We are drinking only bottled water in Paradise Valley!
On Wednesday evening we were notified not to drink or use tap water for any kind of food preparation (which includes washing dishes) until further notice. They say it is o.k. to shower as long as the water doesn’t get in our mouths (!!!), and do laundry. Sorry, but isn’t it true that solvents can enter the blood stream through the skin? And what about my eyes?
It seems as though Arizona American Water found traces of trichloroethylene in our water supply on Wednesday. (I want to know if the water was safe on Monday or Tuesday or any other day before they found the traces of TCE?) TCE is a solvent used to clean machinery and is a known carcinogen if ingested. Who is responsible for this contamination? How did a toxic solvent get into our water supply??? Even after they tell us the water is safe, I will still be wary of drinking it.
This event is making me have flashbacks of the movie Erin Brockovich. (As an aside, I loved Julia Roberts in that movie.) However, the contamination of our water in Paradise Valley and Scottsdale is a chilling reminder of how fragile our resources are and how easy it is to contaminate them! Thank God there is bottled water available for us to use in the meantime.
Content and photos copyright 2008 by Janet Towbin.
Update: The water restriction was rescinded on Saturday evening. I am still drinking bottled water even though I completely flushed the pipes in our house of all the “possibly contaminated water”. Call me crazy, but I still feel insecure about the water here.
2 responses so far ↓
indianamatt // January 19, 2008 at 2:21 pm |
Yikes, safe to shower? What if you have a tiny cut on your elbow or something? Aren’t these types of situations annoying!?
jt // January 19, 2008 at 2:57 pm |
Yes, annoying and very serious! I am just wondering about the ramifications of drinking water that has been found to have traces of toxic chemicals, and furthermore, I don’t know if I believe the “powers that be” are really telling the truth about how long this (or any other) toxic product has been in our drinking water. Sorry, if I sound like I am ranting…it is just plain scary.