UPDATE: 10 p.m.: The state says workers have stopped the leak in Weston but that it could be "days at a minimum, we're hoping not weeks" before the boil-water order is lifted. ... If you have water-related questions, you can call 211. ... The state has posted an FAQ, including answers to questions about such things as giving babies baths and whether dishwashers and automatic coffee machines are safe. ... Map of Boston neighborhoods (yes, Allston and Brighton are part of Boston).
Boil that water until further notice, the MWRA warns:
A BOIL WATER ORDER IS BEING ISSUED FOR DRINKING WATER FOR ALL MWRA COMMUNITIES EAST OF WESTON UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. ... MWRA is activating its emergency water supplies such as the Sudbury Aqueduct, Chestnut Hill Reservoir and Spot Pond Reservoir. THIS WATER WILL NOT BE SUITABLE FOR DRINKING, but can be used for bathing, flushing and fire protection.
According to the state Department of Environmental Water, this means bringing "the water to a rolling boil for at least 1 minute." If you go out to eat, do NOT drink fountain soda - unless you're going into Cambridge, which has its own water supply separate from the MWRA.
The MWRA adds:
The leak is located at the location where the MetroWest Water Supply Tunnel meets the City Tunnel on Recreation Road. This 120-inch diameter pipe transports water to our communities east of Weston – as far north as Wilmington and south to Stoughton. Water is leaking into the Charles River at rate of over 8 million gallons an hour. MWRA crews are on site; engineers are assessing the situation to determine next steps.
The Boston Police Department held over officers from the day shift so they can begin driving around the city notifying residents of the emergency order over loudspeakers.
List of affected communities:
Arlington, Bedford, Belmont, Boston, Brookline, Canton, Chelsea, Dedham, Everett, Lexington, Lynnfield Water District, Malden, Marblehead, Marlborough, Medford, Melrose, Milton, Nahant, Newton, Norwood, Peabody, Quincy, Reading, Revere, Saugus, Somerville, Stoneham, Stoughton, Swampscott, Wakefield, Waltham, Watertown, Weston, Westwood, Wilmington, Winchester, Winthrop, Woburn.
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Comments
Supermarkets outside of Concord....
By Pete Nice
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 3:25pm
Should check IDs to make sure no Concord residents snatch up all the bottled water from stores....
Wasn't I just talking about something along these lines?
Beat me to it
By Lecil
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 4:04pm
I'm just wondering if I should be headed out to by some bottled water. Also worried that the resturant we're headed to this evening will be closed.
Glad I took my shower before I read about this!
boil water order is now in
By cowsandmilk
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 4:08pm
boil water order is now in effect. I'm running a marathon tomorrow morning and I'm supposed to be hydrating, so this is a little annoying...
Awesome...
By Kaz
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 4:52pm
One thing to take away from this:
Adam is ALL OVER this news story. I learned about it quickly because of him and his Twitter post.
The major websites (boston.com, wbz.com, etc) haven't mentioned it yet at all. Only like 1 tv station is just NOW starting to talk about it.
Wow. Speed of news...speed of the internet.
I had the same thought ...
By Ian Lamont
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 8:44pm
... After looking at Boston.com's mobile site (mobile.boston.com) on my iPod touch 7 pm and seeing nothing. UniversalHub had two or three items.
Great job, Adam.
I get my late breaking news from Adamg & Universal Hub
By Jonas Prang
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 11:15pm
I'm not sure if it says more about my media habits or more about Adamg & Universal Hub. I'm guessing the later. Thanks for the heads up. I tuned in to Universal Hub at about 4 pm.
By 10:15 pm, the reader boards over the Central Artery were announcing the boil water order.
However, at 11:15 pm, the Boston Globe web site (www.bostonglobe.com) was behaving as though the most important water stories were some ridiculous story about plaster bottles in Concord and a silt pollution problem in South Carolina.
Boston dot com seems to be all over the story now, but that is not the only domain name those guys are managing.
Always.
By Jay Levitt
Sun, 05/02/2010 - 1:00pm
When I have an inkling that something's going on around here, UHub is my no-blink number-one go-to source. Then Twitter. Boston.com's somewhere around #12, somewhere below BoingBoing ("Boil your water with this steampunk gadget!")
Historic steps
By massmarrier
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 5:03pm
Ah, back to the Middle Ages and even our Colonial times. Ale is the answer when the water is bad.
