloucester Fire Department deputy chief.
On or about Aug. 15, a plant operator noticed the water supply was murky and called the federal Environmental Protection Agency. As a result, the plant was shut down for several days. When it was brought back online, coliform was detected throughout the water supply, which triggered the boil order....
Residents have grown tired of having to boil water at every turn of the faucet, and businesses have felt the pinch of lost revenue from customers wary of dining out.
Now IMAGINE BEING PALESTINIAN and NOT EVEN HAVING THAT, 'murkn!
See what I'm sayin'?
“I keep forgetting when I brush my teeth, because it’s just such a hard habit to break,’’ said Debbie Currier, 54, sitting at a downtown bus stop yesterday. “We’re giving our dog spring water,’’ she said, shaking her head from side to side.
No, honey, I'm not in the mood, thanks.
Nearby, Ventura Guzman, 48, said he is “afraid to take a shower, because you can’t really stop the mist from getting into your mouth.’’
Alex Kalas, an employee at the Supreme Roast Beef diner on Main Street, said the boil order has cut into beverage sales and thrown off the staff’s routine. “It makes your day a bit more difficult than normal. Of course, we’re going to obey what the city says, to boil water for five minutes. But when that started, we figured it would last for maybe three or four days. We didn’t expect it to last this long.’’
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