Barbara Nelson wrote: > I saw a piece on the vulnerability of our local water supply (specifically > they mentioned Mpls., St. Paul and New Brighton) on some local TV station > (can't remember which one) and, as I recall, it said that Mpls. water is > tested 98 times per minute to make sure it is okay and if it isn't there is > an instantaneous shutdown. In St. Paul it is pretty much the same story. > According to all the officials, we are protected from terrorist threats very > well.
If memory serves, the Minneapolis water is tested both by the Water Department and the State Department of Health. (and possibly the City Department of Health... my memory is a little fuzzy here) It has to meet standards set by the State Department of Health, unlike bottled water which does not have quality standards. (so if you think you are safer drinking bottled water, you are wrong) Cities in the region get their water from three basic sources: the Mississippi, lakes, and wells. Minneapolis gets its water solely from the Mississippi River as opposed to St Paul that gets its water from both the Mississippi and from lakes in the northern part of the region. Most suburban areas that do not draw their water from these two systems (if memory serves me, Minneapolis provides water to other suburbs like Golden Valley and Bloomington and has something like 500,000 people total relying on their water) they get water from wells. The biggest vulnerablity of the Minneapolis water system is a spill in the river. If the river water is not drinkable for a period of time, then Minneapolis has no water. St Paul would just shut off its access from the river and rely solely on lake water and suburbs would continue with their wells. There was some discussion of an interconnection between the two systems a while ago but if my memory serves me it would have cost something like $20 million. Also, Minneapolis doesn't have a lot of finished water sitting around in tanks. At best, there would be like a one or two day supply in the system depending on the time of year if they had to shut down the river access. Does anyone know if any progress was made on the interconnection question over the last several years? Carol Becker Longfellow _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
