Well, well, well….
This is my first epistle for the newly redesigned blogHOUSTON, and so here it goes!
I wouldn’t be writing a blogHOUSTON post if it weren’t for some new politically created disaster, and true to form, one slightly scary story popped up on the radar recently in the form of KTRK-13’s Ted Oberg investigating a story that the City of Houston has been allegedly falsifying water quality records. The state of Texas requires the City of Houston, which holds most of the rights to the water supply in the region, to check for chlorine levels in the water to make sure the water is safe to drink. However, one former City employee, who asked to be interviewed anonymously for fear of retaliation, says that he was told to put down chlorine levels that he knew were not true. He also alleges that City water testers skipped testing the water in certain areas of the City where chlorine levels were known to be low. Chlorine is added to water to help keep those evil little bugs at bay, which otherwise have a nasty habit of making us humans sick.
Houston has enough problems – administrative and financial – without needing to pour a water scare over the heads of hapless Houstonians. We do not want to have our great city join the likes of Flint, Michigan or Corpus Christi when it comes to basics like water safety. That would not look well on the politicians who promise the world that Houston is the best place to live, work, and raise a family.
