32 minutes with out electricity and some thoughts on tap water.
7:01pm - 7:33pm
The power goes out in Chicago often enough to not cause very much concern when it does so [it's usually pretty short-term]. It strikes me that this would be rather odd to someone living somewhere else. It's usually the result of roadwork, construction, or the power company doing work somewhere [and screwing up.. which is also not unusual]. In a city as old and as densely populated as Chicago is, I can only imagine what a convoluted, horrific mess of wires and cables twine their way through the city infrastructre and architecture. @_@
Which reminds me of a site I came across a day or two ago, the National Tap Water Database. As old and crazy as the wiring is in the city, just take a moment to think about the sprawling, aging water system. Yeah. Scary. The Chicago Dept. of Water Management contains 17 pollutants detected between 1998 and 2003, 4 of which are above health limits. [The site makes an interesting and valid point: Contaminants listed may not have exceeded legal limits, which are set to balance cost and benefits and are often higher than health-based limits - see note below.] What I will say, is that tap water definitely leaves a calium-like deposit on dishes, in sinks/tubs, etc. and doesn't taste particularly nice. Every person I know, without exception, owns some type of water filtration device [most often a trusty Brita pitcher].
I remember a year or two ago, when they found "trace" amounts of arsenic [which is one of the 4 contaminants found in Chicago tap water which is above health limits] at Oak Street Beach, which is the beach I most often go to during the summer. The day after the story broke.. the beach was still packed. All I could think was, well, the same thing I thought.. "..trace amounts? Psh.. that's nothing! This is Chicago, we're tougher than that.." ..puncuated with a cynical roll of the eyes.
The power goes out in Chicago often enough to not cause very much concern when it does so [it's usually pretty short-term]. It strikes me that this would be rather odd to someone living somewhere else. It's usually the result of roadwork, construction, or the power company doing work somewhere [and screwing up.. which is also not unusual]. In a city as old and as densely populated as Chicago is, I can only imagine what a convoluted, horrific mess of wires and cables twine their way through the city infrastructre and architecture. @_@
Which reminds me of a site I came across a day or two ago, the National Tap Water Database. As old and crazy as the wiring is in the city, just take a moment to think about the sprawling, aging water system. Yeah. Scary. The Chicago Dept. of Water Management contains 17 pollutants detected between 1998 and 2003, 4 of which are above health limits. [The site makes an interesting and valid point: Contaminants listed may not have exceeded legal limits, which are set to balance cost and benefits and are often higher than health-based limits - see note below.] What I will say, is that tap water definitely leaves a calium-like deposit on dishes, in sinks/tubs, etc. and doesn't taste particularly nice. Every person I know, without exception, owns some type of water filtration device [most often a trusty Brita pitcher].
I remember a year or two ago, when they found "trace" amounts of arsenic [which is one of the 4 contaminants found in Chicago tap water which is above health limits] at Oak Street Beach, which is the beach I most often go to during the summer. The day after the story broke.. the beach was still packed. All I could think was, well, the same thing I thought.. "..trace amounts? Psh.. that's nothing! This is Chicago, we're tougher than that.." ..puncuated with a cynical roll of the eyes.