MWRA asks all communities in Greater Boston to stop using water

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

Due to a major leak in an aqueduct MWRA is telling us not to use water and to boil anything we do use.

See here for details:
http://www.mwra.com/updates/leak.html

Comments

[mzrowan.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting this!

[countlibras.livejournal.com]

... and I was in the middle of drinking tap water when I saw this. >_<

[forever-dreams.livejournal.com]

If you want, you can come over and we can have a tap water party! Cambridge is so ok since we get our water from somewhere else.

[eustaciavye.livejournal.com]

added to to do list: buy gallon jugs of water.

At least its safe for bathing.

All gone...

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

..

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

was just going to post this as well.... strange that cambridge is its own little island that isn't effected.

[ron_newman]

Cambridge has its own reservoirs and water system, out in Waltham and Lincoln, totally separate from MWRA.

[vibrantabyss.livejournal.com]

Thank you for that! Word spread as I could. Odd that Cambridge is not on the list, even tho they seem surrounded by affected towns. Where do they get water from?

[tober.livejournal.com]

I think Cambridge may be able to get water from the MWRA, but normally it gets its water from Fresh Pond and another reservoir which belongs to Cambridge but is located in Waltham and whose name escapes me at the moment.

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting this!

[ursamajor]

Hmm, that notice seems to specifically exclude Cambridge. At first, I thought it was just a mistake, but apparently Cambridge only uses MWRA water as a backup?

Edit: tober answered my question :)

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

That's right. See here:
http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/news/x1406499603/Cambridge-not-affected-by-major-water-main-break

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

I hope it's not too contaminated, because I've been drinking tap water all day.

[readsalot.livejournal.com]

I think it's more that the water we're getting hasn't been treated or tested, so they don't know what's in it, and would rather we didn't take chances. Says another person who's been drinking tap water all day.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

It's that they're using a backup system which includes reservoirs (like the Chestnut Hill Reservoir) and aqueducts (like the Sudbury Aqueduct) that used to be in regular use for transporting drinking water but are now too contaminated by local runoff or too poorly maintained (read: porous) to be considered "safe for drinking." My guess is that as long as it's not raining (meaning that combined sewer overflows are not in use), the water is *probably* mostly free of harmful bacteria, although those systems have been out of regular use for decades so I wouldn't trust them.

[m-b-w.livejournal.com]

When will the City of Somerville make a robo-call?

[m-b-w.livejournal.com]

just got it!

[enhf94.livejournal.com]

They're going out now, and I heard it first on Som'l's CTY text messages. Kudos, Jackie.

[ron_newman]

I came home to one at 5:59 tonight.

[notnatalie.livejournal.com]

Just for those who may be wondering, Brita and similar charcoal type filters don't help. Still gotta boil it.

[turil.livejournal.com]

What don't they help with? Most water from "the wild" is just filtered with charcoal filters, I believe. You know for camping and such.

[ron_newman]

Pemberton Market (the one that sells liquor) is also out of gallon jugs. They still have plenty of smaller bottles, so I bought two liters of Poland Spring fizzy water.

[agharta75.livejournal.com]

All the supermarkets in Arlington are out of non-flavored water. Flavored is going fast.

distilled water - ?

[dahdahdahdancer.livejournal.com]

Is it okay to drink distilled water intended for small appliances? (I have a few unopened gallons - for my humidifier.)

Re: distilled water - ?

[agharta75.livejournal.com]

Should be fine - it's 100% water, after all.