Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink?

[dolfan]

Decatur, Alabama (as in, the city of) has more or less shut its doors today. Apparently, everyone on city water has only a trickle or less of water pressure. Seems that we got so much rain over the weekend (and, I personally didn't see THAT much rain) that it caused sediment to unexpectedly accumulate in the water lines at the water treatment plant. I mean the courthouse is closed and the health department has reportedly even told day cares to close for the day. I just ran into the new county commission chairman and told him his job was on the line (of course, I was joking) because of this. I did talk with a news reporter who had just interviewed our EMA director in front of the courthouse, and he explained to me about the sediment situation. It just seems nuts to me because we've had way more rain than we got on New Year's Eve and over a shorter time frame. There were flash flood warnings, but I didn't hear one report of any real problems in Decatur. We were in Decatur that night, too.

Well, somebody somewhere didn't do something they were supposed to. And, for the next 24 hours, they say (maybe not that long, I hope for the residents here) use water for emergencies only. I did go to the restroom in my office building. They can cut off the city water if they want to but I don't have that much control!!

Good thing I live 15 miles away.