weather patterns are happening now. Tornados in Salt Lake City for heavens sake. Think dust bowl. Higher water demands means lower water tables. The water table in most areas has been dropping each year for the last 40 years. Reports in Texas of dying hardwood trees, and land that is the dryest in 50 years. Think loss of electricity, loss of water pumping facilities. Duh. Curly was trying to prepare but couldn't figure out how to get the 55 gallon drums through the kitchen door. I told him it would be easier if he put the water in after the drum was located where he wanted it. A swimming pool will be a lifesaver next year as a water source for gardens, putting out fires, toilet flushing etc. even if the pool water is not drinkable. Note: the white gallon milk jugs are not susitable for water storage. They do fall apart or leak. 2 liter soda bottles work great.

-- Moe (Moe@3stooges.gom), September 10, 1999

Answers

Regarding water: here I am doing the weekly laundry...container empty...I do the usual rinse (Gotta get every pennies worth of product) and throw away....WOW!...DO NOT RINSE AND THROW AWAY..leave residual soap in container...fill with water.. cool! water with soap to wash with...(I am sure that this is not an original idea...however, if there are new lurkers...this may help

-- NotOriginal (Dumb@dah!.com), September 10, 1999.

As a matter of fact, there is a severe shortage in Houston right now. They lost 3 generating facilities for some reason. (Just reported it on the local 10 p.m. news) They have crews going door to door telling people not to use ANY water unless it is an emergency.

-- Gayla (privacy@please.com), September 10, 1999.

Gayla,

Here is the story you were talking about. The Chronicle made me fill out a form to let me access this so I'm going to copy the whole article here (for educational purposes only, of course) for ayone who doesn't want to fill out the form. :-)

Houston Chronicle

September 10, 1999, 09:19 p.m.

Plant's water pumps break down again Clear Lake starts rationing measure

By EDWARD HEGSTROM Copyright 1999 Houston Chronicle

Water pumps serving the suburbs south and east of Houston broke down again Friday, prompting officials to start rationing in Clear Lake and consider similar measures throughout the region.

The breakdown knocked out the second and third of three pumps at Houston's southeast pumping facility. The first pump at the station broke down Sept. 2, so the entire facility is now shut down.

The city immediately began diverting water from another pump plant, but officials said they can provide less than a third of the normal flow.

Officials said the southeast facility could be inoperative for as long as a week.

Les Johnson, a spokesman for the city's Public Works and Engineering Department said that if suburban cities begin conservation measures and tap unused supplies, the reduced water flow from Houston should be enough to avert serious problems.

"With a cooperative effort, we might even be able to get through this relatively unscathed," he said.

Hardest hit was Clear Lake, which depends on Houston to provide 95 percent of the water to its 16,000 customers. Clear Lake authorities had already implemented a complex system to limit the number of days that homeowners could water their lawns.

Now, they've decided on something much simpler.

"We've banned outdoor watering entirely," said Wilbert J. Molbert, general manager of the Clear Lake City Water Authority.

Other utilities in the region have access to wells that they can tap in an emergency, which could avoid rationing.

La Porte has already switched to local wells, and users there will not be asked to cut back, a city representative said Friday.

In Pasadena, a city police dispatcher said crews were scrambling Friday night to open the water lines to normally unused city wells. He said he did not know if Pasadena residents will be required to ration water.

Johnson said that the other cities or water districts affected are Baybrook, Clear Brook, Friendswood, the Gulf Coast Water Authority, South Houston, Webster and the Harris County Utility District No. 55.

-- Deborah (infowars@yahoo.com), September 11, 1999.

The breakdown knocked out the second and third of three pumps at Houston's southeast pumping facility. The first pump at the station broke down Sept. 2, so the entire facility is now shut down.

Cascading effects? Saying that the pumps "broke down" is not very descriptive, but whatever it is, shouldn't they be able to fix it in 72 hours?

-- RUOK (RUOK@yesiam.com), September 11, 1999.

You know, there is something strange about all these stories. They all have one thing in common which is: Absolutely zero investigative journalism. It's as if nobody should even try to connect the dots or try to look at the big picture or ask "Why is this happening?". Journalism is dead! Spin is in.

sdb

-- S. David Bays (SDBAYS@prodigy.net), September 11, 1999.

"With a cooperative effort, we might even be able to get through this relatively unscathed," he said.

Although this probably has nothing to do with Y2K, the problem is real and will keep on happening unless we demand contingency standards to be in existance at all times not just in case of Y2K!!!

Last night and again today I was watching public testimony in the Olympic pipeline leak and explosion in Washington state.

The representitives of the pipeline sounded almost irritated when they said they were "willing" to be co-operative in implementing safety measures and new accident prevention standards. The testimoney brought out publicly a lot of corrupt and orragent actions by the pipeline company. After the explosion and death of the 3 young boys, this company actually had the audacity to sue one town for refusing to give permission to the company to build a pipeline through their town!

In another situation, before the explosion the company was attempting to place a pipeline over a watermain. The man in charge of safety for the water line could get no legal help in preventing this.

Now for the skinney on the situation.

The pipeline was put into place 30+ years ago during the cold war and it's locations were kept secret because it supplied fuel to the airports and coastguard.

Well guess what peoples? It runs under Belleview, home of Microsoft and under the homes of a lot of the Microsoft millionaires. It also runs under parts of Seattle, including where I live.

So be prepared for TSTHTF when it comes to pipelines and the companies that run them.

