Water distribution centers were set up to help pass out gallons of bottled water throughout the area. Truck after truck headed to the area to replenish supermarket stocks.
Having grown up in Southern Florida, I had flashbacks to hurricanes and hurricane responses.
This was all in response to test results from water samples taken back in August. They discovered that a chemical was present in the water at 15 times the acceptable limit.
From the L.A. Times:
Reporting from Barstow – Health officials lifted a ban on water use in half of Barstow on Sunday afternoon as the local utility continued to flush its system of perchlorate, a chemical used in rocket fuel and munitions that authorities said may have contaminated the city water supply for months.
Test results that prompted the water ban and a state of emergency in the San Bernardino County town came from samples taken at neighboring Marine Corps Logistics Base in August and were verified Thursday, trigging an areawide “do not drink” order on Friday.
Only one of 18 wells feeding the Golden State Water Co. system showed high levels of the chemical. Perchlorate can interfere with iodine uptake in the thyroid gland, which regulates hormones and growth. Readings from the well were more than 15 times the acceptable level for drinking water, a water company official confirmed.
Read the full article here.