Water Safety

 Atkins Reservoir, Amherst/Shutesbury line

 How safe is our drinking water?

According to the recently mailed 15th annual Town of Amherst Drinking Water Quality Report -- fine reading on a hot summer day -- the public water supply for our little town is perfectly safe.  I'll drink to that.

Every major test parameter (Inorganic substances, radioactive contaminants, disinfection residuals) tested below "violation" level. 

Amherst has a "complicated" water distribution system: two surface reservoirs, one located on Amherst/Shutesbury border (Atkins) and the other in Pelham, and five ground wells located in the Lawrence Swamp.

Operating at full capacity the system is capable of pumping out just over 6 million gallons of treated water daily.

 

Pelham Reservoir system

Last year average demand was 2.65 million gallons per day with peak demand occurring on July 19th, a thirst requiring 4.185 million gallons of water to quench.  UMass is our #1 consumer of water absorbing 31.04% of total, although they were not in session on the day of peak demand. 

In 2002 the state performed a Source Water Assessment and Protection (SWAP) report for the town outlining common sense water protection methods for keeping the system safe, mainly by controlling/owning the land immediately around the water source (400 feet), called Zone 1.

In 2005 Tighe & Bond did a "Public Water Protection Plan" for the town which pretty much mirrored the SWAP report from three years earlier, where the main concern was dealing with inappropriate land use (industrial, farming, homes with septic systems, etc) too near the water supply.

Interestingly -- even though both studies are post 9/11 -- neither of them addresses sabotage.  Both reservoirs are located within spitting distance of paved roads, so it would be easy to drive a pick up truck almost directly up to the unguarded body of water and unload whatever you please.

 Atkins Reservoir with nearby road

Sure Atkins is pretty b-i-g with a maximum capacity of 200 million gallons.   However, if you dissolve in that body of water 1760 pounds (thirty-five 50 pound bags) of something, say arsenic, it would reach a level of one part per million.

EPA regulations for arsenic in drinking water set a maximum of ten parts per billion.

Massachusetts State Police briefly detained seven college aged trespassers (one of them from Amherst) around the Quabbin Reservoir almost two months ago, immediately setting off terrorism concerns.

Should you be concerned?  Probably not.  Highly unlikely anyone would try to poison an entire town.

But then, 12 years ago it was also highly unlikely anyone would hijack civilian commercial airliners and fly them into buildings.

 Atkins Reservoir

Freedom!

 

Commemorative flags downtown

" ... That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." 

"Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose ... "

Amherst post card 1909

DUI Dishonor Roll

Well, at least Matthew Carini did not kill anyone ... this time.

Maroon Musket "Unsung Hero"

#####

Coming Soon, To A Basement Near You

Well I guess it's official:  I really am somebody now.  I have a band named after me.  (Not that I play an instrument.)

Gotta love the advertisement that oozed up on Reddit earlier today.  How very patriotic.  Or should I say pathetic?

Didn't Lil Wayne run into some trouble not long ago for accidentally walking on an American flag?

Hey at least the upside down cross is not soaking in a jar of urine.  

Meanwhile Amherst police paid my young friends at 621 East Pleasant Street, aka "Babe Town," a visit around 9:00 PM this evening.  I heard Dispatch tell the officers it was for loud music in the back yard, which sounded like a band, and that this was the third or fourth noise complaint in the past week.

Hmm ...

And Another One Gone

 Jim Kelly looking good

This month marks the 40th anniversary since the Mother of All Martial Arts movies first exploded on the big screen.

"Enter The Dragon" introduced the incomparable Bruce Lee to a worldwide audience.  Unfortunately only days before its mega successful debut, he died in Hong Kong from an allergic reaction to a common medicine taken to relieve a headache. 

I could use up a lot of bandwidth posting about the influence Bruce Lee had on an entire generation of martial artists, boxers, wrestlers, and action movie aficionados -- but nothing could compare to simply watching a snippet of the amazing man in action.



Another star who briefly lit up the silver screen alongside Bruce in that  breakthrough picture was a black martial artist with a big Afro and, seemingly, an even bigger ego.  But as they once said about Bruce Lee: he was cocky, but he could back up the cockiness with physical prowess.

Jim Kelly died over the weekend.  He was 67.  But I will always remember him as that twenty- something fleet of foot karate fighter, one of the best of his time.

