Danville’s local Coca-Cola sales staff wants extra sales and there’s nothing wrong with that. So “Have a Coke and a AAAAAIIIIEEEEE!!!!!!!!!” Heh.
This has been making Ye Olde Internet Rounds since Monday. The local Coca-Cola plant on Trade Street has put this friendly presentation out for local restaurants…
Yes. It’s official. We have a “Danville Water Crisis” now. It’s true because salespeople from Coke just might want to sell more bottled drinks, so maybe that’s the “Crisis”? For the price of about 20 cases of Coca-Cola bottled drinks, a restaurant could buy and install a commercial water filtration system which would last forever, even after this “Crisis” is over.
I’m not going to totally mock this Coca-Cola presentation because there are lessons to be learned from this “Crisis” incident. One good example is from Danville’s Texas Steakhouse & Saloon (one of our sponsors). They went out and got bottled water for their customers and don’t charge anything for it.
What I am going to have fun with is Danville’s Coca-Cola sales staff using the word “Crisis”. Words have meanings. The stinky water has a horrible taste and I’m still using bottled water, but the non-stinky water is making its way through the distribution system now (and has been for a while). The city staff blew it when they turned off the carbon filtration system after the Big Green Algae Blob passed through the water intake valve. That’s what caused Round #2 of the stinky water problem. But the water always has been safe to drink, even though I am not drinking it now. That has never changed. Nobody has died from drinking the treated drinking water. Nobody has gotten sick from drinking the treated drinking water.
The water tastes horrible and I’m having to buy bottled water to drink. That’s a serious inconvenience. It’s not a “Crisis”.
You make some fair points about the word “crisis” and Texas Steakhouse. But…I really don’t blame people to start wondering/getting really upset. Plenty of “don’t drink the water” warnings are issued across VA every year. Chatham’s had a couple in the past decade. But I can’t remember such poor water quality lasting so long anywhere else in the state. You’re right, it’s “safe” from a health standpoint, but I don’t know anyone who’s using or drinking it. It’s hard not to start to think it’s a “crisis” when it’s lasted so long.
I certainly didn’t mean for this to be a commercial for Texas Steakhouse. 😀
But as I said in my speech last week, the city hadn’t been putting out the message that they were pumping out non-stinky water until today. Here’s today’s media release.
If they had said that with authority 10 days ago, they could have remained in control of the message.
But it still tastes and smells bad! Good business for Texas Steakhouse to provide water and good business for coke to have bottled drinks, Crisis, problem or whatever you want to call it, people want to know what is wrong with the water. Even if it tastes and smells ok eventually people will still want to know why the Dan smells.
Don’t you reckon Texas Steak House is buying Desani water from Coke? By the way, you can’t say nobody has been made sick, or nobody has died from the water. You don’t know that for sure. So far as you know nobody has died or been made sick. It is plain to see the city has been lying to us about how long the water is going to be tainted. I don’t know why you are willing to accept their word on one thing when you know they have lied about another.
No. They’re not buying Dasani water from Coke.
And the reason I’m “accepting their word” is because “their word” is corroborated by every other independent scientifically verified source.
The city hasn’t been lying. They just haven’t given much information. There’s a big difference there.
So where is your evidence that the city lied? And you dont think that if someone got sick or died that the media would not be all over it? Come on folks we are ALL smarter than this.
I am getting a sneaking suspicion that the problem isn’t in the river at all. Gross, eh?
The Danville water issue is a crisis if you are a business, in my opinion. That’s why so many of them have been buying can or bottle drinks and the smarter ones have been buying filters. Marketing this to a business as a crisis for them is accurate.
A river is the only common bond on the stinkiness issue.
The problem, however, is that there is nothing either NC or VA can find in the river at this point. That suggests something nasty is in the treatment system and until they find it the problem will persist.
The water in South Boston is equally smelly/yucky. It’s not the treatment system, unless Danville is providing water to South Boston. IMO, it has to be the Dan.
That’s my real concern. Every time I hear, “Tests show the river’s fine”, I think….”Well, if the river’s fine, then what’s causing the problem with the water?”
we don’t know how long the “inconvenience” is going to last. when will it become a “CRYSIS” ( crises). revisit this in 6 months….12 months………….future……….is there a statue of limitations on crises? inconvenience ? when does one end other begin?
people are not taking this lightly !!
Today, the Stinkiness Level of my tap water went down significantly. It’s logical to assume that the non-stinky water is now starting to reach my point on the distribution system. We’ll see if this trend continues over the next few days.
