Houston water still tastes bad

Just saying.

I've solved part of the problem with the bottled water that seems to take forever to consume:  a squeeze of lime.  The limes were 8 for $1 at Joe V's Super Saver (love that store--about which more later).  I didn't buy them with the intention of saving the water, but I had that light bulb moment last night.  Sure enough, a couple of squeezes of fresh lime and the bad taste was undetectable (to my palate).  What a relief.  I just hope the limes will last as long as the jugs of water!

The other part of the problem seems to be something that the City of Houston is going to have to tackle.  It seems that the taste of the water comes from critters (hopefully dead ones). 

Backing up a tad, Houston used to use ground water for its water supply, but over pumping the aquifer and sinking the city kinda indicated that it was time to look for another source.  Houston chose, among other sources, Lake Houston for its surface water/backup source.  No doubt there are a zillion contaminants in the Houston water supply, but the taste seems to come from those aforementioned critters:  cyanobacteria and actinomycete.   Cyanobacteria are algae, popularly referred to as blue-green algae and adored by dietary supplements fans.   Some of the bacteria in this family make toxins.  This is a bad thing, I would think.   Actinomycetes are bacteria from a family that produces a number of antibiotics.  This is a good thing, I think.  No word on whether they are dead by the time the water leaves the faucet or the bottling plant, but they seem to be always in Lake Houston.   The amount of bacteria depends on how long the water stays in the lake, gets diluted by rain and run off, and is pumped out (so saith the USGS). 

As it turns out the bottled water that we are drinking has been "carbon-filtered."  Not well enough to improve the taste, but making it more or less safe to drink.  A little lime juice makes it palatable.   And more rain would help the aquifer.

Houston water supply

Hmmm. Having some trouble finding the source article for MSNBC's claim that Houston has some of the worst water in the country (not that I'm arguing with that), but I did find another tidbit on the 24/7 Wall St. website that talks about the elephant in the (Texas) room: water shortage. Houston comes in second, after Los Angeles, as the (big) American city most likely to run out of water. Here's what they say:

2. Houston, TX

Major Water Supply: Jasper Aquifer, Lake Houston, Lake Conroe
Population (U.S. rank): 2,257,926 (4th)
Population Growth Rate: 15.6%
Average annual rainfall: 53.34 inches

Throughout most of its history, the city of Houston primarily drew water from the Jasper Aquifer, located along the southeastern coast of Texas. Over the last 30 years, the city began to suffer from dramatic rises in sea level of nearly an inch a year. Geologists eventually realized that the cause was Houston’s withdrawal of fresh water from the aquifer located under the city. This discovery forced city officials to use nearby Lake Houston and Lake Conroe for municipal water instead of the aquifer. Since 2000, Houston has been the fifth-fastest-growing city in the country, and its presence in an area with high drought likelihood makes it an immediate risk for serious water shortages. [emphasis added]

The article, from an October 29, 2010, post on 24/7 Wall St., names its sources (what a refreshing change):

 24/7 Wall St. looked at an October, 2010 report on water risk by environmental research and sustainability group, Ceres. We also considered a comprehensive July, 2010 report from the National Resources Defense Council which mapped areas at high risk of water shortage conflict. 24/7 Wall St also did its own analysis of water supply and consumption in America’s largest cities, and focused on the thirty largest metropolitan areas. One goal was to identify potential conflicts in  regions which might have disputed rights over large supplies of water and the battles that could arise from these disputes.  And, 24/7 Wall St. examined geographic areas which have already been plagued by drought and water shortages off and on.

I'm still on the hunt for the origin of MSNBC's claim that Houston has lousy water (not that I am quibbling), but the discussion of water shortage--which we saw up close and personal this past summer--provides a nice focus for more thought about Houston's water supply.  It's more than just keeping the lawn green, aifinkso.

