West Palm deserves better response after water contaminated

Several weeks after West Palm Beach residents were made aware of contamination of their water supply, they are still not getting satisfactory answers as to why their officials waited so long to notify them. If that doesn’t work, it’s hard to trust the city’s efforts.

The city had known of the algae contamination for at least nine days before alerting residents to drink bottled water.

The explanation offered to the Palm Beach Post writer Wayne Washington that officials could not alert the public until they get approval from the state Department of Health is not credible, no matter what policy the city operates by. How does it make sense to let residents drink contaminated water for nine days while the city ponders what to do about it? Whose idea of ​​best health practice is this?

Why shouldn’t the city warn residents, at least for the time being, pending further investigations into the potential health hazard? As a city water officer, wouldn’t you want your family to stop using the water until it is decontaminated? So why not our families?

More:Records reveal inside story about why West Palm made efforts to respond to the aquatic toxin problem

More:Days after West Palm announced local residents that the pollution standard had been violated, West Palm insists the water is safe

On May 3, through regular tests, utility workers found low levels of the toxin cylindrospermopsin, which at higher levels can cause stomach upset, vomiting, diarrhea, and liver and kidney damage. Follow-up tests returned on May 19 and May 27 were up to twice the threshold seen as at risk for children, pregnant women, nursing mothers, people with liver or kidney disease, and others.

However, the city did not issue a health notice until Friday, May 28, around 10 p.m.

The explanation: The city wants to do more tests and get the right advice from the state agency, said Utilities Director Poonam Kalkat.

Mayor Keith James listens as Poonam Kalkat, director of public utilities, discusses the formation of a panel of experts that will meet with the city on Friday 25th.

Her staff had reason to believe the city’s water treatment system was robust and sophisticated enough to deal with potential problems from algae toxins, she told Washington. “Last year we saw high levels of algae toxins getting into the plant, but they were removed by the treatment process.”

Meanwhile, however, the utility director either did not speak to her boss, the city administrator, or spoke to her at all, but made no mention that the water supplies of more than 125,000 abandoned in West Palm Beach, Palm Beach and South Palm Beach were tainted . City administrator Faye Johnson also had no idea about the contamination until May 28, says a spokeswoman.

How is it possible, as the mayor points out, that no one thought of telling him his city’s water had fallen dangerously without meeting state health standards? How is it possible that no one thought of telling the mayors of Palm Beach and South Palm Beach that they can protect their residents?

After the city knew for at least five years that such contamination could occur, how is it possible that the city didn’t have a plan of action, as they told our reporter – or at least a plan that was better than nine days of doing the best hope to know before they left the public? “No one seemed to have a clear idea of ​​what to do next to alert the public,” Washington wrote based on emails received through a request for public records.

Mayor Keith James is quick to say he took action as soon as he found out about the problem. But what does it say about his administration, its procedures and internal communication that a top department head warns him or his top administrator – their boss – not for a few hours, but only for a few hours of a serious health hazard, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine days?

The public is rightly angry. Without realizing it, they drank from a tainted supply of water while the bureaucrats grumbled.

We deserve better. Whether the due process is being carried out through the work of a task force being put together by the mayor or through an investigation by the Department of Health, changes need to be introduced immediately.

Connected:West Palm receives warning letters from the Florida Department of Health regarding water problems

As mentioned earlier, this episode probably won’t be the last of its kind. In the past few months, Delray Beach and Riviera Beach have been hit by problems with unclean water. And from the Treasure Coast to Lake Worth Lagoon, green algae remain a threat, while fertilizers and other pollutants find their way into our area’s water supplies.

The municipalities have a duty to protect our health competently and transparently. When the thought doesn’t want to worry us, we are used to warnings, be it about hurricanes or water shortages or pollution.

Do our leaders want us to trust them? Then trust us. Just be with us.

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