water doesn't always taste like nothing
so i'm visiting family for the holidays in a very rural part of the country that clearly voted for the big DUB, as i like to call him, and that i'm sure wouldn't be able to remember the name of the guy who ran against him, even if i told them it rhymed with mary. let's just say i'm somewhere near kentucky and missouri. the nearest city is st. louis, if you can even call that a city, and favorite activities of the locals are a) hunting, b) fishing, and c) shopping at the super walmart.
the water here is disgusting.
and i don't like water in the first place. even if it comes from a babbling brook in the catskills, something about water just doesn't do it for me. i force myself to drink it while in nyc (mainly because if i don't, my lips get so chapped they start to fall off in sexy sexy chunks), but here, i just don't think i can do it. when you turn on the tap, there is a distinct odor that boiling and brita-filtering cannot seem to elimate. and that disturbs me.
the area surrounding the lake that this town gets its water from has received and continues to receive epa superfund cleanup money - because it has, or supposedly had, one of the most serious pcb (polychlorinated biphenyl) toxic waste problems in the country. in fact, this area was placed on the national priorities list (the list of sites eligible for superfund cleanup money) in 1987. cleanup was finished this year.
you remember that post about me being a feminist? well, i don't think we need to refer to our trusty friend, merriam-webster, to clarify the definition of "priority." now, i know there's a lot of bureaucracy involved in projects like these. i also know that there are currently over a thousand locations on the national priorities list, but 18 years seems to be an awfully long time to allow people, particularly in a town where those born here tend to live their entire lives here, to drink water that contains known carcinogens, or even just those pesky little chemicals that cause damage to one's nervous system.
the water here is disgusting.
and i don't like water in the first place. even if it comes from a babbling brook in the catskills, something about water just doesn't do it for me. i force myself to drink it while in nyc (mainly because if i don't, my lips get so chapped they start to fall off in sexy sexy chunks), but here, i just don't think i can do it. when you turn on the tap, there is a distinct odor that boiling and brita-filtering cannot seem to elimate. and that disturbs me.
the area surrounding the lake that this town gets its water from has received and continues to receive epa superfund cleanup money - because it has, or supposedly had, one of the most serious pcb (polychlorinated biphenyl) toxic waste problems in the country. in fact, this area was placed on the national priorities list (the list of sites eligible for superfund cleanup money) in 1987. cleanup was finished this year.
you remember that post about me being a feminist? well, i don't think we need to refer to our trusty friend, merriam-webster, to clarify the definition of "priority." now, i know there's a lot of bureaucracy involved in projects like these. i also know that there are currently over a thousand locations on the national priorities list, but 18 years seems to be an awfully long time to allow people, particularly in a town where those born here tend to live their entire lives here, to drink water that contains known carcinogens, or even just those pesky little chemicals that cause damage to one's nervous system.
posted by seven at 3:11 PM
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