You Must Ask Questions This Time

BLAIR, NEBRASKA (2024, JULY 6, SATURDAY) I wrote three articles in 2023 that dealt with Blair’s water supply. I will link them:

1. Blair Mayor, Mindy Rump, Answers Key Questions – Blair, Nebraska News (blairtoday.com)
2. Blair, Nebraska Water: Is It Safe to Drink? – Blair, Nebraska News (blairtoday.com)
3. Blair Water: Where Will The Money Come From? – Blair, Nebraska News (blairtoday.com)

I wrote those articles because, for all that’s good about Blair, the water is not one of those things. Here’s what I wrote on March 2, 2023:

The Mayor and water department may be 100% correct about Blair’s water. But, I will not drink, cook with, or breathe steam generated by it when it smells like a water that sat outside in a once-deeper pool, fed by “Fish Creek,” at the end of dry-spell in July… Or, whatever other metaphor you want to use. I’m not doing it. Do what you want. The Mayor and water department are the official word on this in Blair – word I won’t dispute – in this article, but am willing to learn enough about to change my mind on. But, if I my nose won’t let it pass my lips, onto my tongue because it feels like it’s bathed it something unusually-inorganic, then, I just… can’t… do it.

And, that was just when the water was contaminated, er, I mean, smelled gross, in the Spring. You know, the annual “it’s springtime in Blair, the water will be totally gross and smell completely unsafe, but hey, it’s Blair so, I mean, that’s what happens here and everyone says it’s just a thing we do, so, well, there you go” mental-hoop-jumping exercise.

Well, I’m not from Blair originally, and I can tell you that it’s not normal. I’ve lived in places that had farmland all around, got their water from rivers fed by that farmland runoff, and the water never smelled, tasted, or TESTED like Blair’s.

See, Blair residents also get to play a game. It’s a game I like to call, “I wonder if we’ll get that letter again this year 30 days after an ‘event’ where we probably should have been warned about the water, but it’s Blair, and being told that in real-time would spoil the surprise.”

Long name for a game, I admit. Fun, though, right?

And, stop. Just stop if you are about defend that garbage. There is no defense of it. If you live in Blair, you know exactly what I’m talking about here. It is a ridiculous, and should be embarrassing indictment, on whoever is in charge of that. When I first moved here and got that letter, I thought, surely this is rare. My neighbor laughed and said, no. Actually, really not rare.

21 years later and here we are wondering how poop got in the drinking water supply.

There are numerous cases of folks getting sick. When you see little kids in hospitals it hits way too close to home. There are reports of families with neighbors on either side of them all swallowing some of the “e coli”-fied water and finding themselves at MCH.

It’s not funny at this point.

Never was, but now, not funny. Not okay. And, not a chance I would drink the water today – even if John Insley Blair (founder of our town), rose from the grave, put his lips around a spigot at City Hall, and shared a swig with Blair City Administrator Phil Green.

To be clear, E. coli contamination in United States municipal water supplies is relatively rare, but it does occur occasionally. Here’s a brief overview:

1. Frequency: Most U.S. water systems consistently meet federal and state standards for drinking water quality, including those for E. coli.
2. Monitoring: Public water systems are required to test regularly for coliform bacteria, including E. coli, under the Safe Drinking Water Act.
3. Occurrence: When contamination does happen, it’s often due to:
   • Infrastructure issues (e.g., broken pipes)
   • Treatment system failures
   • Extreme weather events (e.g., flooding)
4. Notable cases: While uncommon, there have been high-profile incidents, such as the Flint, Michigan water crisis (2014-2019), which involved various contaminants including E. coli.
5. Rural vs. Urban: Smaller, rural water systems may be more vulnerable due to less sophisticated treatment facilities and infrastructure.
6. Response: When E. coli is detected, water authorities typically issue boil water advisories and work to identify and address the source of contamination.

While the overall risk is low, it’s not zero. Regular testing and prompt action when issues are detected help maintain the generally high quality of U.S. municipal water supplies.

The issue is not whether things can happen – they can. Sometimes things we don’t like, and to the water supply. It’s not a zero-possibility situation. It would be wrong to blame the city for things that are unforeseen – although if there is negligence, that should be solved.

So, no, Blair is not the only town to face this issue. It happens sometimes. However, in Blair, this seems like the logical next-chapter in a story we’ve been reading for decades. This is the “And, Next We Drank Poop Water” chapter.

This story can go a couple ways now. It can go the way it always – ALWAYS – goes (ie: nothing changes, we wait for more fun games with the water supply, and, Lord willing, I write more articles about this in the future where it feels like I’m clapping with one hand).

Or, you can ask these questions:

1. Where did the E Coli come from?
2. How was it found, specifically.
3. Who found it. Who is responsible at the city of Blair for finding it, then not telling you immediately.
4. What is the City going to do to ensure this does not happen again? Specifically. No more “the water is fine” pablum from city officials.
5. NOTE: This is not about “blame” or pretending there is something the Mayor or Phil Green, or anyone could have done to stop it. Maybe nothing was possible, nothing would have spared the city. What this is about is accountability, in the moment, to all of us that this time – THIS TIME – will be different in the way it’s handled and with IMMEDIATE information flow. It would be wrong to expect the city to have a crystal ball and know in advance this was about happen, it would be right, though to expect them to stop whatever they are doing and answer questions, publicly.

You need to know the timeline of events, laid out in clear, easy-to-understand language. It is more than just passingly-important that we are told where the contamination came from – because if the city can’t figure that out, how can they assure us it’s been solved?

This is a key, vital piece of information you need.

And, hey, this is 2024. The internet is a thing. There is exactly ZERO reason the city of Blair – from the Mayor on down – can’t get someone in front of a webcam to give a LIVE update at times like this. It’s bush league for residents of Blair to have to wait til they walk into Walmart to see a printed flyer – while they may be sipping on a cold ice tea from McDonald’s.

It would take less time than it took me to write this article for someone from the city to just look into a camera and say, “Here’s what’s going on, here’s what our plan is, and here is what you should do next.”

Lastly, there needs to be an emergency session of the City Council to address this. I don’t mean a shouting match. I don’t mean namecalling. I don’t mean “heated”. I mean, rational accountability to get to the bottom of this. Don’t wait for a letter in the mail 30 days out, don’t wait for me to write an article, and don’t fill your dog’s bowl with water from the tap until you are satisfied with what you hear from the City.

I must admit, though, it would be interesting to see when Blair city officials would share a glass of water from that spigot outside City Hall.