Severe droughts that could affect large cities are first a human problem. The competition for water could make life in some of America’s largest cities nearly unbearable for residents. A number of industries rely on regular access to water. Some people would be out of work if these industries had poor prospects for continued operation. The other important trouble that very low water supplies creates is that cities have sold bonds based on their needs for infrastructure to move, clean, and supply water. Credit ratings agencies may not have taken drought issues into account at the level that they should. Extreme disruptions of the water supply of any city would have severe financial consequences.

This past year we experienced months of drought and searing temperatures.  Lawns shriveled.  Old trees died or lost major limbs.  The City of Houston had to haul water to keep newly planted landscaping in the medians from dying--although they were too late for a goodly portion of that.  What happened in terms of water quality?  The mystery deepens?

Houston water quality

Uh oh.  A quick google for "Houston water quality report 2011" gives this as the first result:  10 Worst Cities.  The report ranks Houston as the 6th worst water quality in the nation:

6. Houston (City of Houston Public Works) Houston is the fourth-largest U.S. city. It gets its water from sources such as the Trinity River, the San Jacinto Rivers and Lake Houston. Texas conducted 22,083 water quality tests between 2004 and 2007 on Houston's water supply, and found 18 chemicals that exceeded federal and state health guidelines, compared to the national average of four. Three chemicals exceeded EPA legal health standards, against the national average of 0.5 chemicals. A total of 46 pollutants were detected, compared to the national average of eight. The city water has contained illegal levels of alpha particles, a form of radiation. Similarly, haloacetic acids, from various disinfection byproducts, have been detected. 

 And it tastes bad (not that the report said that--just me).

However, the news report from MSNBC, from which this quote is taken, does not link to the actual source report nor does it look at the mandated water quality report that I was actually looking for.  More research ahead, I see.  In the meantime, less drinking from those gallons of drinking water that My Prince and I bought before Christmas.

Water matters

One of the things that My Prince does for me and Mama when he comes to town is help us stock up on water.  Mama has to drink steadily because of her kidney failure and constant UTIs.  We've been so successful with this "water therapy" that her kidney is (for now) stabilized at 29% function.  For my own part, I am very protective of my kidneys.  The diabetes is expected to wreak havoc on them at some point, and I take quite a few medications that challenge my kidneys already.  So far, blood tests and a recent sonogram say that they are in good shape, but I continue to want to do my part to keep 'em happy with lots of water.  After all, both my doctor and I agree that the knuckle of my big toe may well be harboring the intention of flaring up with gout if it hasn't given me a mild preview already.

We drink water.  Lots of it.  The water of choice is distilled. 

This costs $1-$2 per day.  We only buy gallon jugs, and, whenever possible, buy the house brand (Kroger's mostly).   We have been recycling the plastic water jugs, with My Prince hauling them back to Austin for recycling pickup and both of us cutting them down to create mini-tubs out of the base for sorting and storage needs. 

Recently I discovered an HEB store--Joe V Super Savers--in this area and liked their remarkably low price on gallon jugs of water.  Joe V's sells only small quantities of distilled water at a comparatively higher price.  Signage (and branding) seemed to indicate that it is intended for baby formula.  For the rest of us, it is "drinking water."   My Prince, a great reader of labels, pointed out to me that the water accompanying the labels was likely drawn from the Houston water supply.  I shrugged, assuming that it had been at least filtered and wanting to get this part of our pre-Christmas shopping done more quickly.  He picked up 20 gallons to help fill our supply shelves.

GAG!  It tastes like dirt!  

Now I could use these jugs to water plants, make flavored drinks (to cover the taste at least), or just pour them out.  No one would really know. 

Or I could get real:

• Even Mama 's nephrologist says that distilled water is unnecessary.  She could use the trace elements found in the city water supply.  
• I grew up on this water supply.  I've tasted much worse in both East Africa and Louisiana.  (Seattle's water was yummy, tho.)
• All sorts of state and federal regulations protect the water supply.  I've even sat on committees that assured that that was so.
• Chucking out all this water will only cost about $10 or $11, but it will add 20 more plastic containers to our recycling bin--for no useful reason.

Perhaps I just need to check the local water quality reports and be brave.  After all, eventually I will get used to the taste.

