Entry 841 of 1039
By Think! Christiansburg On September 2, 2010 at 7:00 AM

It may be getting to the point where "Christiansburg" comes up and people think about water. 

What immediately comes to mind may not be the town's long awaited Aquatic Center. 

Mentioning water could just as easily make people think:

  • about increasingly common urban flooding (which many attribute to over development in unsuitable areas),
  • about town leaders delaying infrastructure projects due to a budget which currently doesn't provide for these needs (possibly contributing to a loss of economic development opportunities or delaying projects to address problems with existing water and sewer lines causing raw sewage to invade homes and businesses which disrupts lives and increases insurance costs),  
  • about a failure to meet "primary maximum contaminant" levels for water quality, as required by Virginia State Code (which many consider a basic health need and entitlement given they pay dearly for this service). 

On the last bullet -- do you recall receiving a notice in the mail from the town about water being served to consumers in July testing  positive for coliform bacteria (an "indicator that other, potentially harmful, bacteria may be present")? 

Are you signed up for the town's E-alert system and if so, were you quickly notified about these failed tests?  Read about it in a local newspaper or learn about it on the evening news?  The announcement appeared on the town's web site August 27th (if you knew where to look). 

Did your bi-monthly water/sewer/garbage bill mailed Sept. 1 include this information?  What if you or someone in your household -- pregnant women, infants, the elderly or medically fragile -- need to ensure they should now use only bottled or purified water as a precaution?  Were there any health problems reported by any of the thousands of weekend visitors who came to town in July? 

This failure didn't mean people should have been boiling water, and for most it only serves as required notification about the town not meeting a minimum standard. 

Now that you know, do you understand where the problems were found, the causes or how it was addressed?  Or will you look at your bi-monthly bill a bit differently and maybe go purchase your own home water purification system?  After buying that insurance rider for sewage protection, can you afford it?