The cold war is over and the need to keep the location of these dangerous and under regulated pipelines secret is over also.

So just why did those Water pumps fail in Houston? Why weren't there contingency plans in place in case of any kind of failure in the first place?

One thing that Y2K is doing for sure and that is making people aware of the poor safety and maintence standards industries have adopted. Safety standards have slowly but surely been eroded in the name of profit.

-- Cherri (sams@brigadoon.com), September 11, 1999.

Thanks Deborah for posting the article! It's amazing how "calm" the article sounds compared to what they were describing on the 10 p.m. news! When they were going door to door, they were actually telling people not to even take a BATH unless it was absolutely necessary. The Chronicle story makes it sound like "not a big problem." Don't panic... we CAN'T have panic!

-- Gayla (privacy@please.com), September 11, 1999.

But of course. The media downplays everything, especially corruption and disasters. But not SEX !!++xx@@!! Sex sells, was prime-time tested during Prez Sez for over a year.

Cherri, can you get a map of the pipeline route? Yes, it runs under residential neighborhoods :-( And it's full of "weak" spots. Hopefully the pressure of Y2K fix 'n plan will force companies to look at, correct, and be ahead of possible breakdowns. Safety must have a larger profile.

Maybe MS will go poof! first, tho ;^)
Whatever it takes to convert the world to Macs. BBWWAHAHAHAHAHAHA

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), September 11, 1999.

The latest update at 5 p.m. Sat.: They said the problem seems to be getting worse instead of better. It is some type of electrical problem and could take anywhere between 3 and 10 days to fix. Galveston is now in trouble as well because they get a lot of their water from Houston.

-- Gayla (privacy@please.com), September 11, 1999.

"In America, you can go on the air and kid the politicians, and the politicians can go on the air and kid the people." Groucho Marx

-- Groucho (Groucho@Marxx.com), September 11, 1999.

Gayla, did you already have plenty of water stored?
It's an odd feeling to put away gallon after gallon of water, especially in Cascadia, but one never knows when or why the spigot may go dry. Water is the #2 (after air) essential to life.
Folks, store water!

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), September 11, 1999.

Gayla,

Hi! I was happy to post it, I thought someone might request a link to an article, I had a moment so I tried to save you the time.

I know what you mean about the Ten O'clock News. Example: The sky is falling!! The sky is falling!! It's called RAIN!!! Make sure you bring an umbrella!!!! (to which I always reply [because I'm kinda nuts] "Thank you Big Brother! An umbrella in the rain! (dope slap) What a GREAT idea!!)

I know the article seemed subdued, but if a person is really comprehending the data they will realize that there are nine communities affected by this. If they're reading between the lines they will notice that the only explanation is 'they're broken' (oh, thanks, really?)

I'm sorry to hear that you are still having problems there. When MCI Worldnet was down, it seemed like things also just kept getting worse as they tried to fix them. (I'm not claiming they're related, just an observation) I hope you have your water stash ready!

Keep us up to date!

-- Deborah (infowars@yahoo.com), September 11, 1999.

Moe,

If milk jugs are suitable for milk they are SURE AS HELL suitable for my water. Those things got a half-life of 10 million years. When the aliens come back 50 million years from now after our nuclear holocaust and after the next big comet vaporizes our oceans, they will only see 2 things on the face of the Earth: cockroaches and milk jugs!

-- @ (@@@.@), September 11, 1999.

Cherri,

Although I am a bit surprised to find you agreeing with anyone on this forum (except for those who think embeddeds are no big problem, and I have to admit I don't know the story on that) I am inclined to disagree with you on one point in your above post.

You wrote:

"The cold war is over and the need to keep the location of these dangerous and under regulated pipelines secret is over also."

People who have grown up in and lived in other countries understand there is ALWAYS a threat of war.

We have been lucky in the U.S.

So far.

:)

-- FM (vidprof@aol.com), September 11, 1999.

@ milk jugs are now manufactured with starch as part of their composition so they will break down in landfills. i had some, that i was storing oil in after an oil change, that eventually (6 months) disintegrated leaving a gallon of oil all over my garage floor. granted water is less caustic than oil. i plan on using milk containers for water storage but you can bet i'll have them located near a drain should they leak.

an oily kiss to y

-- corrine l (corrine@iwaynet.net), September 12, 1999.

@ the milk jugs and many other "plastic" containers now break down easily due to their new biodegradable composition. Another thing that is made out of starches now are some of the "peanuts" used in packing. They can literally be eaten.

FM. You are correct. When I was 8 my Father was stationed in Germany and we were taught to be aware of what had happened during WWII as well as having nuclear bomb drills in school when we returned to the states. Coupled with the lifelong "emergency broadcast system" tests from TV and radio, I and many other Americans have been programmed to expect a disaster and Y2K fits the bill completly. Most people probably have no clue as to why they have reacted to the potential Y2K problems with such deep seated intensity.

-- Cherri (sams@brigadoon.com), September 12, 1999.

This is rather interesting, first Santa Cruz had a critical water shortage (system problem) requiring strict rationing, now Houston. Red car syndrome, or what? Of course, it could simply be our media does not bother to report this stuff, so we are left in the dark at all times.

-- OR (orwelliator@biosys.net), September 12, 1999.

Corrine,

An oily kiss? Oooooooooooo ggggiiiiirrrrlllll ... now yer' talkin'. What flavor we talkin bout here ... Crisco or Arco?

-- @ (@@@.@), September 13, 1999.