Christmas Toys (2)

I also helped Santa Claus out by picking up some new cutting boards.  The old ones were getting pretty chewed up.  Even though they went through the dishwasher after each use, the effect of much chopping made me worry that I would just be creating a haven for bacteria if I continued to use them.  The new ones are basic plastic cutting boards sold two in a pack at Walmart (Mainstays brand).  I chose the "letter" size as most convenient for storage and use on limited counter space. 

Last year I picked up some thin plastic sheets sold as cutting mats and found them to be quite handy.  They, too, had seen better days, so I got new ones at Walmart (also Mainstays brand).  These were sold three in a pack and were almost twice the size of the hard cutting boards. 

I am happy with the firm ones, less so with the mats.  The problem with the mats is that they now seem so large.  It doesn't help that my Yoshi knife made a brand new mat look very like one of the old ones after only one use.  Two chicken breasts, one onion, some green onions, and a couple of roasted red pepper sections--and the cutting mat is badly scored.  How long before the Yoshi blade slices completely through it?  This could be a problem. 

Still, I think I need to get more of the firm boards, since I can go through my entire supply of cutting boards before I ever get the dishwasher full enough to run.  If I do, I with try to check the label for dimensions and such before I toss the wrapping away. 

As for the old boards, I am still looking for potential new uses.  They don't seem to be labeled with recycling codes, so I expect they will go into a landfill if we don't figure out some other way to use them.  One, I have already mentioned, now serves as a "coaster" for the little tray that holds my vinegars and jar opener on the newly cleared counter.  This will prevent any rust from developing or staining the tile counter.  My prince may need one or two.  Repurposing will become a bigger issue as time goes on and we feel the need to replace more cutting boards. 

When the garbage disposer dies

We haven't always had a garbage disposer.  I can remember moving to this house when I was 9 years old and, not long after, Daddy installing a disposer.  I still remember being told not to put bones or paper in the disposer, the concept was that new to us.  Over the years, I've had to cope with a few hours, maybe even a whole 24 hours, of life without a disposer as we waited until one of our very handy men procured and installed a new one.

Imagine my delight when the garbage disposer here at Mama's house died a very sudden death recently, and there was not a man, handy or otherwise, in sight.   


I did what troubleshooting I could.  Cleared out the disposer, punched the resent button, looked for something strong enough to try to "stir" the turn-plate of blades.  No joy in any of it.


We then entered the stage of having no disposer while we considered whether (a) Next Door Cousin and I could replace the thing, (b) to call a plumber, or (c) to have My Prince make a mad dash to Houston.

• I seriously considered (a).  NDC is single, tough, and semi-handy.  Between the two of us, we might figure it out.  Our problem was upper body strength.  There are pipes and other screwish things involved in replacing the disposer, and neither one of us have a lot of muscles.  Indeed, I actually have a battery operated jar opener for when pickles get to be too touch. 
• The thought of (b) was both a matter of cost and skill.  Neither of the important men in my life were ever big on paying for labor when they could do the job themselves.  My late father was always DIY and the go-to guy in the extended family for help or advice.  Ditto for My Prince.  Not that MP always approved of how Daddy did some of his jobs.  (Painting the eaves with a broom for a brush was a late-in-life solution to getting the job done when it was too dangerous for him to be on a ladder.)  And that is the crux of the issue for (b):  can anyone do the job well enough to meet MP's standards?  Prolly not.
• That left (c), although I put my foot down and said there would be no mad-dashing.  We could survive without a disposer for a while, and MP was instructed to plan his trip to Houston with some consideration given to all the things he was already trying to do.  Eventually he agreed, and decided to come a few days later.

In the meantime, we had to survive without a disposer.

Doing so called to mind all the mishaps that can come from lack of a disposer.  I'm thinking of the fellow who decided to chop up watermelon rinds small enough to flush down the toilet.  (Not a good idea, said the plumber.)  Or the gals in the office above mine who washed coffee grounds down the sink.  (Not a good idea, said the plumber, who cleaned up my flooded office.)

