There's Somethin' In the Water

Last week on Friday, our town was placed on a boil order due to water samples coming back positive for E coli. We boiled water, bought some ice, bought a few gallons of water, and didn't wash a lot of dishes. You could still use your dishwasher—we put ours on sani-rinse for extra coverage—but if you washed your dishes by hand you had to then immerse them in a tub of water-bleach mixture. I don't have a tub large enough for pots and pans, neither do I have a ton of space to keep the tub and then lay out all of these drying dishes. So yeah... we used our dishwasher mostly.

I would say that the presence of E coli shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. Our city has had coliforms present in the water off and on for the past year. Coliforms are not harmful, but they are an indicator that there may be a bigger problem/worse bacteria in the water. That's, at least, what the city told us in our water bills because they are required to let us know. However, after looking into the issue a lot and talking to my doctor on Tuesday, they're not quite as harmless as made to sound. Coliforms show up easily in a water test, because sometimes there is bacteria there that is so small it is hard to get a good reading on it. My doctor also brought up the potential problem of inhaling the microscopic water droplets produced when you turn on a faucet, which is pretty unavoidable too, as I am not going to take a bath all the time or quit turning on taps. 

So the city chlorinated the system over the weekend, the tests came back negative, and our boil order was lifted yesterday, Wednesday. Woo hoo!

Then I read an article in the newspaper about the city's plans to NOT chlorinate the water henceforth. The city administrator said "We think we have quality water", and that it wasn't a matter of cost, but they basically didn't feel they had a problem. He conceded, though, that the EPA and Dept. of Natural Resources might not agree with that, and that the DNR could force them to do it if they felt they need to. Now, let's recap: we had one positive test for E coli that caused the boil order, and 5 out of the last 12 months of tests coming back failing due to coliforms in the water. That works out to be just over a 40% failure rate. I'm sorry, but that does not sound like "quality water" to me. We were placed on the DNR's "chronic violators" list because of it, too.

I was furious after I read this article. Prioritizing the taste of the water over making it healthy and safe to drink is absurd. If it truly wasn't a matter of costs, then not doing it because you just don't want to is flat out stupid. I would much rather, 1000% times over, have chlorinated water and know without a doubt that my water is safe and healthy to drink than have to sacrifice a little bit of taste with the chlorine. (Chlorine kills bacteria in the water, and that's why many municipalities use it. There are other ways to disinfect a water system, but they cost more, so chlorine is the most common.)

I have never gotten involved in politics, but after reading that the city was refusing to consider disinfecting their water, I started drafting a letter to the editor, letters to our city councilmen, and a letter to the DNR, and looked up when the next city council meeting was in case I wanted to attend. I was serious about this. I'm just thinking if I ever get more sick than I am now, or whenever I receive a transplant down the road, I want the peace of mind to know my water isn't going to potentially kill me.

For one, when we were notified about the coliforms in the water, it was after the fact. Or maybe during. Or who knows. All we were told was that a test failed somewhere in the city at some point in the last 30 days. I think that's pretty standard protocol, but it's not very informative when you really think about it. They also never specified if they found coliforms, total coliforms, or fecal coliforms, all of which are different. Some coliforms come from poop, some coliforms come from the earth (but so does pseudomonas (it's in the soil) and that's pretty much my enemy number one these days.)

Second, the city received the boil order notice last Thursday evening, yet didn't notify citizens of it until Friday around 10am. They have obviously received a lot of heat about that one.

Furthermore, I have lived in places with chlorinated water and I honestly didn't think it was bad. Yes, we've all drank water that tasted a lot like chlorine, but it sounds like once you strike the proper balance and have the right amount in the water it won't affect it that much. Wentzville and Maryville University had chlorinated water and I barely noticed. And if it bothers you that much, well that's what Brita pitchers are for.

Then today, the DNR gave a mandate ordering the city of Washington to chlorinate the water. I was so happy when I read it. Based on the comments on Facebook I received during work, most people were against it and unhappy about it, but there were some who felt like I did in that it is better to have to put up with the chlorine than have bacteria in it. If the city wasn't going to do it, I'm happy to see that the DNR made it happen.