Parenthetical

First, a signal-boost for my friend Tahnan‘s brilliant idea: I pledge to donate $10 to a safe drinking water charity for every day of Boston’s boil-water order. Will you join me, with whatever you can afford? The reservoir water coming out of my tap right now is a) clear and tasty, b) far safer than much of the world has available, and c) coming out of my tap. This is a reminder that we’ve got it pretty damn good. (I’m taking charity suggestions.)

To hear a lot of people tell it, we are having a little apocalypse of our own in eastern Mass. this week. A water pipe broke, such that the water coming out of our taps is the emergency back-up water (from lake reservoirs), and we should boil it before drinking.

1. Boiling water is not actually that big a deal. Put a big pot on while you’re puttering around the house doing other things, let it cool off overnight, stick it in the fridge if you want it cold, scoop it out for drinking and tooth-brushing. Done and done.

2. If you ever went swimming in ponds as a kid and swallowed some water and didn’t die, or if you ever went camping and washed your dishes in the lake… this is like that. Chill.

3. I have heard so many “people on the street” (or in this case the grocery store) interviewed about how they “don’t trust the government” that boiling the water will make it safe. So they’re buying huge cases of individual bottles of water, of course. Because it makes total sense to trust the water-bottling corporation more than the government or, you know, basic science.

3a. Sidenote: The only reason we trust corporations at all is the government and whatever semblance of regulatory law we have left.

4. Events like this are important, to lift the curtain of modern civilization and show us the machinery. Our water comes from somewhere; a complex system has to function properly for it to show up in our taps. Sometimes this system breaks, and it’s good to know how to handle that. It makes us more robust as individuals and as a society.

So I get frustrated when I see people “handling” it by freaking out and buying all the bottled water in the store — depending more on the grid, not less. This is a missed opportunity, folks! (Not to mention a little scary for someone like me who believes that the grid will probably get less and less dependable over my lifetime. I’d like to believe my neighbors will cope sanely with that.)

I’ve always loved Charity: Water’s ad, in which New York residents (including Jennifer Connelly) have to walk miles for unclean water. It makes its point beautifully, and is especially relevant now. Please watch, and think, and maybe give.