FOOL

In olden days
court jesters found ways
to yank at the strings
controlling their kings
but the enlightenment
of our government
is putting the fools on the ballot!

16/365

Musings

I'm still tinkering with today's poem while trying to avoid being too overtly political, but I feel entitled to take a few pot-shots at politicians because sometimes the name on the ballot is my own. Our town's water department is overseen by an elected board, on which I am serving my third term as a Water Commissioner. That term is ending this year, and I will soon need to decide whether to run for reelection.

I first got involved in municipal governance after the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, where a reliable water source was switched out for one that was of lower quality and cheaper, where contaminant testing was criminally fudged, and where customer complaints were ignored and suppressed until the emergent health crisis had become much more severe than it ever should have been.

Any water mains, service lines, or home plumbing systems of a certain age may contain lead. Back in the day, a broken water main might have been patched back together with lead solder, a contractor may have used lead pipes in the service lines for a new development, or a penny-pinching landlord may have gotten some cheap work done with lead instead of copper. Records have been lost or were never properly created in the first place, and the people who did the work are no longer around for us to ask.

This was true in Flint as well as in many other communities including my own home town. I believe the safest approach is to start with the assumption that lead exists, even in the absence of proof, and even when its exact location remains an underground mystery. Until we can find the funds to replace every old water pipe in the country, public water systems can best avoid another Flint-like crisis through ongoing vigilance, day-by-day maintenance of water quality standards, a regimen of testing, and responsiveness to any potential issues as soon as they present themselves.

Lead isn't the only contaminant I worry about these days. My town is located in a region of naturally occurring iron and manganese, which present health risks at certain levels. We have also recently discovered local sources of PFAS, a category of manmade "forever chemicals" that human bodies are not able to process.

Our Water Department cut the ribbon on a new iron and manganese treatment plant last year, and the town just broke ground on a water main extension to bring clean water to a PFAS-contaminated school and its surrounding neighborhood. But there's still work to be done, so I'm leaning toward running for another term.

More Tomorrow.