White Rocker’s are dealing with a small inconvenience, but it’s one that could easily make anyone with a compromised immune system very ill. Since we are one of the only communities in the Lower Mainland not to chlorinate our water, and it looks like a animal or bird has gotten into the reservoir, they have had to drain, and sanitize everything. White Rock is under a boil water advisory, because of the increased e-coli count. And everything from restaurants, to hospitals, to homes are affected. Bottled water is flying off the shelves. It takes a lot of water to rinse your veggies, bet you never thought about that didn’t you? Hot water doesn’t do a really great job of washing lettuce, it wilts it, so all the boiled water has to be cooled first. Part of the advisory states that the water is still safe to shower with, well I guess that’s a good thing right? Could you imagine, 20,000 stinky people? We would all have to go down to the beach for a quick dip in the only slightly cleaner ocean each morning. The beach would be packed with everyone trying to scrub a dub dub, before leaving for work. Hey, who stole my soap?
Brushing your teeth? Don’t forget to use boiled water, rinsing off that luscious piece of just picked summer fruit? Don’t reach for the tap, bring out the boiled water. It’s only a slight inconvenience, but it certainly does make you think that we take the water from the tap for granted. There are many communities in British Columbia that have been under a boil water advisory for years. We are lucky that this only lasts for a little while. And still, we are under the mistaken knowledge that we have one of the purest waters around. We made the front page of the 2nd biggest paper in Canada. And we were the leading story on many a day last week. While the fervor had died down a little, taken over by another “hot off the press” story, it’s still showing up on the news. And it looks like that story is old news, since we will have this advisory until at least next Monday. So White Rock, you are famous.
Only problem, it’s for all the wrong reasons. Pass me the bottled water please!