Needless to say, we didn't need anything like those events, so nothing unusual was flushed down the toiler or washed down the sink.  We kept a mesh wire strainer over the disposer opening and dumped whatever landed there into the garbage.  All of this dumping, however, made the garbage a tad more aromatic, so more effort was given to making sure that things were covered.  We also had to worry about greater attraction for flies and, well, cockroaches.

The days without a disposer were less carefree than those Good Old Days of having a disposer.  There was much "food for thought" (no pun intended) regarding composting and all the labor that that might entail.  There was a reminder every day about vermin control and the spread of disease.

We live wasteful lives here in the US.  We consume and trash and deplete natural resources at a phenomenal rate compared to much of the rest of the globe and even to the potential for replenishing most of those resources (slim to none).  I thought, for a while, that perhaps we should make the effort to live without the garbage disposer permanently.  After all, it was an addition to this old house, and there are still some houses in the neighborhood that don't have them.  It is surely possible.  It is, however, not so healthy.  I'm going to emphasize that reason in my thinking about the disposer right now, but I will also give more thought to how we can cut down on the need for using the it. 

In the meantime, yea!  My Prince came to fix it!

Food Poison Journal

I'm liking this.  Seems like a good resource to learn more about food safety and disease outbreaks.  I'm reading more about the new report issued by the Institute of Medicine on FDA's role in managing food safety and ran across a link to this site.  I expect to be reading more from these guys to help understand what is happening with food safety in our country.

U. S. Senate passes food safety legislation

The U. S. Senate is now catching up with the House by getting a food safety bill out of committee. After many episodes of food-borne illness, even the food manufacturers are clamoring for more regulation (when there is a problem with one brand of peanuts, consumers tend to think "peanut"and not worry about which brand of peanuts is involved). The Senate bill (which still must be passed by the whole Senate and then make its way through a conference committee before final passage) increases inspections, requires traceability for fresh foods, but doesn't address cost.

To be sure, this legislation will cost. The FDA has been hamstrung in carrying out it much-restricted mission in recent years by the lack of funding. Food inspections have been low on the totem pole for either attention or funding. More funding will be needed to pay for those increased inspections.

The options for paying for the cost of this legislation include fees to producers or funds from general revenue (i.e., our tax dollars). My concern with fees is that they will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher food costs, just what we need to promote healthy eating. (Not.) Using tax dollars is appropriate since they will serve to protect the common good, i.e., public health. (My two cents!)

Food Politics

My morning reading takes me through a regular series of web sites and blogs that provide me with news on subjects that interest me. Recently, I found another blog taking up the matter of the recent salmonella outbreak, and I read through the article with some interest to see someone else's take on the issue. One commenter pointed readers to this "interesting website."

I was disappointed when I did a quick check of Marion Nestle's take on diabetes (it's caused by being fat), but was quickly impressed by the breadth of her writings on food and policy and politics, impressed enough to think that I will take a second look. I guess we all have our axes to grind and blind spots in our understanding of how things work. So I'll be impressed but skeptical while I see what she has to offer.

Presidential eating

I love this picture! No matter how you might have felt about the results of the recent presidential election, I think you might share my appreciation of this image of a hungry man who just looks so happy to be sitting down to a meal.

As it happens, of course, this is no ordinary hungry man. (Nor is My Prince--ordinary, that is. He's always game for a good meal.) The picture accompanied an article about how President Obama can change the way our country eats and goes on to provide an intriguing list:

• He’s expected to support local and organic farmers
• Food prices may go down…or up
• Food safety should improve
• School nutrition will be in the spotlight

These are interesting items that will, no doubt, provide for some interesting debates about food policy. The one that most interests me at the moment is food safety and the article's speculation about funding for the FDA:

Working with the Obama administration, a Democratic-led Congress will likely be able to pass legislation that boosts the FDA’s oversight and pays for more food inspections, especially after the numerous and dangerous food scares of the last four years.