Well that's a relief
By eeka
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 5:08pm
I wouldn't want to contaminate a burning structure.
Bonus fun fact about the aqueduct that broke
By adamg
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 5:11pm
It was built about 10 years ago so that greater Boston would be assured of water if one of the two other existing aqueducts broke.
Bonus fun fact about the Sudbury Reservoirs: They haven't been used in decades in part because the sediment at the bottom is contaminated with mercury from a tanning plant in Ashland.
Wow really? Boiling does not
By niebeendend
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 5:13pm
Wow really? Boiling does not eliminate heavy metals. Sounds like one should boil + Brita. Or just go raid the store for bottled water like I just did.
I wouldn't worry about the sediment
By adamg
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 5:32pm
Mercury is, well, heavy, so it's unlikely to get into the water unless they really, really draw down the reservoirs (they're the ones you can see along Rte. 9 in Framingham and Southborough).
I used my usual drinking water
By SwirlyGrrl
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 11:39pm
I boiled the filtered water from my refrigerator set up.
Charcoal filter
By anon
Sun, 05/02/2010 - 7:46am
Charcoal filters don't eliminate metals from drinking water, either.
Found out about the situation...
By Chris Tucker
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 5:21pm
...On the 24/27 bus. It stopped at the River Street/Cummins Highway stop, and a Boston cop got on and gave the passengers the news.
WBZ, when I got home, was nattering on about pets being better listeners than spouses and sports scores.
JUST now, they mentioned the leak, BUT NOT the boil water alert.
Thanks, Universal Hub for the heads up!
Big Brother
By massmarrier
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 5:38pm
We just got a roving car with a loudspeaker through our neighborhood with the boil-water order. I confess it's more pleasant to me than the ice-cream truck music.
sort of
By j4b
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 7:59pm
The roving loudspeaker for me consisted of a click on, BOIL YA WATTA, click off and nothing else. And judging by the reactions of everyone else in the house, not many people heard clearly enough even knowing what they were supposed to be saying.
What a waste of energy
By anon
Mon, 05/03/2010 - 1:54pm
It doesn't cost all that much to set up a robocall system, and it doesn't waste gas. It'll inform more people more quickly. It's pretty easy to set up. Some towns already have them and used them this time.
Telephone service providers should be required to have robocall systems that can reach all of their subscribers and that can be quickly activated by any of a number of designated public officials.
It would cost them pennies, adding maybe 2¢ a month to our bills.
Cops in Brighton
By Kaz
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 5:40pm
Cop cars in Brighton are making announcements as they drive the major roads. Passed one on Market St as I was returning with bottled water from the Allston Shaw's (still plenty left when I left and Poland Spring gallons were even the same price as Shaw's bottled water right now on sale).
Are restaurants being forced
By J
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 5:38pm
Are restaurants being forced to close?
I highly doubt any restaurant will boil water and then use the boiled water to clean the vegetables and such.
Also remember folks, most soda fountains do NOT have a water filter. I know, its hard to believe, you buy bottled water because tap water is supposedly dirty but then gorge on soda that is made from tap water and is not filtered. It's funny how some people think.
Actually most soda fountains
By anon²
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 5:51pm
Actually most soda fountains are equipped with filtration systems built into the carbonation / syrup / pressure system. But you're right, not all of them are; but I'd say most probably are.
We're both throwing around
By J
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 6:01pm
We're both throwing around "most" irresponsibly since neither of us know what % of fountains are filtered.
So let me rephrase: Some soda fountains do not have filters, and there's no way you as a customer can tell. Also, at many restaurants, the waiter won't know either because he/she does not clean the machine or change the syrups or gas.
May not filter for the right thing
By seosmh
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 6:14pm
I work with coffee brewers, not soda fountains. But many of the filters you find in restaurant settings are designed to filter particles, and filter for taste and odor. They are rarely rated for filtering out bacterial agents. In other words, don't drink the soda or the coffee. Tea could be fine, if they are actually boiling the water. But I wouldn't count on it.
Beer should still be good.
Soda fountains? OK Fonzie.
By NotWhitey
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 5:51pm
Soda fountains? OK Fonzie.
Sit on it, Potsie, that's
By Spatch
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 6:53pm
Sit on it, Potsie, that's what the things are called.
Nice try, though.
Or will restaurants be
By hooks
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 6:08pm
Or will restaurants be charging for said bottled water? Isn't there some sort of state reg that says tap water must be provided free of charge at all establishments? What is the deal in such situations?
