Would you drink tap water in New Orleans?

[yvr girl]

This woman is on CNN and she said her water is back on - why should they evacuate.

I can't imagine that this water is not contaminated.

[meganmonkey]

1. After boiling it, maybe

if I knew test results.

[etherealtruth]

6. Boling it will kill many/most of the micro organisms ...

but won't do squat for "toxins"-----arghhh, can you imagine ...?

[meganmonkey]

10. Yeah, but where does the water come from?

If it isn't coming from a contaminated source, it should be okay (aside from potential cooties from lack of pressure). If it is coming from Lake Ponchartrain, then no thanks!

[yvr girl]

15. I don't know where they get there drinking water

But the water on top of the ground is going to contaminate any ground water.

[xultar]

2. Are you kidding! I didn't drink it when I lived there.

[babylonsister]

3. Not on a bet. nt

[Captain Hilts]

4. Not even before the storm. (nt)

[Cascadian]

5. It's not water anymore.

It's just a volatile mix of everything smelly, shitty, filthy, chemically. You name it....instant death!



John

[all.of.me]

7. ew. i don't drink tap water anywhere!

[lpbk2713]

8. Definitely Not

All it would take is one leaking or open faucet to act as a syphon while the main supply is off and the flow would reverse. That faucet would suck that putrid water into the pipes and contaminate water for miles around.

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. God, no! People are dying in that water. Oil, sewage, debris... it's all

gonna get into the drinking water at some point.

------------------------------------------------------
Save the Gulf:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=106&topic_id=22507&mesg_id=22507

Then save the nation!
http://timeforachange.bluelemur.com/electionreform.htm

[Ratty]

11. Oh yes.

I've been without water for two and a half days before. Believe me, you will want to put that somewhere near the top of your list of Ways You Do Not Want To Die. After holding out as long as I could I ended up drinking something I never thought I would, and it was the sweetest thing I ever put into my mouth. Conversely, I've been without food for five days and, meh, it's really no big deal.

If these people have no fuel or electricity or gas to boil the water, no clorox, no water purification tablets, they will go out into their front yards and be happy to drink the oily flood waters.

[txaslftist]

12. Well, if you can swallow the Republican version of this mess...

...maybe NOLA tapwater wouldn't hurt you. Otherwise, no.

[GumboYaYa]

13. Hell, I wouldn't drink NO tap water before the storm.

[Mutley]

14. I won't even drink the tap water in Baltimore.

I sure as hell wouldn't drink it in New Orleans!

[moobu2]

16. When I lived there no one that had any sense drank the tap water .

[Garbo 2004]

17. biological, chemical contamination. they're advising people not to even

wash their hands in it, last I saw.

[NYC]

18. Algiers and CBD had separate water systems.

Maybe they are not contaminated. I wouldn't take a chance without knowing for certain. Boiling water will not remove the chemical contaminants.

[tx_dem41]

19. The Algiers system is working....and the city has stated that no...

boiling is necessary.

[NYC]

21. That's excellent news, except that they are evicting the people

from Algiers, as well. (Unless I misunderstood.)

[tx_dem41]

22. That's my understanding as well. n/t

[NYC]

26. Perhaps the rescue workers will be moving into Algiers.

After evicting the residents of Algiers, the rescue workers may move into their homes, and set up shop there. It is possible.

Even if they don't want to drink the water, they'll be able to bathe in it. I wonder if we'll ever know.

[rbnyc]

20. I don't even drink tap water in New York. (nt)

[JohnnyBoots]

23. Would you make out with a Pitbull?.....even

boiled that stuff can't be safe at all.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

24. sure, with a shot and a beer

A shot of broad spectrum anti-biotics
and a beer chaser.

[Fatima]

25. She should absolutely NOT drink her tap water

Boiling will not remove chemicals and many other contaminants, and before anyone can safely drink the water there, the mains have to be flushed and tested repeatedly until the numbers come into spec. I know, I used to do water sampling for a shipyard (amongst my other duties). When a ship pulled in, we had to test the water supply at the pier. We did simple stuff like pH and sent the rest out for bacteria levels.

[Feron]

27. New Orleans tap water comes from the river...

Even before the storm people wouldn't drink it. Now, it can only be worse.

However, she may just want to flush her toilets. In my area, there is a boil order, but we aren't drinking the water even though we never lost pressure. If I lived in New Orleans, then I wouldn't have ridden out the storm or have gone back ,BUT I can understand why a person would stay.

I don't have power, much less cable, so I obviously didn't see the report.

[MojoXN]

28. My God, that's just asking for cholera, or worse...

The city got it's water from the lake or the river, and they're both contaminated with all sorts of nastiness. Mercury poisoning, PCB's, radioactive contaminants, you name it. Even boiling won't get chemical contaminants out. I'd rather drink toilet water than whatever's coming out of the faucet in New Orleans.

MojoXN

[2bfree]

29. No way, no how.

:(

[K-W]

30. Not until its been tested. EOM

[mrbill]

31. wouldn't drink it, but it sure would come in handy for other things.....

Time to get out the garden hose and start blasting the mud and snarf out of the house. Non potable water is fine for some uses.