Don'tdrink the water in Corpus Christi..

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/officia...ater/ar-AAlAD6W

An excellent reason to have a stockpile of reasonably clean H2O on hand. Some years ago we had a very localized, transient problem. The city employee giving us the news showed up with a small crate of bottled water, and I said "That's OK,we've got plenty." Problem resolved in about 24 hours.

Water is pretty fundamental, as any desert rat can tell you

Well that would suck. A complete shut-off (i.e. no boiling) would make it much more difficult if you weren't prepared.

Our neighbourhood water main usually blows a couple times a year, leaving us without water for a day or so. It's easy enough to deal with as long as you've got water stored for just such an occasion. Many of my neighbours haven't figured it out yet.

Sounds like this was completely unexpected and longer lasting.

Wow, they send somebody over. The watermains here are pretty reliable, so very little is done in preparing the distribution of alternative drink water.

I think i once saw a report of the water company just put a few pallets a bottled water in a square. People practically hoarding that stuff there, leaving other with none.

This won't likely be resolved quickly.

According to a water pollution scientist my wife works with, the pollution is poised to run thru the whole system from beginning to end and pollute the pipes for future water delivery and destroy the sewage plant function too.

I don't know if it is something that can be cleaned up or if they will have to replace the entire water delivery and sewage systems. It is an emulsified petroleum- IE doesn't separate from the water, kind of like using mustard in your salad dressing to help mix the oil and vinegar.

In the meantime it may mean not only having to import freshwater to drink, but to flush too.

-Just read more, sounds like it was about 24 gallons of stuff. Hopefully that small amount can be flushed thru without too much harm.