Ginza (Brookline)
By Lecil
Sun, 05/02/2010 - 12:26am
We ate at Ginza this evening. They had the boil-water order posted on the door, and they were very clear that they were serving bottled water, not tap. Of course, we were eating raw fish, so make of that what you will... (Hey, I didn't have to boil anything to eat it, so I was happy!)
Yay alternate sources to get the news out!
By Ian Osmond
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 5:51pm
I found out about this because, a couple years ago, Melrose bought a robo-call system for the city's emergency management department. We got a phone call from the mayor giving us the info. See, THAT'S what robo-calling is good for.
I also admit that one of the first things I did was check to see if Concord was affected by this. Annoyingly, they're RIGHT outside the affected area. Lexington is hit by it; Concord is not. I was looking forward to the schadenfreude.
Somerville also robo-called
By Ron Newman
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 6:58pm
Not the voice of Tom Champion anymore, but Jackie Rossetti can fill his role just fine in emergencies like this one.
downtown Boston
By ken
Sun, 05/02/2010 - 10:58am
I had three! robo-calls by dinner time, two from Mumbles' office and one from our local rep.
in Medford, we had nothing
By rda
Sun, 05/02/2010 - 11:44am
No calls, no drive-bys, no notification. If not for on-the-ball friends and electronic media, I would have had no idea. I went out and flyered the trees on my street, and talked to a few people, but I wasn't going to pay enough to do the whole town. I hope nobody suffers serious illness because the city was so freaking useless and they drank the water.
Chestnut Hill Reservoir not at full capacity
By Anon
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 5:57pm
The Chestnut Hill Reservoir was definitely not at full capacity prior to this event, but it is now going to be called upon as a backup water supply.
It's level this spring was a good 6-8 feet below the typical level, according to my memory. All spring you could see much more of the rock lining way down into the reservoir.
I'm pretty sure Dedham and Westwood are ok.
By Pete Nice
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 6:04pm
Dedham and Westwood use the Weston line as a backup to their water I believe.
That's what I thought, but
By NotWhitey
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 6:06pm
That's what I thought, but Dedham is listed.
The MWRA site has these towns listed on their website:
By Pete Nice
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 6:14pm
updated at 6pm.
Arlington Belmont
Boston
Brookline
Canton
Chelsea
Everett
Lexington
Lynnfield Water District
Malden
Marblehead
Medford
Melrose
Milton
Nahant
Newton
Norwood
Quincy
Reading
Revere
Saugus
Somerville
Stoneham
Stoughton
Swampscott
Wakefield
Waltham
Watertown
Winchester
Winthrop
cambridge not east of weston?
By limeduck
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 6:37pm
The Cambridge city website boldly claims that the People's Republic is not affected by the water main break but does not elaborate. Does Cambridge water come from someplace else? Where?
I believe most Cambridge water comes from Lincoln.
By Pete Nice
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 6:44pm
The Hobbs Brook Resovoir to be exact. Cambridge also has their own water treatment I beleive.
And I notice Lincoln and Belmont are not on that list either. Watertown and Waltham are though.
Belmont is on the boil-water list too
By Ron Newman
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 6:59pm
according to [url=http://www.town.belmont.ma.us/Public_Documents/Bel... town website[/url].
It does
By seosmh
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 6:45pm
From the Hobbs Brook and Stony Brook Reservoirs. Other towns east of Weston have their own supply as well.
Right, Cambridge NOT part of the MWRA
By adamg
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 7:11pm
And they're probably feeling pretty good about that right now.
Yes. Yes, we are.
By OldProfessorBear
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 9:29pm
Yes. Yes, we are.
Learn more about Cambridge water at Water Week
By Eighthman
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 10:27pm
This coming week! What timing.
http://www.cambridgema.gov/CWD/Water_Week.cfm
I found tour interesting when I went last year.
Sounds fun
By adamg
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 10:59pm
Will they be giving out free samples at the end?
Enjoy before, during, and after
By Eighthman
Sun, 05/02/2010 - 9:57am
Don't be alarmed when they skim the scum off the pools. :)
I didn't look to see if the info article noted the parking issue over at Fresh Pond. If you don't have a Cambridge parking permit, you should be able to get a temporary one for the tour by the tour leader. That's what happened last year, anyway.
Dedham is clear - the listing
By NotWhitey
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 11:11pm
Dedham is clear - the listing in the media was wrong.
