

Don't drink the water in Boston without boiling it first. - speek
http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/05/catastrophic_le.html

======
mixmax
I once witnessed a pipe of the same dimensions bursting - the difference being
that it was carrying 80 degree celsius hot water for central heating...

It was right under a main street (it's standard procedure to put large pipes
under streets so you can get to them if anything goes wrong) and within 10
minutes the street looked like an earthquake had hit it - the massive amount
of almost boiling water simply eroded the foundation under the street and
washed it away. Tonnes and tonnes of 80 degree hot muddy water gushed up and
flowed down the street to a nearby low-lying town square that quickly filled
up. Luckily they got it shut off within 20 minutes, but it looked like the
gates of hell had been opened with all that water and steam just spewing out
of the ground.

Luckily nobody was hurt, but it was an interesting experience.

~~~
Tawheed
It sounds like a miracle that no one was hurt!

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asmithmd1
The contractor who built this water supply tunnel, which was finished only 7
years ago, is Modern Continental.

<http://www.mwra.com/osu/1003mwtfacts.html>

They were the Big Dig's largest contractor and are in Chapter 11 bankruptcy
because federal prosecutors brought 49 charges against them including
allegations that it knew about bolts coming loose in the ceiling of the Big
Dig tunnel years before a ceiling collapse killed a motorist.

Shouldn't there be some kind of lifetime ban on them doing engineering work?

~~~
tvon
Them as a company or them as the individual engineers?

~~~
sh1mmer
Both?

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davi
Thank you.

I wonder why Cambridge (where I live) is not listed? The surrounding towns
are.

edit: according to <http://www.mwra.com/02org/html/whatis.htm>, Cambridge
receives full sewer, but only "emergency backup" water from the MWRA.

edit2: a commenter at [http://www.wbur.org/2010/05/01/water-main-
break/comment-page...](http://www.wbur.org/2010/05/01/water-main-
break/comment-page-1#comment-10827) says Cambridge gets its water from Fresh
Pond.

~~~
SapphireSun
Off topic, but I thought this was the most appropriate thread. I just got a
place in Somerville (lucky me ;-)). Are there any cool events around where you
can meet people and make friends?

~~~
pingswept
Open shop night at Sprout community science lab in Davis Square, Tuesday and
Thursday nights.

Also, google Willoughby and Baltic.

~~~
tibbon
Totally OT, but Willoughby and Baltic seems dead to me. I live a block from
there and I just go to Sprout. Its generally free, great people and a really
friendly environment.

~~~
plimph
I just went by both locations I found online, Elm St and Joy St, and both are
abandoned. Nobody answers the phone or returns my messages. I just wanted to
check out their MakerBot CNC, but I guess I'm out of luck and they are, too.
Very sad.

~~~
pingswept
Wow, that's depressing.

They moved out of the Elm Street building a year ago, but I thought it was
because the Joy Street building was awesome. It looks like the main organizer,
Meredith, moved away, and the place died.

Well, I can confirm that at least Sprout is alive and kicking.

------
ericb
I was in a Watertown MA supermarket at about 5 when my mother, who lives an
hour away, called to tell me she saw this on TV and Watertown was affected.

I went to the bottled water aisle to get water for my family. It was mostly
large packs of bottles. I managed to get 15 gallons in big jugs by going in
the direction I saw a guy with jugs come from. They wheeled a cart with water
out, and people were pulling it in boxes straight from the cart. At first,
maybe 3-4 people were loading up on water, but that was it.

Within the 20 minutes I was there, I watched the shelves almost empty
completely of water.

One nice thing--the supermarket manager, before I even got to the checkout,
had discounted all the water--thank you Shaws!

The psychology of it was interesting. I felt bad about the jugs (I am I
hording? should I share) but then thought how I would feel if I didn't have
enough clean water for my pregnant wife and child, and family who is visiting
for the birth. I calculated that I would feel like a bigger jerk if I didn't
look out for them, so I went with it. I also called several friends and gave
them a heads up on the run on water. One of them didn't know, and was able to
find some at a CVS. So that is my story so far.

The article I just read said that the pipe was a "custom pipe" that burst, so
they have no replacement ready and can't even give a timeframe.

edit: on the news they now think it was just a "connector" so it may be an
easier fix.

~~~
jackowayed
So there's already going to be a major shortage, so they discount to further
aggravate the problem?

Now, it's not really a major thing to consider since water is so cheap already
that almost no one is thinking about the cost when filling their cart with ~$1
gallons of water. They were going to sell out in basically the same amount of
time regardless, and this way buys the store good will ("thank you Shaws!",
for example).

And I agree with your moral rationalization of you hording as much as you can
get (within reason), adding in the fact that if you realize it's more than you
need, you can always share it with friends/neighbors.

~~~
jcdreads
At least Shaw's didn't multiply the price by ten. Sounds like the manager at
Shaw's cleverly identified getting rid of all of his (probably profitless)
bottled water as fast as possible (and posting a sign outside saying they're
out) as the best way to prevent clogging the store with the hoarding hordes.

~~~
jackowayed
If there weren't laws against price gouging, I'm sure they would have strongly
considered multiplying the price by 10.

~~~
ars
Maybe not. If you had a choice, would you shop again in a store that did that,
vs one that didn't?

Shaws will still be selling stuff long after this is over, but people will
remember.

