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Water issue causes students to adjust daily life

By Tue Tran, Editor-in-Chief Emeritus, on May 2, 2010 7:46 PM

By Tue Tran, Editor-in-Chief – (Photography: Christina Rogers)

Some Boston College students woke up this morning, wondering if they should follow singer Ke$ha’s lead and brush their teeth with a bottle of Jack. Others forgot and brushed with contaminated water.

Ashley Francisque, A&S ’10, quickly rinsed her mouth with Dasani water once she remembered the boil water order the state issued yesterday. This occurred after an aqueduct broke in Weston, Mass., causing millions of people to have to adapt to different guidelines for water usage.

Francisque then realized how much this would impact her daily routine.

“It’s very inconvenient because I have to brush my teeth and do these everyday things,” Francisque said. “It’s hard to remember because you’re so used to doing them.”

Francisque lives in St. Ignatius Gate, and does not have a stove with which to boil water – a BC Alert email stated that people without stoves can boil water  by placing it in a microwave safe container for 3 to 5 minutes in the microwave, depending on the microwave.

On the other hand, Tony Jennaro, A&S ’10, did not find the water situation to be too troubling.”I started boiling water immediately,” Jennaro said. “I haven’t found it to be much of an inconvenience. You just boil some water.”

When she found out about the boil water order, Megan McGuire, A&S ’11, was not fazed by the situation either, particularly because of the help of a roommate’s parent.

“My roommate’s mom had dropped off four huge cases of Poland Spring,” McGuire said, in an email. “So I guess I’m kind of lucky in that aspect. I tend to be unfazed by things like this, even though I should be [worried]. But my roommates are really on top of it. We have plastic silverware to avoid doing dishes, water by the sink in water bottles to brush our teeth, etc.”

Some people who are against bottled water had to make an exception for this situation. “I had to buy bottled water today,” Brian Tracz, A&S ’12, who has not purchased a bottle of water since sometime last year.

Phil Seidl, LSOE ’13, noticed, however, that other students did not hesitate to buy large numbers of bottled water from the dining halls. “Once the news started to spread, people were buying Smart Water by the case, and the dining hall is already sold out of water and has been for a while,” Seidl said, in an email.

While Governor Deval Patrick said that the problem should be solved in a few days if workers can successfully patch the leak, Francisque is still concerned that bottled water is nowhere to be found. “I just got the last bottle of water from [City Convenience] this morning, and I know there’s no water anywhere else.”

Other than a bottled water shortage, students gearing up to study today found out that their favorite places to get coffee were closed.

“I really didn’t think much of it until I realized there’s no coffee anywhere,” McGuire said. “Not very good for my productive day at the library.”

The situation shed light on how the community was able to react to the situation. “The civic response was great,” Tracz said. “The police were on top of it,” he said, referring to the officers driving around, notifying people of the situation with bullhorns. “The Chestnut Hill Reservoir was activated immediately … They’re testing the water hourly. The infrastructure that they have set up is excellent.”

Others, however, felt that BC’s notification system was too slow – no one interviewed had received a text, and the email from the Office of Residential Life, sent through the Office of the Dean for Student Development, was received by students sporadically.

“Aren’t we supposed to have a ‘state of emergency’ type of text message sent out to our phones?” Jack Lundy, A&S ’11 asked, in an email. “I never got anything … My brother who was visiting Boston for the weekend texted me, telling me to be wary of the water. He informed me before BC did.”

Some students also believe that they are sick from consuming contaminated water, with symptoms such as vomiting. “One of my friends I believe is sick from it,” Lundy said. “She is not sure if she has come down with something or not but she told me she can’t seem to keep anything down.

Overall, this situation allowed students to take a step back and reflect on how much of the world must boil their water in order for it to be safe to drink.

“It’s a wake up call to the BC community to see what much of the world goes through,” Scott Jelinek, A&S ’10, said. “At least we have running water.”

“You take it for granted the fact that you can get water wherever,” Andrew Durkot, A&S ’11, said. “And now when you’re about to do something, you stop and realize that you need water.”