'Boil-water' order issued for nearly 2 million in Mass.

[ensho]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/05/catastrophic_le.html


A major pipe bringing water to the Boston area has sprung a "catastrophic" leak and is dumping eight million gallons of water per hour into the Charles River. Governor Deval Patrick declared a state of emergency and issued a "boil-water" order for Boston and dozens of other communities.

"The water is not suitable for drinking. ... All residents in impacted communities should boil drinking water before consuming it," he said at a news conference this afternoon.

Patrick said the state had asked bottled water companies to make more water available in the state and emergency drinking water supplies could also be made available to the affected communities through the National Guard.

"I ask everyone to check in on elderly or vulnerable neighbors," he said, and he asked people to avoid "unnecessary use of water, such as washing cars and lawnwatering."

-snip-

"That is a catastrophic break and we are currently activating the reserves," said MWRA spokeswoman Ria Convery. MWRA officials said nearly two million people would be affected in 30 cities and towns.

-snip-

A far older aqueduct built in the 1940s – the Hultman - that carried water on the last leg of its journey to Greater Boston – was so riddled with leaks MWRA officials built the MetroWest Tunnel seven years ago. The Hultman was then shut off to repair the leaks and a series of connector pipes were built – much like the one that failed – to ensure clean water gets to the City Tunnel and then to faucets. Now, Laskey said, "we thought we could rely on this connector during that rehabilitation. It is Murphy’s Law."

The City Tunnel carries an average of nearly 179 million gallons per day towards the city, officials said.
-snip-
------------------------------


well, they have warned us over and over again that things like this will happen somewhere, daily in the US because our infrastructure is old and in desperate need of repair.

all we can do is watch.

[phantom power]

1. repairing stuff like this would make a great economic stim--

oh, never mind.

[virgogal]

2. The new section is the one that malfunctioned.