Parasites found in Alamosa, Colorado water

Posted on April 9, 2008 by Douglas Powell

After three weeks of a boil-water advisory, the 8,500 residents were hoping for the all-clear today, so they could have a shower, brush their teeth, and maybe even a glass of water without hauling 5-gallon carboys of water around the house.

Oh-oh.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, called in to help with the outbreak of Salmonellas that has so far sickened 389, found two different parasites — giardia and cryptosporidium — present in the water system before it was flushed with high doses of chlorine last week.

The city remains on a "boil order" requiring residents to boil water before drinking it or using it for cooking.

A thorough investigation into the intricacies of a municipal water supply becoming contaminated can be found in the Walkerton Commission of Inquiry, held after E. coli O157:H7 got into the water supply of Walkerton, Ontario in 2000, sickening half the town of 5,000 and killing seven.

Salmonella in Colorado water supply: Doug Powell speaks with Mudflap

Posted on March 27, 2008 by Douglas Powell

The 8,500 citizens of Alamosa, Colorado, are frustrated.

Salmonella has contaminated the city’s water supply, sickening more than 200 people since last week. For everyone else, the inconveniences are immense.

Alamosa — in the heart of the vast San Luis Valley, about 200 miles southwest of Denver — draws its water from deep wells that tap the aquifer directly. Because the drinking water comes straight from the ground, it is not chemically treated.

John Pape, a state epidemiologist, said some residents may have continued to drink tap water after the warnings, adding,

"Just because the government tells you not to do something doesn’t mean you’re not going to do it."

I got a chance to talk about the outbreak this morning on Denver’s #1 for Country, KYGO, with morning show hosts Kelly, Mudflap and JoJo (right, exactly as shown). They found me via barfblog.com.

I said the flushing of the water system was a good idea, but the source of the original contamination needed to be identified so it could be prevented in the future. I also mentioned that the 5,000-strong community of south Galway, Ireland, has been under a boil-water advisory for the past five months after high incidences of Clostridium perfringens were detected in the Clarinbridge public water supply. In follow-up tests, trace levels of cryptosporidium were detected. There have been no reported cases of cryptosporidiosis but the boil-water notice has remained in place ever since.

A thorough investigation into the intricacies of a munincipal water supply becoming contaminated can be found in the Walkerton Commission of Inquiry, held after E. coli O157:H7 got into the water supply of Walkerton, Ontario in 2000, sickening half the town of 5,000 and killing seven.

Washing your hands, California style

Posted on February 17, 2008 by Amy Hubbell

Doug and I are in L.A. for a few days and I’ve appreciated the prominent handwashing signs in public and private lavatories. This one comes from the outdoor Public Restroom off the beach at the famous Gladstone’s of Malibu seafood restaurant. I read the sign when I walked into the bathroom, but when I tried to wash my hands, the water came out of the faucet in a tiny trickle. The water pressure in their indoor/private facility was slightly better but still conservative. It’s impressive to have signage that indicates all the different times when one should wash her hands, but if the facilities are lacking, there isn’t much point.

The second sign, found today at a beach café in Long Beach, CA was also interesting because the Spanish appears larger than the English part. I also like the idea that I’m breaking state law if I do not wash my damn hands before returning to work.

“I wouldn’t be happy showering under a rat”

Posted on December 19, 2007 by Douglas Powell

That from the landlord of a Palmerston North, New Zealand flat, who apparently let her tenants shower with water from a heater containing a dead rat.

The Manawatu Standard reports that the two flatmates are nervously awaiting the results of blood tests after they learnt the "smelly water" they had been drinking and showering in came from a tank housing a badly decomposed rat.

Having suffered bouts of diarrhoea and vomiting before becoming aware of the corpse, they still have to shower at their parents’ homes and clean cooking utensils on the front lawn.

The saga began in early November when a 19-year-old resident noticed the water was "smelly" and she began feeling ill.

Her mother, worried sewerage had seeped into the water pipes, contacted the council, which in turn flushed the home’s pipes.

Several weeks later the shower blocked up, which eventually led to a plumber finding what was left of the large rat.

Rather than remove it, he gave instructions not to use any water until someone else did the dirty work.

The landlord said, "I can’t believe they didn’t ring me to say it was still there. I thought it was gone. Oh, I just feel ill. I have barely slept thinking about rats in tanks. It’s just a dreadful situation, but I thought the plumber or sanitisers had dealt with it."

Batman hit by Hong Kong pollution

Posted on November 4, 2007 by Douglas Powell

Producers shooting the new Batman movie have, reports The West Australian, been forced to cut one scene involving the caped crusader – played by Christian Bale – jumping out of a plane into Hong Kong’s famed Victoria Harbour.

The South China Morning Post was cited as saying producers felt the poor water quality was just too dangerous for the action hero when shooting for part of the film takes place there in the coming week.

