Don't drink the water.

[WilliamPitt]

Rainstorm forces MWRA to dump untreated sewage into Quincy Bay
By Shana Wickett, Globe Correspondent, Andrew Ryan, Peter Schworm and John R. Ellement, Globe staff

Heavy rains forced the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority to empty untreated sewage into Quincy Bay for the first time since 2005. The MWRA released the waste shortly after 12:30 p.m. today with its plant on Nut Island in Quincy overflowing. "It's really to save the station," said Ria Convery, a MWRA spokesman. "If it fills up with water we've got bigger troubles."

Convery said the controlled release is mostly water and is permitted under environmental regulations in an emergency. Officials plan to test the water for elevated bacteria levels. The Nut Island plant feeds the larger treatment plant on Deer Island, which has been running at capacity for 48 hours. Each day, the plant had handled 1.3 billion gallons of flow, compared to 360 million on a normal day.

In Boston, Mayor Thomas M. Menino directed the city's emergency-response teams to help deal with the storm that wouldn't go away, as the region grappled with strong winds and persistent rains that have submerged roads, cut power to thousands, and overtaxed sewage systems. Boston authorities were monitoring Dorchester and other areas prone to flooding after more than 10 inches of rain fell in the city in the past three days.

The rest: http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/03/wet_windy_heada.html

Upside: if this had been snow, we'd all be dead.

[Renew Deal]

1. Here are some pictures from my area.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=7920631&mesg_id=7920631

What a mess.

[Blue_Tires]

2. Ice cream, Mandrake...children's ice cream...

[ixion]

3. To spin-off an old Tom Lehrer song:

"If you go to American city, you will find it very pretty. Just one thing you'd best beware: Don't drink the water and dont' breathe the air."

[Echo In Light]

7. And Don't Eat The Yellow Snow!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ws5Xeu3BEQk

[ixion]

9. Hey, it's Dancin' Fool!

One of the Great Ones. :)

[jus_the_facts]

4. Gotten warnings not to drink our water for over 5 years b/c of trihalomethane pollution....

....with no solution is sight....never drink the water. :(

So pour me some brown liquid bartender! :toast: How's the rib? :pals:

[WilliamPitt]

5. Improving

But the building-wide fire alarm is going off right now, so I might have to go swimming outside. :(

[jus_the_facts]

8. If you must swim...then favor the other side while you stroke....

:yoiks:

Our area has also had major flooding for most of this past year...the levee system is a wreck and there is no solution in sight there either as the Army Corps of Engineers doesn't want to maintain it anymore and there are no funds anyway....with spring rains yet to invade.

[Subdivisions]

6. Here's another reason not to drink the water...

Chinese Fluoride In Mass. Water Raises Concern

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/22814488/detail.html#COMMENTTOP

AMESBURY, Mass. -- Fluoride is added to the water most of us drink because the government believes it's a safe and inexpensive way to prevent tooth decay.

However, Team 5 Investigates found the Amesbury Water Department pulled fluoride from its system amid concerns about its supply from China.

Department of Public Works Director Rob Desmarais said after he mixes the white powder with water, 40 percent of it will not dissolve.

"I don't know what it is," Desmarais said. "It's not soluble, and it doesn't appear to be sodium fluoride. So we are not quite sure what it is."

...snip...

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/22814488/detail.html#COMMENTTOP