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So I'm under a boil water order

maflynn

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
Original poster
May 3, 2009
74,658
44,980
a massive water main break here in Massachusetts has caused the water supply for a large number of communities to be contaminated and we need to boil water. Including the city of boston.

My local dunkin donuts wasn't selling coffee because of the water situation, and bottled water in super markets have all but disappeared. I keep a couple of those large poland spring water jugs in the cellar for emergencies so I'm ok, but what a pain.

I made my own coffee today, but there will be a lot of crumpy people tomorrow if no one is selling coffee in boston.

The reason the water is contaminated is because they're pulling water in from emergency backup areas that aren't meant for this since, this the main that burst is one of the major aqueducts for the city and neighboring communities.
 
I've got this image of people crumping all over boston :D!


But that does suck. Things like this always illustrate how much we take necessities like water for granted and how fragile the supply actually is. It's like the major droughts here in australia. When the water supply gets down to 30% capacity for major cities it's really worrying. Good luck.
 
Happened here a decade ago. Water was infected with cryptosporidium. Only affected half of the city, one water treatment plant. I live in the other half, so didn't get the "crumps".
 
.Andy said:
Incidentally if you don't boil your water and get giardia you'll also have the crumps...
Click to expand...

And this is a fact that has always stumped me ... (non-North American readers, pardon the US-centric observation) ... we crossed the wilderness drinking "raw" water, how did we lose the ability to fend off giardia in just a few generations? Have we evolved into a bunch of wussies?

mt
 
maflynn said:
a massive water main break here in Massachusetts has caused the water supply for a large number of communities to be contaminated and we need to boil water. Including the city of boston.

My local dunkin donuts wasn't selling coffee because of the water situation, and bottled water in super markets have all but disappeared. I keep a couple of those large poland spring water jugs in the cellar for emergencies so I'm ok, but what a pain.

I made my own coffee today, but there will be a lot of crumpy people tomorrow if no one is selling coffee in boston.

The reason the water is contaminated is because they're pulling water in from emergency backup areas that aren't meant for this since, this the main that burst is one of the major aqueducts for the city and neighboring communities.
Click to expand...

My Daughter goes to Tufts (graduates in 3 weeks!) over in Medford. She's under the same ban as you are. We bought her a couple of gallons of water today. Here in little Millis I have my own well in my backyard so I've got my own little water company here. If you head outside of the ban area, you should be able to find plenty of bottled water.
 
mysterytramp said:
And this is a fact that has always stumped me ... (non-North American readers, pardon the US-centric observation) ... we crossed the wilderness drinking "raw" water, how did we lose the ability to fend off giardia in just a few generations? Have we evolved into a bunch of wussies?

mt
Click to expand...
More people died of dysentery and similar diseases then. Didn't you play The Oregon Trail?

And how do you know it isn't giardia that stepped up its game?
 
maflynn said:
a massive water main break here in Massachusetts has caused the water supply for a large number of communities to be contaminated and we need to boil water. Including the city of boston.

My local dunkin donuts wasn't selling coffee because of the water situation, and bottled water in super markets have all but disappeared. I keep a couple of those large poland spring water jugs in the cellar for emergencies so I'm ok, but what a pain.

I made my own coffee today, but there will be a lot of crumpy people tomorrow if no one is selling coffee in boston.

The reason the water is contaminated is because they're pulling water in from emergency backup areas that aren't meant for this since, this the main that burst is one of the major aqueducts for the city and neighboring communities.
Click to expand...

Amazing that such a failure can occur in a seven year old tunnel. Can't wait to hear the reason why.. Being that it was in the upper 80's this weekend as well,hasn't helped either. Hopefully they'll crack down on retailers price gouging the bottled water..A lot of businesses (restaurants,DD,sub shops etc) lost a lot of money this weekend..
 
xlii said:
If you head outside of the ban area, you should be able to find plenty of bottled water.
Click to expand...
Not really.

I headed to New Hampshire and the local costco had a run on bottled water. I was able to get some, but I could tell within an hour, the place would have been cleaned out.

I have enough now to last my family for a few days which is the expected duration.

juanm said:
You just made me laugh...
Click to expand...
Happy to oblige :D
 
maflynn said:
Not really.

I headed to New Hampshire and the local costco had a run on bottled water. I was able to get some, but I could tell within an hour, the place would have been cleaned out.

Happy to oblige :D
Click to expand...

We went to Stop-n-Shop as soon we as heard the news yesterday, around 4pm. The store was down to about 20% of its bottled water when we arrived and by the time we left they were nearly out. Most people were getting 3-4 cases.

Hopefully it will be fixed tomorrow.
 
I hit the super market within 10 minutes of the news and it was too late.

As I mentioned, I headed up to New Hampshire and was able to score some water. Looks like this ordeal is nearing the end. They've patched the pipe and successfully ran a pressure test on it. So now its waiting game for until we get the go ahead.

I'm working from home, since I can make my own coffee with the spring water I purchased. Talking to my coworkers, they were unable to find any coffee being sold anywhere near the office building in Boston, so working remotely today was a good move - at least for this caffeine addicted soul :D
 
mysterytramp said:
And this is a fact that has always stumped me ... (non-North American readers, pardon the US-centric observation) ... we crossed the wilderness drinking "raw" water, how did we lose the ability to fend off giardia in just a few generations? Have we evolved into a bunch of wussies?

mt
Click to expand...

Civilization...the cure for natural selection.
 
Yesterday I had to get my coffee fix in Cambridge :p

fotografica said:
Hopefully they'll crack down on retailers price gouging the bottled water..A lot of businesses (restaurants,DD,sub shops etc) lost a lot of money this weekend..
Click to expand...

The Shaws near me jacked the prices of water by 25-30 cents, I highly doubt Marcia Croakley will do anything. Several drug store chains in the area were also scrapping their 10 for $10 promo on their 20oz bottles and charging $1.75.

Water where I live(South Boston) is pale brown and smells like pond water... no way in hell I'm boiling that stuff and making the odor worse. At the moment I'll stick to my "emergency pack"(2 week supply of bottled water, lots 'o tea, hardtack, MREs and two bottles of vodka & scotch)

...yesterday I bought the last bottle of Cran-Raspberry and pint of Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia at Shaws! :eek:
(Gatorade & most juices were completely sold out, for ice cream all the good flavours were sold out too)
 
mysterytramp said:
And this is a fact that has always stumped me ... (non-North American readers, pardon the US-centric observation) ... we crossed the wilderness drinking "raw" water, how did we lose the ability to fend off giardia in just a few generations? Have we evolved into a bunch of wussies?

mt
Click to expand...

In a word, no. People then died. All the time. Often because their organs were liquefied and leaking through their rectums. We have developed a lower tolerance for those sorts of things these days.

It was also wilderness, which means fewer people/dogs/cats living in concentrated areas. Giardia, cryptosporidium, and their friends don't just naturally appear in water. It takes fecal contamination. Wildlife can do it, but people are much better at it (and occur at higher densities).
 
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