That was a time in America when Sport Karate was just starting to take off, where on any weekend anywhere in America you could find a high school gymnasium overflowing with men, women and children dressed in karate gis, grouped according to belt color awaiting a two-minute match.

When the bad guy, Han, confronts Williams (the Jim Kelly character) saying he needed to learn humility through defeat, Williams responds, "I don't waste my time with it. When it comes, I won't even notice ... I'll be too busy looking g-o-o-d."

As the bad guy then prepares for the climactic fight to the death, Williams sneers, 'Man, you come right out of a comic book."

Like most top tournament karate competitors at the time Jim Kelly hoped his martial arts prowess would lead to other lucrative opportunities, since the tournament wins usually paid off in over-sized trophies.

My favorite  Jim Kelly quote comes not from a movie but from an article in Black Belt magazine where he lamented, "Trophies don't put gas in my car."

Like tournament karate itself,  Jim Kelly never quite reached the sustained pinnacle of financial success so richly deserved.  But he could always be counted on for  "looking good."

Now, for eternity.

19 Gone

Sunday was a horrible day for first responders as 19 firefighters are now reported dead; all of them succumbed while fighting a monstrous wildfire in Arizona.

The deceased were members of the Prescott Fire Department, a city of 39,843 (about the same size as Amherst.)  The entire crew of 19 were part of an elite unit known as the  "Granite Mountain Hotshots."

Only one survived because he was in a different location when the conflagration overran their position.  As a last desperate measure the firefighters attempted to dig in and deploy emergency fire shelters, but to no avail.

Last resort Emergency Fire Shelter

This is the greatest loss of life for firefighters in a single incident since 9/11, when 343 perished at the World Trade Center.

RIP.

 Granite Mountain Hotshots.  Entire crew lost.

CNN reports

Anatomy of a False Alarm

 The Boulders, East Hadley Road, South Amherst

The attention getting call first came in 9:47 PM Friday night June 21 from a passerby reporting a "small fire on the roof" of the Boulders Apartment complex in South Amherst, scene of a good sized structure fire a few months back. 

It's a hot summer night and the moon is bright.  Dispatch, otherwise known as "The 729," instantly issues a "box alarm"-- a major step up from the routine "still alarm" that AFD responds to almost all of the time.

 What light through yonder window breaks?

Both on-duty, off-duty and call firefighters are alerted,  knowing instantly from the sound of the tone that this has a higher likely hood of being the real thing.  Every Amherst firefighter remembers all too well the box alarm siren call from major structure fire at Rolling Green Apartments last January.

The beast claimed a victim that day, despite the best efforts of a well-trained coordinated army of first responders.

Amherst Police are first on the scene, as is usually the case since they are always in their vehicles patrolling the town. They too know the meaning of the term "box alarm."

Engine 1 first on the scene

Engine 1 out of Central Station, with three men aboard, is the first AFD vehicle on scene.  A police officer assists the firefighters unravel hose.  Engine 2, with an aerial platform, soon arrives.

 Police officer assists unraveling hose

The glow on the roof reflects off a large tree directly in front of the two story wood building.  The bright moon overhead illuminates huge puffy clouds:  from the ground looking up at the edge of the building the clouds in the background resemble smoke, exactly where you would expect it.

When the moon hits your eye ...

The puzzling thing is the glow does not seem to grow -- an indication the beast is not present.  A police officer and fire fighter ask a tenant on the second floor of an attached building, what can she see?

Engine 2 (the quint) allows a firefighter direct access to the roof

Before she can respond another voice from the roof shouts, "Stand down, no fire." A security light had become misaligned to now mimic the telltale glow of a fire.

The busy motion on the ground -- police, firefighters, spectators -- seems to suspend for just a moment, heralding a collective sign of relief. 

Then everybody packs up and heads back to quarters.  Awaiting the next call that everyone knows will come.

##### 

In all, 18 firefighters (including 3 chief officers)  and close to a half dozen police officers responded, over the 45 minute duration of this call. Total extra cost for the two off-duty and 10 call firefighters who responded, about $400.  

The more concerning cost is not so much the money, but the other potential cost that's sometimes paid:  Units in a rush to get to the scene of an emergency are at a higher risk of being in an accident.

But mainly it's the "opportunity costs" of having assets tied up dealing with what turns out to be a non emergency when a real emergency arises on the other side of town. 

And in the emergency business, delay can equal death.