Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Water water everywhere

But not a drop to drink. A water main broke and as a consequence, most of our county and parts of two others are under a boil advisory. It's a precautionary measure, since there was a pressure drop in the system, but here's what really bugs me.

How am I supposed to find out about these things?

John called (from Denver!) to tell me that the water at his building here in town was low pressure and he'd heard about the break. But it didn't really occur to me that there might be a boil advisory here, because our pressure was fine. So I didn't check the water company website. A friend called after dinner to let us know, and then I called a few more people to spread the word. Even then, someone had checked the company website and didn't see the alert.

Ummm, hello? Wouldn't you think you'd at least want the alert to be, well, noticeable? And why am I relying on the kindness of neighbors to find out this potentially important info? The schools have implemented a robo-call system, why can't the water company? Or let me register my email or phone or something. Anything! This wasn't really serious (IMHO) because a) it's precautionary and b)we don't appear to have a pressure drop on our part of the system, so contamination seems unlikely. But what if I had an immune-impaired person living in my household? It could be serious!

The last time we had a boil advisory, I had the same issue with the water company. The technology exists, and probably isn't even that expensive. Guess I have to write a letter. I wish there was some way to force companies to be ethical, but that's probably unrealistic.

Hey, folks! Do the right thing!

1 comment:

Jill in MA said...

I believe my town has implemented a robo-call system for things they deem important. (We once got a call about an amber alert... and then a call back to say it was resolved.) Perhaps your town government is a place to turn for suggestions about this sort of thing because, after all, it is a matter of public safety.

But I do agree. Companies need to start doing the right thing. It is often those that are most in danger by these sorts of things that are the least likely to find out!