“…but not a drop to drink.” I currently have a new understanding of that cliche statement. In fact, I’ve experienced it…unfortunately.
While visiting home several weeks ago, I felt the need to take my post-deployment husband to one of the best pizza places in town. I will not mention their name because they still have the best pizza around and I would hate for an innocent mistake to put a bad taste in your mouth. We left the next day for our trip back to Wichita and I became profusely ill. Upon arriving at the ER in Little Rock, AR, my mother called and informed me of the Boil Water Orders due to E.coli reported by all local Memphis news stations. The entire city of Horn Lake, MS was under this order and no one was aware of it until the following day. The city was shipping bottled water to the schools so that children would have uncontaminated water to drink and so that cafeteria employees could cook their food properly.
After spending the night in the hospital, losing 6 lbs, and leaving with 4 prescriptions and a possible diagnosis of either E. coli or Giardia, I cannot impress upon you enough the importance of following Boil Water Alerts, Orders, and any other precautions your city has recommended. Three days later the alert ended and the Desoto Times Tribune reported this from the MS Department of Health:
TIM SUMMERS
Managing Editor
The boil water alert notice for Horn Lake has been lifted.
However there are still steps residents should take, according to the Mississippi Department of Health, to ensure that their water is safe.
Those include:
• Flush faucets for a total of 10 minutes to introduce system water throughout house plumbing.
Example:
◦ 1 faucet — run for 10 minutes
◦ 2 faucets — run both for 5 minutes ◦ 3 faucets — run each for 3-4 minutes
• Flush any faucet a minimum of 2 minutes to ensure clearing of the line serving the faucet.
• Discard any drinks, ice, food, etc, made during the boil water notice.
• Rewash any food or drink contact items (knifes, forks, plates, etc.) with “cleared” system water.
• Check water filters (in faucets, refrigerators and elsewhere) and replace if necessary.
• Do not use water from your hot water heater for drinking until several exchanges of the tank have occurred.
• Run dishwasher through a cycle or two before washing dishes.
If you or anyone you know encounters a Boil Water Alert or Order, please remember to do this after it is lifted. Horn Lake, MS is not the only town facing this. My uncle reports various parts of Texas are facing the same problems. Due to flooding in some areas and drought in others, pipes can more easily become contaminated. To all my readers, please do not take the risk. Drink bottled water and if you must use tap water, bring it to a rolling boil for at least 5 minutes. Clean dishes by sanitizing them in a bleach solution of 1 Tbsp per gallon. DO NOT use ice from ice trays or your ice maker.
