“Oh I love that dirrrty water…” (Thinking of The Standells’ classic…click below for appropriate background music.)

[audio:DirtyWater.mp3]

As of yesterday evening, we are supposed to be boiling our water before drinking or cooking with it. No, I don’t live in the sticks, although you might think so by some of the attitudes of people who live in this 120,000 population burg. Chlorine levels are too low, due to decreased water usage which slows the flow through the system. Hmm. Chlorine is poisonous, yet our water isn’t drinkable without it. Hmm.

Makes me glad we been drinking reverse-osmosis-treated water. BUT…I’m thinking of the gallons of coffee I have consumed at work, made with–you guessed it–nasty ol’ tap water.

Then I remember when I was a kid and I swam in the filthiest water you could ever imagine every day that I was out at my grandparents’ in summer. It was what we call a “tank” here in Texas, but there it was called a “pond.” My grandfather worked for El Paso Natural Gas, and they lived in the employees’ camp. The pond was actually there in case there was a fire at the plant. All the kids swam (and no doubt relieved themselves) in this muddy reservoir. I’m wondering how the fish survived that lived in it. Nowadays, I shudder to think how many pathogens I was exposed to, but in retrospect it’s probably a good thing. Hopefully my immune system is extremely resistant. Yeah, that’s it!

Have to go take a shower now. Yikes.