Barre, Vermont was recently affected by tropical storm Irene and had to deal with contaminated floodwater.
It has been a weird season for weather; hurricanes, tropical storms, tornadoes and violent wind storms have rocked the country. There never seemed to be an end in sight to the dismal, and often deadly, forecasts. All of these events thrown at us by Mother Nature caused more than just power disruptions, collapsed homes, and uprooted trees. They typically caused flooding and frequently contaminated the water supplies in the area where storms hit.
In Barre’s case, there were thousands of homeowners served by private wells who feared their water was contaminated by Irene’s floodwaters. The city handed out more than 2,800 water testing kits for those worried about polluted water to test their supply. If any of these homeowners had water distillers, this would not have been an issue for them, as water distillers offer clean, fresh and safe water on demand with no worries about pollution.
The city’s health department felt it was crucial for the residents to test their wells, as many were completely covered with floodwaters, which can raise the possibility of fecal contamination. An advisory was issued, suggesting that people not drink their water until it was confirmed that it was safe to do so. This meant those on wells were boiling their water or buying bottled water. Bottled water is often minimally treated tap water, so , this is not the safest option either.
The safest water these people could possibly ask for is created by water distillers. Either a portable model that sits on the counter or a water distillation system can provide fresh and safe water. This is a far better alternative than drinking contaminated water that has the potential to gravely sicken or kill people.
The unfortunate thing about trying to decontaminate any compromised wells is that homeowners will be advised to use chlorine bleach. This is also a contaminant, and is usually used in quantities of one gallon of scent free bleach for every 525 gallons of well water, with further instructions to let it percolate for at least 12 hours to kill fecal matter. It is then up to residents to run their water until they cannot smell bleach anymore. Using a contaminant to decontaminate another is hardly a safe way to deal with contaminated water. The most effective, safe and contaminant-free way to get fresh, safe water is to use water distillers.
Larry Wardell is with H2olabs.com, a provider of water distiller systems and water distillation systems that provide truly pure distilled water. To learn more, visit H2olabs.com.
