Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Water towers are kind of gross

From City and State:

Despite years of reforms, new data reveal widespread neglect in the thousands of weathered wooden water tanks that supply drinking water to millions of New York City residents. A review of city records indicates that most building owners still do not inspect and clean their tanks as the law has required for years, even after revisions to the health and administrative codes that now mandate annual filings.

There are still many thousands of water tanks across the city for which there is no information at all. The city can’t even say with certainty how many there are or where they are located, much less their condition – even well-maintained water tanks accumulate layers of muck and bacterial slime.

Building owners who do self-report the condition of their water tanks provide suspiciously spotless descriptions on annual inspection reports. These reports include bacteriological test results, but in almost every case the tests are conducted only after the tanks have been disinfected, making it a meaningless metric for determining the typical quality of a building’s drinking water. And regulators have issued dramatically fewer violations in recent years.

The data show that the city reported drinking water tanks on municipal buildings, including the city sanitation offices and several court buildings, tested positive for E. coli, a marker used by public health experts to predict the presence of potentially dangerous viruses and bacteria. Oversight remains lax: It took health officials more than a year to investigate several isolated reports of E. coli in drinking water tanks. After inquiries from City & State, however, officials now say that their own reports were erroneous.

But scientists at the federal Environmental Protection Agency and public health experts consulted by City & State warned that animals can easily get into New York City’s water tanks, that mucky sediments inside the tanks may contain pathogens and that poorly maintained water tanks could be the source of disease outbreaks.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

120+ years of rooftop water tanks is suddenly a problem now ?
That's bullshit, they just want the towers down so they can build "chicken coop" housing on the roofs.
The same sediments lay in out drinking water supply lines below streets since they were installed. Open a fire hydrants or kitchen sink after street work is done you will see it.
This is a scam to encourage building on roof space.
Yea feed the dumb sheep public shit and tell them its a meal, a meal that's good for them at that.

Another reason: Also without those tanks landlords wont have a reserve water they can bank for peak hour usage. With the tanks gone water will be on separate meters and cost more money

Tony Notaro said...

Third world residents, third world water towers

Anonymous said...

Birds nest in them too, we used to pull feathers out of filters in some of the buildings I worked in...

Anonymous said...

Rosenwach water tower company must have somebody who's got a grudge against them.
True! 100+ years in the NYC skyline and no problemos intil now.
What about all those water pool air conditioning systems? Breaded if Legionares Disease.

TommyR said...

Meh, a little crap is good for the immune system! (semi-sarcasm)

Post a Comment