"Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink..."

"A boil water advisory issued Sunday could last at least seven more days after manure spilled into the town's water supply this weekend, according to officials..."

The advisory was issued because a pipe broke in a manure lagoon on a nearby farm. (A manure lagoon is a storage site where animal waste is kept in liquid form until it's used as fertilizer.)

After the pipe broke Friday, a pump continued to work, causing manure to leak into the ground and eventually into the water supply via a nearby creek. Another spill occurred on Saturday during the clean up.

Wonderful. One would think, after the fiasco in '99,* that this county of farmers and livestock... and therefore, lots of manure... would have found a better way to safeguard this small town's water supply. But, nooooo, let's just keep pumping waste into the water supply!

Arggh! No wonder people call Frederick countians a bunch of Frednecks!

Needless to say, it's become a royal pita to remember not to use the readily available, but contaminated, tap water. You have to stop and think before you do so many of the little things we take for granted - like make a pot of coffee, cook dinner, freeze ice cubes, rinse a dish or spoon, brush your teeth, rinse your toothbrush, and on and on and on. We've laid in a small supply of bottled water but that'll get costly real quick - even the cats are drinking the bottled stuff.

Last time we had to schlep into town, on specified days, and fill a limited number of whatever containers we had from tanker trucks until they laid a temporary pipeline from Frederick city. I sure hope we don't have to do that again. :(

*While building...(a housing development)... nine years ago, a blasting company set off several charges that ruptured a sewer main and spilled 900,000 gallons of untreated sewage into the town's water system. The spill happened on June 18, but was not discovered until June 21... (because the morons who blew it up neglected to inform anyone about their screw-up!)

For five months, residents had to rely on Frederick city for water. The two municipalities were connected through a temporary pipeline along the roadway.

*EDITED TO ADD* - 5:20 PM

This is NOT sounding good at all. I understand this spill is majorly worse this go 'round - said manure lagoon held upwards of 5 million gallons of waste! Oh.My.God!

Another blurb from the newspaper:

"The town will again receive water from an outside source, Chad Gavitt, public information officer for the county health department, said. An above-ground pipeline connected to the county's water supply is under construction.

The pipeline could be in place for several weeks, he said.

The spill is not only affecting town residents.

The health department shut down all food service establishments in town until they can show they have additional safe water sources, Gavitt said.

An estimated 10 to 15 restaurants were affected by the shutdown.

Local schools remained open because they had other sources of water, he said. However, swim practice and a meet were canceled Monday for the High School swim team, said the coach of the boys team.

Day care centers, nursing homes, gas stations that serve food and grocery stores were notified of the advisory, he said.

The health department has received no reports of residents being sickened by the contaminated water, Gavitt said."

*SIGH*