Maui water is unsafe even with filters, one of the lessons learned from fires in California

[riversedge]

Source: abc news





Experts are using strong language to warn Maui residents in Lahaina and Upper Kula not to filter their own tap water


By BRITTANY PETERSON August 19, 2023, 11:32 PM




The language is stark: People in torched areas of Maui should not try to filter their own drinking water because there is no "way to make it safe,” Maui County posted on its Instagram account this week.

The message reached Anne Rillero and her husband Arnie in Kula, who were eating yet another meal of frozen pizza. The couple feels incredibly lucky they and their home survived the fires that raced across Maui in recent days, wiping most of Lahaina off the map. The number of confirmed fatalities was raised on Friday to 114 people.................

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Brita filters, devices connected to refrigerators or sinks and even robust, whole-home systems are unlikely to address the “extreme contamination” that can happen after a fire.

“They will remove some of it, but levels that will be acutely and immediately toxic will get through,” said Andrew Whelton, a Purdue University researcher and expert in water contamination after wildfires in urban areas.

The Maui fires damaged hundreds of drinking water pipes, resulting in a loss of pressure that can allow toxic chemicals along with metals and bacteria into water lines.

“You can pull in contaminated or dirty water from the outside, even when those lines are underground,” said David Cwiertny, a civil and environmental engineering professor at the University of Iowa.

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Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/maui-water-unsafe-filters-lessons-learned-fires-california-102402225

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Geez--you can't use the water to wash dishes, take a shower etc.




FILE - Search and rescue team members work in a residential area devastated by a wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii, Friday, Aug. 18, 2023. When the most deadly U.S. fire in a century ripped across the Hawaiian island, it damaged hundreds of drinking water pipes, resulting in a loss of pressure that likely allowed toxic chemicals along with metals and bacteria into water lines. Experts are using strong language to warn Maui residents in Lahaina and Upper Kula not to filter their own tap water. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

[Ligyron]

1. This on top of everything else...

Can you even imagine? Exhausted and about dying of thirst from busting your ass helping clean up you drink some of what you think is filtered and safe water and then get sick. What next?

I hope some entity is bringing in safe water from somewhere in the amounts needed.

[Hekate]

7. Many people are getting bottled water in, but the need is every single day

Last edited Mon Aug 21, 2023, 02:11 AM - Edit history (1)

[Old Crank]

2. Part of emergency preparedness

Should be safe clean water storage. At least good for 48 hours of emergency use. We in Health and safety at Stanford had a special water tank installed just for our department. Plus an extra 24 hours of diesel for the emergency generator. The campus had an old on campus warehouse repurposed just to hold large quantities of bottled water.

[orthoclad]

3. How did the landscape become so toxic?

Losing pressure in pipes allows groundwater infiltration. This is why cities issue boil water orders - to kill pathogens. But what makes the groundwater there so toxic? Is it all the burned plastic? I guess the fire was hot enough to melt and mobilize lead, copper, and aluminum. Honest question.

[Hekate]

5. Your home is chock-full of toxic chemicals used to construct & treat it and your furniture

You’re not the only DUer to ask this question since the Maui fire began.

A century ago house fires and city fires were much more common than they are now. I think the use of asbestos was one of the first big breakthroughs. Oh dear, asbestos is a carcinogen — darn right it is. Your comfy foam mattress won’t burst into flame right off if a smoldering cigarette falls on it, as it, all your bedding, and your jammies are treated with flame retardant. The foam on your living room furniture likewise. The insulation in your walls…

I don’t remember all of it — it’s not my speciality, but I bet Professor GAC could reel off all the chemical horrors of a house burned to ashes without even thinking.

[orthoclad]

9. I was guessing that, thanks

The enormous quantities of organics (plastic, PFAS, etc) in home products contribute. But that was a guess, not a fact.

We should publicize a list.

[Hekate]

14. The info is definitely out there, as it's public record

[BlueIn_W_Pa]

4. It's a good policy in general

to prevent people from thinking their Brita will work.

...but I have a simple 5 stage RO/DI filter for my aquariums (and drinking water) that would clean up the water just fine, and it's only $120 or so. Plug it into your garden hose, and let it work it's magic.

Why not offer those in the disaster response?

[Hekate]

6. Because the pipes have broken down from the heat of the flames

[BlueIn_W_Pa]

8. I read the post differently

in that they were talking about the tap water, but point well taken.

The filter I use needs the tap water pressure to run the RO filter.

[Hekate]

10. The tap water runs thru the same system as the garden hose until it gets to the house...

Cracks that may occur all along the way from the municipal treatment plant to inside your house that cause leakages, let in all kinds of contamination that can make you sick.

Post-fire helpers (starting with local folks coming across the channel using their own boats) prioritized bottled water.

[BlueIn_W_Pa]

11. Bottled water should be a priority

but the filter I mentioned can be effective, even with contaminated water, as long as there is water pressure.

An aside, what I don't understand is why don't they use the heavy lift helicopters to bring in 15 tons of water at a time so people can get their needs now, instead of waiting on road transport. Bottled water 50 miles away does no one any good.

[Hekate]

12. The wind was running hard from the outer bands of the hurricane. It actually caused what ...

…we Californians call Santa Ana winds, where wind comes thru passes and canyons, speeds up and heats up, and if there is any spark or flame it’s like a cosmic bellows.

You can’t operate helicopters under certain wind conditions. We Californians count on water-dropping helicopters as part of our fire-suppression arsenal, but afaik they can’t make runs at night, and I know that if the wind is too adverse, they can’t work then.

As for who was doing what and when, one good source throughout this awful episode has been the Los Angeles Times. They’ve been fantastic. Unfortunately I do not have “gift subscription” capacity, but so be it.

Edited to add: water gets used up fast and there must be continuous deliveries.

[BlueIn_W_Pa]

13. Really appreciate the insight.

I guess the irritation is that we have heavy lift 'copters in Hawaii who are trained to do this in combat. I can't find a good answer why we couldn't use those to drop desperately needed supplies... And I mean, they have the biggest heavy lift capability in the world. Like 15 tons in one flight?

Apologies, just frustration :/

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

15. K & R