A source was quoted as saying, “There was supposed to be a scene where Batman jumps out of the back of a Hercules C-130 and into Victoria Harbour. The plan was for Batman to be seen jumping into the water and then climbing up some bamboo, or something similar, onto a pier. But when they checked a water sample, they found all sorts of things, salmonella and tuberculosis, so it was cancelled. Now the action will cut to inside a building."

A spokeswoman for Hong Kong’s Environmental Protection Department was cited as admitting that harbor water was not suitable for swimming due to untreated sewage.

Saving the world one sucker at a time

Posted on September 27, 2007 by Casey Jacob

The Rhode Island Oyster Gardening for Restoration and Enhancement program at Roger Williams University is putting oysters in the state’s waterways to filter out pollution and rev up the ecosystem.

Each little sucker takes in up to 50 gallons of water in a day, clearing out pollutants, plankton, and silt so that the water is nice and clean for the aquatic plants below. These plants, along with tiny fish that like to live in the oyster beds, attract winter flounder and lobster can be harvested for us to eat. The area’s aquaculture producers are happy about that one.

The oysters also clean up after crop fertilizers. Nitrogen from agricultural runoff is sucked up and oxygen abounds for our newfound aquaculture.

Clean water, more food, and a pick-up system for ag chemicals. I, for one, am impressed. All hail the mighty oyster: saving the world one sucker at a time.

Worms in water is just an aesthetic issue

Posted on September 17, 2007 by Douglas Powell

Scottish residents are not happy after being told by water chiefs that worms in the water supply are merely an "aesthetic issue."

Customers complained to Scottish Water after they found tiny bloodworms – midge larvae – coming out of their taps. The story says that about 30 householders in Oban are thought to have discovered the 6mm worms when pouring a glass of water.

Jason Rose, a Scottish Water spokesman, apologised for the problem, saying it was an "aesthetic issue" and there was no risk to health.

A resident, who asked not to be named, was quoted as saying,

"The worms may not be dangerous, but they certainly aren’t pleasant. Nobody is going to want to drink, cook or clean with water that is infested with midge larvae. To imply it’s only an ‘aesthetic issue’ is just bloody cheek."

Chicken in the coal mine

Posted on September 10, 2007 by Douglas Powell

One Chinese family on the southern island province of Hainan decided to test a bottle of water on a chicken to see what would happen.

The Beijing News, citing a report in a local paper, said, "The result was the chicken died within a minute," and showed a picture of a man holding a plastic bottle squatting over the crumpled body of the bird.

The story says that barely a day goes by without some new scandal over a made-in-China product, be it toys, toothpaste or fish, which has raised safety concerns in major export markets around the world.

Just keep your mouth shut and no one will get hurt

Posted on September 1, 2007 by Douglas Powell

As cases of cryptosporidium continue to crop up across the U.S. Midwest, at least two separate outbreaks appear to be emerging in Kansas, with at lease seven sick in Sedgwick County and additional cases reported in Johnson County.

Kansas state epidemiologist Gail Hansen told The Witchita Eagle that people don’t have to quit swimming this weekend, adding,

"Basically, if you’re in a pool, keep your mouth shut. Because that’s really the only way you’ll get it."

Background information is available at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control Healthy Swimming website.

Toilet-to-tap

Posted on August 27, 2007 by Douglas Powell

Los Angeles, the next stop-over on my journey, needs more water. Marc B. Haefele and Anna Sklar wrote in an op-ed Sunday that Los Angeles is revisiting the East Valley Water Reclamation Project, built in the 1990s at a cost of $55 million, used for a few days then mothballed seven years ago.

The story explains that sewage was treated at the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant in Van Nuys and then pumped to spreading fields near Hansen Dam, where, over five years, it would filter through sandy soil and gravel into an underground reservoir.

"Modern water-purification technology is considered totally reliable. It uses micro-filtration and reverse osmosis, which pumps water through permeable membranes, and ultraviolet light to remove all contaminants. The "yuck factor" is now completely imaginary. …

"But what should have been an engineering triumph soon became a PR disaster."

The authors note that Orange County, California, just opened its own half-billion-dollar reclamation program — almost four times the size of the East Valley project — with minimal public opposition. The secret of this success? Transparency.

Ron Wildermuth, district communications director, for the Orange County Water District, was quoted as saying,

"We started telling people from the start that we’re purifying sewage water."

Purifying poop.

Earlier this month, Weekend Australian published a feature noting that Australian health and science authorities have issued a draft of the world’s first safety guidelines on recycling sewage for human consumption. Recycling has been taking place in some areas of the world for decades, but national guidelines have never been created in any of the countries doing so.

"Details of the draft guidelines, released recently, are being seized on by both water experts and anti-recycling campaigners as fodder for their causes. On the "pro" side, the draft guidelines state that it is possible to safely recycle sewage for drinking purposes, as long as strict treatment and management processes are followed.

"But the guidelines set the bar so high that they are likely to stop small, parched towns from taking up the controversial option — an assessment anti-recyclers seeing as a win."

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