https://yourwater.oregon.gov/cr-detail.php?db=sdwis&crisn=45612
Perhaps, I misunderstood, but according to K.B.’s recollection of this incident during our most recent SHOA/SWS board/members meeting, she said she did not know about the boil water alert until two hours after she used the All Call system to ask residents to run their water to remove any air in the pipes. I believe her.
Now, the following are simply questions that I cannot reconcile with the timeline of events following the low water pressure event that occurred:
1) If she or D.B. then knew about the Boil Water Alert two hours or even three hours after her All Call, why did they wait to talk about the event publicly until several weeks later, during a monthly SHOA/SWS meeting?
2) Why did they decide not to alert anyone using the All Call system as soon as possible on May 28, 2024? Even if they had a few hours of delay in using the All Call system to alert us, it would have been much better than choosing to remain silent. Perhaps I still misunderstand what actually happened to prevent their warning us; perhaps the All Call system malfunctioned when they tried to update us a few hours later when they both knew about the boil water alert?
3) Perhaps I am wrong, but it seems to me that there was a serious breakdown in communication on May 28, resulting in no alert being given to Staffordshire residents.
4) Why was there so much time wasted on personal attacks towards me for reporting this incident? If I recall correctly, the story of “Chicken Little” was referenced with Stephen Short playing the part of the chicken.
More appropriate would be the story of “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” with Stephen Short playing the part of the child who simply stated that the Emporer was naked. Why reprimand the child who reported the obvious? Why not look to see if, indeed, the emperor was actually naked? In this case, why not ask KB or DB why they decided not to alert anyone on May 28 or May 29, during the two days before the water test results came back? It seems like a game of Russian Roulette was played with about half of Staffordshire’s residents’ health and welfare in mind. (This incident is reminiscent of the Crossbow pesticide incident.)
More important is what was NOT said during our board/members meeting:
What steps has the SWS president or SWS vice president taken to ensure this type of incident never recurs? One of the board members said something to the effect that Don apologized, and that is the most we can expect. I disagree.
I have another question: Instead of an apology a few weeks after not telling anyone about the boil water alert at the time, leaving the residents’ health in possible jeopardy, why not present a plan to prevent this from happening again?
“Bad news”: It seems to me that our SWS BOD does not intend to create such a plan to protect our residents from future incidents such as this one.
“Good news”: A plan to prevent future incidents from happening again will be created at the direction of OHA. Stay tuned.
Public Health Incident, May 28, 2024:
This type of incident should never happen again.