------
SlyShy
I remember doing that while living in Taiwan. At least the climate in Boston
makes having lukewarm water more bearable. When you are sweating in a tropical
summer the last thing you want is a _warm_ glass of water.

~~~
korch
This might be Myth Busters material, but wouldn't it be more energy efficient
to drink water closer to the body's own temperature? Less energy is needed
internally to process warm water, than to heat cold water up to 98.6 F.

This is also similar to why it's bad to drink soft drink, the body consumes
more water to break it down than it gains from the soft drink.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
>This is also similar to why it's bad to drink soft drink, the body consumes
more water to break it down than it gains from the soft drink.

The longest one can last without additional water is something like 3 days,
no? [http://health.howstuffworks.com/live-without-food-and-
water....](http://health.howstuffworks.com/live-without-food-and-
water.htm/printable) (it gives a couple of citations but I haven't checked
them, I tried the sciam.com one but it's paywalled) gives 3-5 days + 1 for a
"healthy" person.

So if this assertion is right then drinking exclusively soft drinks for about
5 days will kill you. A simple experiment to do.

~~~
nex3
You would also have to avoid juicy foods. You could probably avoid drinking
water indefinitely if you ate enough apples.

------
phsr
I love that dirty water, OOOOOO Boston you're my home!!!!

(Sorry, had to, since EVERY Boston sports team plays it after a game)

~~~
lanstein
After a win, you mean :)

~~~
phsr
ah, yes, like the Bruins today!

------
jacquesm
If you're curious what it looks like:

[http://www.wwlp.com/dpp/news/massachusetts/boston-water-
main...](http://www.wwlp.com/dpp/news/massachusetts/boston-water-main-break-
catastrophic)

------
emarcotte
Very strange.

I just finished reading Robert Harris' "Pompeii" which I started a couple days
before the Iceland Volcano started putting out ash. Now the aqueduct breaks.
Very strange coincidence... I hope my brain isn't projecting the content of
the stuff I'm reading...

Luckily I live just outside the boil water area though.

------
memoryfault
>dumping eight million gallons of water per hour into the Charles River.

I can't wait to see the Big Picture cover this.

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oomkiller
Wow, that's one big pipe. Though, you'd think the pressure inside the pipe
would be greater than outside it, nullifying any immediate risk of
contamination from other water sources.

~~~
thaumaturgy
If you read past the first couple of paragraphs, you'll find that the water
needs to be boiled because they're pulling from unfiltered (or less-filtered)
backup sources.

------
julius_geezer
There was a boil-water notice for northwest Washington, DC, within the last
few weeks. We heard of it late, then found that the affected area ended about
a mile north of us. But there was a spectacular break in the suburbs just
before Christmas, requiring helicopter rescue of some stranded motorists. So
it's not just Boston.

------
ars
Anyone know why it took 8 hours to turn off the valve controlling the pipe?

I could see a hour or two to identify the exact pipe, and locate the paperwork
on where the valve is, but 8 hours?

~~~
pbhjpbhj
I'd assume mains control valves would be computer controlled and be easily
recognised by one of the lead engineers. Compare to an electricity outage -
when the cables in our street were cut through the electricity company new
within half hour which substation was out and within 2 hours had an estimate
for repair. The repair was about 8 hours, granted this was a relatively minor
repair.

Don't main pipes have flow monitors? In which case it could be almost
automatic.

------
nabeelo
Another +! for Cambridge, only area in the region not effected.

~~~
carbocation
That may be true, but perhaps not? The Broad (in Kendall Square) just sent out
this email: Dear Colleagues, As many of you may be aware, there has been a
catastrophic leak in the water supply serving Greater Boston, and at present
is dumping approximately 8 million gallons of water per hour into the Charles
River.

Governor Deval Patrick has declared a State of Emergency, and has issued a
"boil water" order for some 30 cities and towns. Even though the City of
Cambridge maintains its own water supply, there are cross-connects, and as
such you should not consume any of the water, including the coffee, at any of
the Broad's facilities until further notice.

~~~
eob
First our water, then our coffee? All of Kendall Sq will shut down! :/

------
ahoyhere
Seems like a good time to re-read Zodiac.

What IS it about Boston?

------
jamesbressi
I'll get flamed, but I feel that way about most the water supply in the U.S.
Ever look at the reports per county for what is in your water supply here? I
don't care what anyone says, most of those contaminates listed aren't
acceptable to me at any level. I hate the fact that I have to shower or brush
my teeth with it.

Even worse are the chemicals they use to "clean" it, which doesn't get things
like medications out, like my favorite additive "chloramine". The website is a
little wonky, but check out <http://chloramine.org> \--not to be confused with
chlorine which can be filtered out... chloramine is damn near impossible to
filter.

I'm not an environmentalist nut, but if there is one thing in this country I
don't find safe, it is my drinking/bathing water--and I'm not buying what the
government is dishing about its safety and purity.

<!-- end of paranoid rant -->

~~~
xenophanes
Not acceptable at any level? Do you think infinitely dilute poisons are still
harmful poisons? Do you think one molecule of arsenic will kill you?

BTW, did you know that natural spring water has contaminants too? And the
water in every other country? Maybe the level of contaminants is better in
some places, but you don't seem to be paying attention to that.

And did you know that all filters do is reduce the level of contaminants?
There is no such thing as an absolutely perfect filter.

~~~
tokenadult
Yes. And the air we breathe is full of dangerous microbes. Almost anything we
touch or ingest contains something risky. The bodies of human beings, as the
bodies of all living organisms, include adaptations to deal with less than
ideal environments.

As an actual matter of fact, tap water in quite a few parts of the United
States is all but sterile.

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17456554>

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1472650/>

~~~
davi
And in case you're tempted, you may want to think twice before drinking that
ultra-pure, 18 MOhm water you have handy in the lab:

[http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/nutdeminerali...](http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/nutdemineralized.pdf)

