I live about an
hour from
Walkerton, even a bit less, and I can honestly say that they were completely and utterly
stupid in dealing with it, and nevermind that, they were extremely negligent before the
outbreak even occurred.
It should be noted that the
pump that puts
chlorine into Walkerton's
water system hasn't been working
properly since
January of this year. It shouldn't be puzzling as to how
E. coli could have
flourished in untreated water. There is also talk of a broken
sewer pipe somewhere.. that is speculation, the malfunctioning chlorine pumps
is not.
Essentially, there is a lot of covering up going on, thus the police have been called in, and it is going to be a
criminal investigation. I wouldn't be surprised if there are charges of
manslaughter, actually, the general opinion of most around here is that there should in fact be
murder charges of some degree. People died, more
people are going to die, they did not have to, it is the fault of someone. Walkerton is in fact a
small town, as
themusic said, and for that reason the illness pales in comparison to the
emotional trauma and
tragedy the whole ordeal is having on the close-knit
community.
People are very,
very angry around here, I am utterly shocked, no not shocked,
disappointed, that they could have been quite so
stupid. They're trying pretty desperately to
blame this on everyone else, but it is in fact the fault of those who could have prevented it because
they knew, not those who would have prevented it
had they known. Though, I'm beginning to wonder if it might have happened
any way, judging by the slow
reaction time.
Even after the people who are effected now are essentially over it, there are also
unborn children, and
long-term side effects to consider, such as
severe kidney damage, among other things. There have been numerous water problems in
Walkerton before this, as well as other little towns around here, possibly even mine, they just
covered them up quite nicely. It's sad, really sad.. and scary, as well. I just wish even the
media would quit spewing
bull shit about it, stop trying to cover it up. It's
too late, people are dead, and they're
caught.
What is happening in Walkerton has a lot more to do with
cutting corners that should have never been cut than anyone would like to
admit. They say, considering that water testing is done by private companies instead of the government now, "No one wants to do the job because it doesn't pay very well". You ask
anyone effected by this if they would have paid to get their
water tested, their pump fixed, if they knew what was going on, and I can
guarantee there would have been plenty
sufficient funds.
People
value their families far above their
money, I think it's quite foolish that anyone
thought differently. I also find myself wondering if the people who knew were drinking
bottled water the whole time.. interesting thought. Any way..
don't believe everything you read, or hear on television. This is much more than an
accident, this is a serious
crime, and a
blatantly stupid one at that.
As an end note of sorts, they actually do have an
experimental drug in use treating the
afflicted which was pushed through the system, and there isn't an extreme
shortage of facilities to treat them in, though it is a bit
strained. The
Grey-Bruce Health Centre in
Owen Sound has been taking many in, and I imagine the hospital in my town has been doing its share of
accommodating as well. I guess it's always nice to see that people can
pull together in such awful times, it's just too bad they had to
in the first place.