A water main break in the Boston area over the weekend has left some two million people without clean water until at least Wednesday. The city has ordered residents to boil any water that might be used for drinking or cooking or performing basic ablutions (although showering is allegedly OK), and bottled water is selling at a premium at some not-as-ethical shops. School's still open, though!
The break — which is in the process of being fixed — has caused Boston-area sales of bottled water to spike, and coffee to be a precious commodity — particularly on a gray Monday morning. From an unnamed employee of a large coffee chain who, yesterday, took to Maine in order to take a shower:
A lot of the Dunkin' Donuts shops in the affected towns are just closed. Most Starbucks are open but only serving food, bottled drinks, and cold milk. And [instant coffee base] Via. For the most part people were great about it, and many of them were satisfied when we told them Cambridge is unaffected. Those Frappucinos in the glass bottles were the most popular items, as were the Doubleshots in cans. There were some people who didn't quite understand why we couldn't make coffee, even after reading the sign that said we couldn't make any water-based beverages... I guess they needed their coffee. I hope this will be over soon! Half of the status updates I read from my friends yesterday were about lack of access to coffee.
Meanwhile, people are heading to Cambridge, where iced coffee has taken on the qualities of "liquid gold." "Think about the North End — no pasta!" chimed in another food-minded friend.
And now, the obligatory embed of the song that everyone probably thought of upon hearing this news:
Also? My cat thinks I hate her because I won't let her drink out of the sink. And? It feels like Florida outside, so trekking like a camel is particularly heinous.
I'm from Boston. Friends up there report the water reeks of chlorine and the news is advising them to add bleach to wash the dishes. Isn't that a bad idea? Someone is going to pitch in some ammonia and kill everyone.
I haven't tasted any chlorine, but it does taste pretty terrible even after boiling (not that you'd expect boiling to remove the bad taste, but whatever). According to some official person, what is currently coming out of the tap is "essentially untreated pond water." Yum.
I live in an infected area but I work in Cambridge so I still got my coffee at the office this morning. Which I needed to wake me up as the humidity here yesterday wiped me out.
There are also a bunch of fake bombs in the Quabbin Reservoir from back when they were practicing dropping them in WWII, they don't seem sure of the contents: http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/10/mass_us_agencies_studying_quab.html
I take it back - today's water did in fact smell of chlorine. Still tastes terrible, though.
Sounds like the plot of Zodiac by Neal Stephenson.
What a bunch of weakness. You can use bottled water for the making of coffee in your own home. Also, my office has it's own coffee maker which I also used last friday's Brita water for the making of coffee. Not that much of a hassle really. Priorities!
On the plus side, it legitimizes my consumption of vodka, Guinness, Harp, and Brick Red for a few days. I enjoy beer with (for?) breakfast.
My Boston friends took the "It's like we're in Mexico!" approach and have been drinking only beer and tequila.
Related: worst hangover ever yesterday. I was sort of hoping it was e. coli--drop an easy 10 lbs. for the summer, and have a nice week off of work.
I came dangerously close to brushing my teeth in Coors Light this morning.
This is Boston, Not L.A.
Trust me, Cambridge is about as affected as you can get.
yup
Something tells me that this sort of thing is the future of the USA.
It's official. Kabul now has a better infrastructure than Boston.
Maybe someone could do a how to boil some fucking water post.