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Don't drink the water in Boston without boiling it first.

boston.com

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Re: Don't drink the water in Boston without boiling it first.

#41

Post by benatlas »

I heard about this before everyone else. I was walking around Cleveland Circe Reservoir and saw someone taking measurement of the water quality. This reservoir wasn't used for water for decades and now will be a backup source and a conduit (I wonder if the two geese having a nest in the middle will be swept away with the chicks, boil it!). It was about 11 am (they announced this at 3.50pm). I asked them why are they working on Saturday and they told me about the break in Weston. I went straight to the Supermarket and loaded up for the family. In the checkout they though I was crazy, getting all the water.

An just so you know the water in the Cleveland Reservoir is pretty clean but people wash their dogs there, feed the geese, etc.

Re: Don't drink the water in Boston without boiling it first.

#42

Post by CamperBob »

asmithmd1 wrote: post #35
davi wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At first I thought you were going to write about decrepit infrastructure in the US. That's probably more worth ranting about.

The pipe was only 6 or 7 years old: http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/23337764/detail.html It's more apt to rant about corruption in construction contracts in Boston union jobs

That document is one of the more ridiculous things I've read today, and that's saying something.

If you get any significant proportion of your mineral intake from your drinking water, you have bigger problems than water.

Re: Don't drink the water in Boston without boiling it first.

#43

Post by jackowayed »

ericb wrote: post #34

I was in a Watertown MA supermarket at about 5 when my mother, who lives an hour away, called to tell me she saw this on TV and Watertown was affected. I went to the bottled water aisle to get water for my family. It was mostly large packs of bottles. I managed to get 15 gallons in big jugs by going in the direction I saw a guy with jugs come from. They wheeled a cart with water out, and people were pulling it in box…

So there's already going to be a major shortage, so they discount to further aggravate the problem?

Now, it's not really a major thing to consider since water is so cheap already that almost no one is thinking about the cost when filling their cart with ~$1 gallons of water. They were going to sell out in basically the same amount of time regardless, and this way buys the store good will ("thank you Shaws!", for example).

And I agree with your moral rationalization of you hording as much as you can get (within reason), adding in the fact that if you realize it's more than you need, you can always share it with friends/neighbors.

Re: Don't drink the water in Boston without boiling it first.

#45

Post by carbocation »

nabeelo wrote: post #44

Another +! for Cambridge, only area in the region not effected.

That may be true, but perhaps not? The Broad (in Kendall Square) just sent out this email: Dear Colleagues, As many of you may be aware, there has been a catastrophic leak in the water supply serving Greater Boston, and at present is dumping approximately 8 million gallons of water per hour into the Charles River.

Governor Deval Patrick has declared a State of Emergency, and has issued a "boil water" order for some 30 cities and towns. Even though the City of Cambridge maintains its own water supply, there are cross-connects, and as such you should not consume any of the water, including the coffee, at any of the Broad's facilities until further notice.

Re: Don't drink the water in Boston without boiling it first.

#47

Post by Psyonic »

sketerpot wrote: post #26
sgman wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Boil it then put it in the refrigerator?

There are machines in Taiwan that do exactly this. It's very convenient, because you can get really hot water for tea just by pushing the right button, or cold water if you press another button.

These machines definitely exist in the US as well. My work has one. It doesn't pre-boil the water, but it does keep a cool and hot section. If you just loaded it with boiled water to begin with, you'd be set.

Re: Don't drink the water in Boston without boiling it first.

#49

Post by jcdreads »

jackowayed wrote: post #43
ericb wrote: post #34

I was in a Watertown MA supermarket at about 5 when my mother, who lives an hour away, called to tell me she saw this on TV and Watertown was affected. I went to the bottled water aisle to get water for my family. It was mostly large packs of bottles. I managed to get 15 gallons in big jugs by going in the direction I saw a guy with jugs come from. They wheeled a cart with water out, and people were pulling it in box…

So there's already going to be a major shortage, so they discount to further aggravate the problem? Now, it's not really a major thing to consider since water is so cheap already that almost no one is thinking about the cost when filling their cart with ~$1 gallons of water. They were going to sell out in basically the same amount of time regardless, and this way buys the store good will ("thank you Shaws!", for exam…

At least Shaw's didn't multiply the price by ten. Sounds like the manager at Shaw's cleverly identified getting rid of all of his (probably profitless) bottled water as fast as possible (and posting a sign outside saying they're out) as the best way to prevent clogging the store with the hoarding hordes.

Re: Don't drink the water in Boston without boiling it first.

#50

Post by jackowayed »

jcdreads wrote: post #49
jackowayed wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So there's already going to be a major shortage, so they discount to further aggravate the problem? Now, it's not really a major thing to consider since water is so cheap already that almost no one is thinking about the cost when filling their cart with ~$1 gallons of water. They were going to sell out in basically the same amount of time regardless, and this way buys the store good will ("thank you Shaws!", for exam…

At least Shaw's didn't multiply the price by ten. Sounds like the manager at Shaw's cleverly identified getting rid of all of his (probably profitless) bottled water as fast as possible (and posting a sign outside saying they're out) as the best way to prevent clogging the store with the hoarding hordes.

If there weren't laws against price gouging, I'm sure they would have strongly considered multiplying the price by 10.
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