[KathieI]

I have another, "does anyone know" question.
Does anyone know if the filtered water in the front of the refrigerator is safe? I'm not sure but am not using it just in case.

OH, BTW, WOOF, WOOF.... don't forget not to fill the doggie water bowls from the tap. Thankfully, Dr.Valdez says to only use distilled water for them anyway, so my dawgs drink "Gourmet" water...

[pcri2009]

I truly believe that the district adminstration let the residents of these affected villages down. Last night at 7:00 PM the Rec centers were still providing water to scheduled events from their taps in the mallory area. After mentioning to the attendants, they removed the water.

I suggested that notices at each gate and mail center would have helped a bit to get the word out faster in addition to the reverse 911 system. I have sent a complaint to the district administration office and I suggest that we all do that. Their email address is customerservice@districtgov.org, do not use the District adminstration email address as it is not working.

[NJblue]

I must admit that this incident has for the first time made me question the lack of any local, elected government in TV. If this had happened in any other community and the communication was as bad, the elected officials would rightly be held accountable at the voting booths. Unfortunately in this case our system of benevolent dictatorship appears to be broken and we have no recourse other than to complain to each other and mention it in a survey.

There are many means to disseminate this information:
Community Watch
Firetrucks which, in communities that I am from, had loudspeakers
bulletins plastered all over the mail stations
announcements made by rec center staffs to all people coming into the building and at the pool
reverse 911

All of these are available immediately and should be under the control of Janet Tutt at the CDD. She dropped the ball on this one, as did the developer who doesn't even deem this important enough to put it on the front page (apparently assuming that everyone already knows about it). In addition to the above methods of communication, the developer could also use email to distribute the information. As I recall, when we "checked in" after buying we provided our email addresses. A simple database of email addresses with fields for village and section number would allow for rapid communication with narrowly targeted populations.

Were it not for TOTV, we would still be guzzling tap water. As it is we did not find out until I logged on last night after 11:00 PM.

TV is a great concept and exceedingly well planned in just about all areas - except this one.

[bkcunningham1]

I have looked all over the Florida government pages without any success about dishwashers and ice makers except for this for commercial businesses:

http://www.doacs.state.fl.us/fs/boilwaternotice.pdf


But I found this very good info from another state for residential water:

http://www.charlestonwater.com/custs...l_advisory.htm

Here is the EPA:

http://www.epa.gov/safewater/faq/emerg.html

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by CJ

Many of us are too busy to watch tv channel 2, as in my case. I never saw the warning until the 11pm news so I have been drinking and using water in food all day. Went to the colony pool...no notice or discussion about this from anyone and went to the rec center...no notice or warning.
The best is that there is not a single word about this in the newspaper!
Someone will get sick and the villages is not caring about the residents who may be impacted by the contaminated water. Not a great nor comforting feeling about how the villages consider us and our health.

To be fair, there was an article on the second page of The Daily Sun, but it really didn't say why, how, not too much of what or when ....

Originally Posted by graciegirl

To be fair, there was an article on the second page of The Daily Sun, but it really didn't say why, how, not too much of what or when ....

Really suprised that this was not posted on all the postal stations in the affected Villages???

[bkcunningham1]

As for information to the public in this circumstance, the Florida Department of Health is the lead agency. Note the last paragraph. From the Florida:

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
DRINKING WATER PROGRAM
GUIDELINES FOR THE ISSUANCE OF PRECAUTIONARY BOIL WATER NOTICES

All precautionary boil water notices shall be issued and delivered to the general public in a manner consistent with the public notification requirements contained in Chapter 62-560.410(1)(a) 1., Florida Administrative Code (FAC), telephoned, or hand-delivered to all affected residences and businesses as soon as possible, but in no case later than 24 hours after the water system learns of the violation, exceedance, situation or failure.

Additionally, the DOH shall take the lead role in cooperating with other governmental agencies and all contacts with the media regarding emergency notices involving any and all imminent threats to public health involving private and public water supply systems.

According to Chapter 62-560.410(1)(a), which is referenced in the guidelines, apparently the type of notice depends on the reason for the notice and the type of water system issueing the notice:

http://www.dep.state.fl.us/legal/Rul...ter/62-560.pdf

You have to be an attorney to decipher the language...but bottom line, the DOH, in their own words, is responsible for overseeing the public notice.

[BogeyBoy]

Originally Posted by bkcunningham1

I have looked all over the Florida government pages without any success about dishwashers and ice makers except for this for commercial businesses:

http://www.doacs.state.fl.us/fs/boilwaternotice.pdf


But I found this very good info from another state for residential water:

http://www.charlestonwater.com/custs...l_advisory.htm

Here is the EPA:

http://www.epa.gov/safewater/faq/emerg.html

Great links - thanks.

What do you think Havana, McDonalds, The China Gourmet, Beef O'Brady's, etc.are doing? How about Publix food prep areas?

[cabo35]

BK - Thanks for the information and informative links.

[graciegirl]

Bk...you know how to get information!

I emailed the link provided and I think it would be a good idea for others to do so too.

We drink bottled water chilled but use ice in other drinks. We feel fine. Our cats have diarrhea...I don't know if it is because of the water.

My dear neighbor is on chemo which really whallops your immune system.

Lots of reason to know what is happening.

[bkcunningham1]

You know Gracie, my Mom was on dialysis for about five years before she passed. The water quality for that process as well as nursing homes, hospitals, schools, daycare facilities, not to mention eating establishments is a serious thing.

I am from a very rural area of the country where many people have wells and springs and even cisterns as a water source. In just the past decade, a majority of the residents in the county where I was born now have water available from a Public Service Authority water system. I became well acquainted with the Virginia Department of Health's water quality people as a young reporter in the area.

When the state would check private wells and find bacteria, say from fecal matter from cattle grazing near a water source, they'd issue a notice. The folks on the private system would get all up in arms about the government imposing regulations on them and call me. I know both sides of the story. Even researched (in the days before Internet) and wrote about a state run water fluoridation program that had people screaming it was a conspriacy to drug Americans. What an interesting story.

It is a big leap of faith to trust strangers with your water.

But if my tax dollars are paying someone to keep me "safe" with something as common and important as water, I want them to do their job properly.

Sorry for the rant and thank you for your tolerance. But researching with the Internet, and verifying things, is so much fun for an old retired reporter.

[Canabarrybarb]

We've all be seriously let down by The Villages. I don't want an apology. I want to know what process they are going to put in place so that next time we all get reasonable notice so that we can protect ourselves.

There have been many excellent suggestions in this thread.

[JimJoe]

Does anyone know if reverse 911 will work in cell phones? What if you are snow bird? I think the mass email, twitter, chain calls, and texts may be the answer. They are instant.

[Whalen]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

To be fair, there was an article on the second page of The Daily Sun, but it really didn't say why, how, not too much of what or when ....

Sorry GG, I'm not with you on this one.

It has nothing to do with "Fair".

Upper left, short column, with very little info, 24 hours after the event started is simply too little and in some cases too late.

The paper and the developers handeling of this situation is unfogiveable.

They should be ashamed of themselves.

[Whalen]

Originally Posted by JimJoe

Does anyone know if reverse 911 will work in cell phones? What if you are snow bird? I think the mass email, twitter, chain calls, and texts may be the answer. They are instant.

If you register your cell phone the system works.

When the last storm warning was issued in the early morning hours our whole house was ringing.