Thunderstorms rolled through DeKalb County last night. Trees fell on houses, lightning zapped various locations. . . and today big chunks of DeKalb County, aka the east side of Atlanta, have no safe drinking water. One lightning strike, and water purification is shot to hell for hundreds of thousands of people for . . . who knows? Apparently the indefinite future. The county still has the advisory up on its website. Cynic that I am, I can't help but think that if a simple thunderstorm manages to wipe out the water supply, just imagine what a determined evil-doer could achieve -- Tommy Thompson, never one of my favorite politicians, actually worried about stuff like the vulnerability of food and water supplies back during his brief tenure as Secretary for Health and Human Services. Guess he spent too much time worrying about stuff we could actually fix, though, and not enough time stroking egos in Washington, because he was in and out of the Bush administration pretty quickly.
In any case, Large Nameless Agency promised earlier today to bring in bottled water so we hard-working government employees won't have to worry about dehydration. Given that most of the bottled water around here also comes from the Chattahoochee, I'm not sure passing out bottles of Dasani is the ideal solution. (Not that any had appeared by the time I left work this afternoon; they'll probably delegate the task to FEMA and the water will end up shipped to Iowa.)
I'm anticipating an abnormally number of people calling in "sick" on Friday. After all, an intestinal bug sneaking through from the Chat is going to take a day or two to make itself known -- but when it does, I'm sure the enteric disease experts I work with will have all the symptoms nailed.
If I wasn't so thirsty I'd do a longer rant about poor engineering and failing infrastructure, but instead I think I'll just wander across the street and see just what kind of beer the Citgo sells.
let me know ...I can always start sending you a shipment of dublin dr pepper...it's $6 for a 6pk of 8oz bottles..
ReplyDeletehow the hell did something like that happen?...jeez..i don't drink water..fish fuck in it..
Being an Atlanta native, I've watched overdevelopment tax the region to the breaking point, and ass-kissing politicians sell out the public's best interests in exchange for underhanded dealings with the avaricious carpetbagger developers who pad their campaign coffers.
ReplyDelete22 years ago they had the gleam of greed in their eyes and referred to ATL as LA of the south. Lawyers in CA have made literal fortunes fighting over water rights with neighboring states. It's looking like LA indeed -- but without the diversity, creativity, or the beaches.
It could be worse I suppose -- at least they're not yet recycling sewage into drinking water like St. Pete, et al. Nothing like drinking water filled with small molecule pharmaceuticals which are not removed by RO treatment. Even the fish and mussels in the Chattahoochee are on Prozac and Ritalin.
Let me know if this goes on and I'll make an exception to my Not One Drop stand.
ReplyDeleteaka the east side of Atlanta, have no safe drinking water.
ReplyDeleteWell, this wise old country hick always keeps a few hundred gallons of water on hand, and enough food for a few months cuz you never know what may come down on you.
Don't you think it is sort of silly to expect the infrastructure to always be there? Shit can happen, it's up to you to be prepared for it.
I can lose electrical power and the water supply for two months, even gasoline, and I'll still get by just fine.
The bottom line is..... Never depend on others to supply your needs, they are your responsibility.
Fish fuck in it, that's pretty frigging funny even if that fat ass Texan doesn't like me.
I was at Katrina. Some of the bottled water distributed by Incompetent Federal Agency In Charge turned green and fuzzy (on the inside of the bottle) when exposed to sunlight. If not exposed to sunlight, it just turned grey. I hope IFAIC doesn't deliver water for you.
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