And you might as well take it lightly, because there’s not a damn thing that anybody can do about it now.
“not taking it lightly” ?? ————> restaurants offering bottled water to its customers. if the restaurant managers, owners etc didn’t care then why would they go above and beyond? they’d serve the ole nasty water. this IS an extra expense. Yes you are right there is nothing we can do. perhaps this is a phrophecy ? the end times. pestilence. !!! look at California’s drought. time will tell…………….we shall see. Both are coming from “nature” water IS a natural resource. AT least restaurants are proactive.
Read carefully. I didn’t say that people didn’t care.
your “there’s not a damn thing that anybody can do about it now” sounds like people should not care is way I interpreted. all in eyes of beholder/reader/interpreter . poe tay to / potato,,,,tah may toe / tomato….all in way one reads it…..
Bruce,
Thank you for a forum where ideas and concerns can be shared and questioned. I have read your comments, and others, regarding the smelly water problem. The comment is made by you that “the water is safe to drink” but you say you are drinking bottled water. So the accolades that you give the municipal water supplier are in fact double-speak. You say one thing but your actions do not coincide with what you say. A declaration that the water is safe means that it has passed a specific mandated test and it meets the minimum requirements for safety based on that specific test as regulated by a bureaucratic agency. Obviously there is something in the water that is not being revealed by the mandated test? Is the problem an internal issue within the municipality or a supply problem? Why is it that local restaurants are successful in filtering their water but the city cannot “get a grip” on the problem? You stated that no one has died or gotten sick from drinking the water. But be honest, no one knows the long term effects of consuming this water. The cost are mounting for local businesses as well as citizens who purchase bottled water or a personal filtration device. Some financial concessions should be made by the city to off-set this expense. Thanks for the great website.
The water is safe. It tastes like dirt. I am only drinking bottled water because it tastes like dirt. You (and other people) are mixing up “taste” and “safety”. They’re two totally different issues.
The city “has a grip” on the problem. As I’ve said before, the water treatment plant is pumping out good tasting water. It just takes up to 20+ days to get it to the end user as it flows through the distribution system. The city finally came out and said that in today’s media release. That should have been said as soon as the carbon filtration started. I said that in my speech last Tuesday night.
As for “no one knows the long term effects of consuming this water”, you can logically expand that to any substance. I work with science and facts. If the water is declared safe by independent and regulated sources, I logically have to go with their expertise.
Thanks for the kind words. 🙂
When the water smells and tastes this bad for this long I say it is a crisis even if they say it’s safe. I’m not entirely convinced that it is. I agree with you about the water filtration thing though. What worries me is that we still don’t know the cause.
I’m totally convinced. I only deal with facts and science when it comes to this type of situation. And remember, we probably will never know the official cause.
So, I imagine the city PR machine will praise the government workers who couldn’t figure out this problem, pat themselves on the back and then lurch on to the next crisis.
Are there tests results available to the public listing the composition of Danville’s water?
Two parts hydrogen, one part oxygen. 😀 Seriously, there’s a list of trace metals that is tested for as well as the water is tested biologically and chemically for toxins. I’ll follow up on this.
Added: Here’s a quote from the News & Record – “The biological activity can produce non-toxic, non-regulated taste and odor-causing compounds that can be detected by humans in levels as low as one part per trillion” – Jeffrey Wells, engineering field director for the Danville office of the Virginia Department of Health’s Office of Drinking Water
After taking some time to research questions that have been posed concerning the safety of our drinking water I came across the following article. The article was published in 2009. I have not taken the time to find out if changes have been made since then. However, I have heard quite a few folks ask, “How do we really know our water is safe?” I have also heard and have even asked the question myself, “How do we know there are not toxic chemicals in our water supply that aren’t subject to testing?”
I believe this article poses legitimate food for thought. As time allows I will delve further into researching what chemicals are tested for in our treatment process and what other chemicals enter our water supply that may need to be included in the testing..
Before anyone tosses out the, “You don’t know how the water treatment process works” card – I will state unequivocally that I do. While I am no expert I have taken the time to research the various processes used.
By no means am I an alarmist, but I do believe educating myself in this area is warranted and prudent.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/17/us/17water.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Omg people stop whining like it’s a real crisis. Fat Americans do not know what a water crisis is. Get some well water from a friend in the county and be glad you aren’t dying in the sun like people in third world countries.
Ouch to Tork.