Day 8

I heard “nothing” on the national news this evening about the water situation here in the valley. Despite that, the water is still unsafe to drink in a few areas, and the “all clear” has been rescinded in the outlying areas of several distant towns. I fear this disaster will be forgotten quickly by the news media.

Nursing or pregnant mothers are advised NOT to drink the water, and several towns are under a “boil the water” advisory. Flushing the chemicals from 600 miles of water pipes has been a very slow process. Many towns are still passing out bottled water because the faint smell of “licorice” is still apparent in their water. Marilyn and I are using the tap water for washing clothes, and washing dishes; but we’re still NOT drinking it because of the faint lingering odor still oozing from our faucets.

There’s been 50 million plastic bottles of water distributed in this area now and we plan to drink “only” bottled water for at least another week.

This issue has NOT been resolved as far as I’m concerned. When I can comfortably drink from the faucet again, and only then, will I feel things have returned to normal.

The company responsible for the coal washing chemical leak declared bankruptcy today.

Tomorrow a friend and I will drive to the city of Ravenswood to visit a radio friend who is a great CW operator. He has several different “keys” in his shack. I’m looking forward to the change of environments, fresh air, and clean water.

John Smithson, Jr., N8ZYA, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from West Virginia, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

3 Responses to “Day 8”

  • Craig N7LB:

    Glad to hear that things are finally starting to return to normal, John. My wife Danette went to High School in Ravenswood before we met in Morgantown at WVU.

    As far as the media, your Governor is a Democrat, the President is a Democrat, and FEMA reports to him, so as long as they “appear” to be concerned all is well with the national media.

    Now if your Governor was a Republican, the national news media would be camped out all along the river banks giving us hourly updates on the tragedy in WV. We’d see NBC news journalists hunting down elderly folks to ask them when they last bathed or had a drink of clean water, etc., etc.

    I’ve seen more news coverage on the NJ bridge lane closure story during the past two days than I’ve seen on 300,000 people without water for eight days, oh wait, the NJ Governor is a Republican, nevermind.

  • Gery KN5GLA:

    Craig makes a very valid point — and I’m really surprised that Oblamer hasn’t tried to pin this disaster on George Bush

  • Joe WS4R:

    Oh the Republicans will be blamed one way or another here..
    sorry state of affairs playing politics with people’s lives.
    Joe

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