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Re: No longer a lurker

Hi Monica

We don't yet know the full story, probably never will, but the parasites
apparently came from a feeder canal before they got to the water storage
tanks.  Rumour had it that there were dead foxes which could possibly have
been infested with the parasites, but Sydney Water has denied that
(probably means that is the case, in my opinion!).  Sydney has a
population of approximately 3 million people (the same population of the
entire country of New Zealand, co-incidentally!), and we were all
affected, because the water was isolated in Prospect Dam, which
unfortunately feeds into all the water system of all of Sydney!  I think
it was approximately 2 weeks of water boiling, but they stuffed up the
warnings, and not everyone was properly alerted at the right time.  For
instance, the northern suburbs of Sydney were told that they were okay,
but then 2 days later were told that they were also to boil all their
water.  We are in the south, but although we were told "on time" it is
very likely that we were also told too late.  No ill effects on us
however, so that is okay with us.  I must say, my family and I personally
took a pretty lax attitude towards the whole thing.  We don't drink water
directly from the tap, all our water is boiled for more than one minute
ordinarily, but we didn't bother washing our hands or brushing our teeth
with boiled water, and so far, so good.  The health minister says that
there's been no increase in Giardia/Chryptosporidium infection anyway, so
maybe it wasn't so bad as they first suspected after all.

The time is now 6pm Wednesday, so supposing you sent your e-mail at 5.30pm
our time, then we are 16 hours ahead of you in Indiana.  New Zealand
should be maybe 1 hour ahead of me?  Can't remember, haven't been there
for over a year.

Better go, I have to do the washing up!  Keep up the good work locating
everyone on your globe!

Lisa Hafey Zone 10/Temperate Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

M. Mathena wrote:

> Welcome Lisa,
>  I do know where Sidney is, we are so far apart, it is exciting to
> hear from a gardener that is just starting, since I am just finishing
> harvesting. I also know about water, being in the water system
> business. It seems that water everywhere has been affected, some more
> than others. How did the parasites infiltrate your water, was it a
> wide spread problem, or more localized? Is this going to be a
> long-term problem? It is 1:30 am here, wonder what the time difference
> is?
> Monica Zone 5/6 Indiana
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