Marlborough?
By anon
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 6:16pm
Isn't this west of Weston??
Time?
By Anon
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 6:22pm
Anyone have any idea what time this happened? I've been drinking tap most of the day and I'm wondering if I should start popping antibiotics...
Um...no
By anon
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 6:24pm
Boston.com had the story before UniversalSchlub did. It isn't like people on the Net are psychic, just more twticthy. My mum called me about this before 3, and she doesn't use the nerdnet.
Doo dee doo...now the king of slumerville can prepare his forces!
Three cheers for UHub
By david_yamada
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 6:41pm
I learned about it first here, started posting on Facebook and sending to friends.
This does sound like it's going to be one giant pain in the butt for residents and businesses alike.
What happened to redundancy?
By Ron Newman
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 6:54pm
Didn't MWRA build this brand-new aqueduct so that it would be redundant with the old Hultman pipe? Why can't they just switch back to using the Hultman?
Just a guess
By adamg
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 7:14pm
I'm betting the Hultman and the new MetroWest aqueduct both feed into the City Tunnel. If that's the case, and the break happened right where the MetroWest feeds into that tunnel, then maybe turning on the Hultman would only make things worse, as its water gets sucked into the maelstrom (God love the Vikings).
Not until 2014
By BStu
Sun, 05/02/2010 - 1:01am
The Globe is no reporting that this pipeline was built to be the primary and MWRA has been in the process of retrofitting the Hultman to be the redundancy for just this sort of situation. Unfortunately, that work is scheduled to be completed in 2014.
Umm...
By anon
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 6:57pm
Why doesn't it seem to say what to do/look for if you drank a bunch of water before seeing the warning?
Raging shits
By Sock_Puppet
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 7:11pm
If you are suddenly horribly ill, with the raging shits, this might be why. But if you're already suddenly horribly ill, then you already know you have a problem.
Really, this is no big deal.
And FWIW it's easier to put a few drops of bleach in your water than to boil it and cool it back off again.
now what?
By Just_Me
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 7:04pm
So for those of us that didn't notice the warning until too late- any signs/symptoms we should be looking for? Doesn't seem to say on the mwra website.
Your water use will rapidly increase
By Arborway
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 7:11pm
What's in the pipes is still good for some things. Let's put it that way.
Turned off the ice maker
By SwirlyGrrl
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 9:09pm
I also shut off the water to the fridge dispenser, but the cubes in the giant bin are gold!
Most obvious
By Kaz
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 7:12pm
The most obvious problem with drinking untreated water would be a gastrointestinal bacterial infection. Diarrhea, upset stomach, fever...the same sorts of signs as food poisoning because it's essentially the same problem.
I wouldn't freak out
By Brett
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 7:15pm
Make a best effort, y'know?
Some folks have weaker immune systems, the water is probably mostly OK...it's just precautionary.
where does Allston/Brighton
By anon
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 7:13pm
where does Allston/Brighton stand?
Don't drink the water
By adamg
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 8:21pm
A/B is served by the MWRA.
srsly?
By Molly
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 8:27pm
...being part of Boston and all. Do A/B residents not know they live in Boston?
I'm sure some don't. I met
By cowsandmilk
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 8:48pm
I'm sure some don't. I met someone in Jamaica Plain who insisted it wasn't part of Boston. Ignorance is widespread in this oddly shaped city.
Having just moved to Brighton
By anon
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 9:52pm
Having just moved to Brighton from out of state I thought that was a valid question.
first!
By cscott
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 7:27pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8h2gVcDQ9E&feature...
This means WAR
By Adam Pieniazek
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 8:04pm
Cambridge water is OK, anyone else think it's about time the City of Boston invaded Cambridge?
Perhaps a dumb question but...
By david_yamada
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 8:13pm
How does this happen? Is it a wear-and-tear thing, a product defect, a giant Mass. clusterf*ck?
Not being facetious here (okay, maybe the clusterf*ck suggestion...), just wondering...
That's the $64-million question
By adamg
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 8:22pm
These things are supposed to last for decades. Maybe they used the same concrete company as the T did for those Old Colony ties?
Or the Crazy Glue...
By david_yamada
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 8:43pm
...used to shore up the tunnels of the Big Dig?
Has anyone seen any sort of
By cera
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 8:21pm
Has anyone seen any sort of indication as to when they expect the problem to be fixed?
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