BY DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

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ED. NOTE: TONIGHT ON PLANET VALENTI TELEVISON, guest host Terry Kinnas dishes the latest on the city budget and then is joined by State Senate candidate Chris Canning. Live, 7-8 p.m. Channel 16.

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(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY JUNE 9, 2016) — Have you heard the one about the Pittsfield taxpayer who bought his own water — twice? She first paid for the family’s water via the city’s enormous water bill. She next paid for it by buying bottled water at Wal*Mart, the house brand. On the label, it identifies the source of the “spring” as regular municipal tap water from Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

Beaver Fever, anyone?

THE PLANET is not making this up. The Wal*Mart chain — yes, Pittsfield, Forbes Magazine rated your very own the worst in the nation — bottles and sells Pittsfield tap water.

This ties in nicely with the story we broke last month (you don’t expect The “new” Boring Broadsheet to be that entrepreneurial, do you?).

Were City Residents Drinking Tainted Water?

In the Pittsfield water bill mailed on April 22, the Department of Public Utilities (DPU) informed citizens that a water sample taken March 2 from the Ashley Reservoir showed abnormal turbidity levels. The letter warned of “an increased chance that the water may contain disease-causing organisms.” It further stated that babies, those with “compromised immune systems,” and the elderly were particularly at risk.

Beautiful. The city knew about this on March 2 but said nothing until a snail-mailing on April 22. The letter advised of the heightened risk. This begs the question: Were city residents drinking tainted water for the intervening seven weeks? The city mailing claims that the dangerous levels “occurred for [only] one and a half hours.”

Can this information be trusted? After having been lied to so many time, do you believe anything the city of Pittsfield tells you?

A source familiar with activities inside the DPU supplied THE PLANET with a copy of an e-mail DPU commissioner Bruce Collingwood sent to councilor president Peter Marchetti and mayor Linda Tyer on May 13, after we initially broke the story. Seems THE PLANET broke the unwritten media rule in the city by asking tough questions.

“The public was never in danger,” Collingwood wrote. “DEP was notified the next day[,] and we followed their directions for notifying the public. The notification was a stand-alone mailing to all water users; we did not want it to be confused with any other mailing?” Pathetic, eh?

One of the questions THE PLANET brought up was why the city didn’t use the CodeRed notification system, which would have informed city residents immediately of the problem. Even 90 minutes of risk should have warranted the use of CodeRed.

“CodeRed is a great notification system[,] but it was not necessary in this situation,” Collingwood concluded. Those were his last words in the memo, which ends just like that. Poof!

Go through the illogic of this:

(a) The city’s own documents admit the water contained increased risk of disease-causing organisms.

(b) It cautioned that babies, the elderly, and those with weakened immune systems were particularly compromised.

(c) Nonetheless, Collingwood states to the mayor and Marchetti that CodeRed wasn’t necessary. They apparently took him at their word. There’s no indication of any follow-up or demand for proof.

CodeRed wasn’t necessary. All we have is Collingwood’s word, in a leaked e-mail. The public was never informed of the potential danger at any time prior to April 22. Apparently, this behavior is acceptable in The Tyer Administation.

Truthin’ or Consequentin’?

Perhaps Collingwood is “truthin’,” but given the city’s track record with honesty and openness, THE PLANET would advise extreme caution. Collingwood makes two absolute claims: (1) “[t]he public was never in danger” and (2) prompt notification of the water failure “was not necessary.” He does not, however, offer any documentation to support the claim.

Now, back to Wal*Mart bottling and selling Pittsfield water.

• Under what arrangement is this retail behemoth doing it?
• Is Pittsfield being compensated? If so, how much and under what terms? If not, why not?
• How is the bottling physically done and where? Take us through the process.
• Why would Wal*Mart want to do this, given the city’s problems with PCBs and industrial toxins that are the sad adjunct from GE’s 100 years in Pittsfield?

Pittsfield’s DPU publishes a sheet titled, “CITY OF PITTSFIELD WATER QUALITY / FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS.” The final question on the list asks: “Where can I find information on water test results?” It gives the address www.cityofpittsfield.org/DPU/2015. You may go there. THE PLANET, however, suggests the latest copy of “Fractured Fairy Tales.”

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“You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.” — Rabindranath Tagore

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

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