It seems like almost once a week or more there’s a story in the news about a water main break and the efforts made to get residents clean water.
This week’s water-main problem occurred in Salem, Ore., according to Salem-News.com:
Last Thursday, work by a contractor on a water main replacement project in south Salem was stopped when odors were detected at several residences after they were hooked up to the new water main…
…Twenty-four homes had been hooked up to the new water main when the project was stopped. The affected residences were notified of the concern and bottled water was provided to each residence. No other homes were affected.
For a day, those homes had no source of municipal water before the homes were reconnected to the old water main. Bottled water helped fill that 24-hour or so gap.
Bottled water is typically just an alternative to tap water. But sometimes, as we’ve seen in Oregon, it’s an essential substitute.