I know that some folks would argue that more regulation is just not what we need in the current economy, but I'm on the opposite side when it comes to food safety. We need more, not fewer food inspections.

Consider the current outbreak of salmonella and the impact that it has had on our economy. (Well, yes, there's that pesky health thing, but it's the money thing that is used to argue against more food inspections.) So far, more than 500 cases of salmonellosis have been reported (with many more likely unreported) in the current outbreak. For these individuals, there is incurred health care cost, loss of work (and, for some, loss of income), the multiplier effect of cost and loss when one family member's illness affects other family members' ability to work or function in their normal role (think caregiver, think mommy takes daddy to the hospital), etc. For their employers, there may be health care costs, especially if the company self-insures, and there may be loss of productivity/profit while a worker is absent from work.

This, of course, is small potatoes really. A mere 400 cases is pretty insignificant, given the size of much larger epidemics of HIV, diabetes, etc. With a death toll of 8, as heartbreaking as those deaths are to the families who suffered the loss, it's a small outbreak.

But now the public health folks are attributing the outbreak to peanuts. Whoa! I think maybe the only thing more ubiquitous in our food supply is corn. OK, wheat, sugar, chocolate are right up there, but peanuts are everywhere. Peanut butter is practically a food staple for some age groups. And, whatever the source of these peanuts, the outbreak has already spread to 42 US states. This is a much bigger outbreak than the numbers suggest. The wide geographical distribution alone makes it more than a little worrisome. The popularity of the food source makes it even more troublesome (unlike, say, spinach, which more folks would be happy to avoid in the first place).

What difference to the economy? Start with food recalls. That's gotta hurt--and that's only the products made by or from products made by Peanut Corporation of America. (PCA has been identified as the source of this outbreak.) What about peanut related products from other companies? Not recalled, no, but often tarred with the same brush, if you will. Consumers, hearing news reports about the salmonella outbreak, are certain to hear the word "peanut," not at all certain to remember the particular company involved. Could that mean a drop in consumption of all peanut products from all producers? A similar outbreak earlier in 2008 put a kink in tomato sales before jalapenos were finally identified as the source of the problem. So add to the cost of the outbreak the public relations damage to all things peanut and the effort that has to be made to identify what is actually safe.

Money, of course, doesn't count when a loved one is lost, but with 8 deaths to its credit, I also can see PCA subjected to at least 8 wrongful death suits, not to mention all the others for medical costs and such. This will give some money churn for legal fees, but I don't know that that will be an overall benefit to the economy.

Now, there are a couple of caveats that have to be made before going too far afield on the subject of regulation and inspection.

1. Peanut Corporation of America already knew that its products contained salmonella and shipped them anyway. No additional regulations would have helped in this case, although additional inspections might have. A corporation determined to place profit above public health could probably circumvent such inspections anyway.
2. The FDA, an agency that I generally respect, especially on the worker bee level, may not have been the heroes of the 2008 could-it-be-tomatoes salmonella outbreak. Floundering around, issuing conflicting advisories, and devastating producers doesn't seem like the most useful way to go about protecting the food supply.

I tend to think that more inspections would be better--I guess I'm just that kind of gal. However, if our Eater-in-Chief is going to try to make a difference in food safety, he might need to think about the role of competence in the earlier epidemic and the need for enforcement in the current epidemic. The point, however is this: preventing such an outbreak will still be cheaper than allowing one to happen. Improving food safety would, I think, be part of a valid approach to helping a troubled economy.

Food dating

Nope, this is not about going out to dinner with the hunk du jour. It's about those troublesome expiration/use by dates on food packages. Imagine my surprise to read this:

Frequently Asked Questions About Food Dates and Storage

Q: Should all food containers have dates on them?

A: There is no uniform system for food dating in the United States. Except for infant formula and some baby food, product dating is not required by federal regulations. Dating of foods is only required by about 20 states right now. Federal regulations do say, however, if a calendar date is used, it must express both the month and the day of the month. In the case of shelf-stable and frozen products, the calendar date, if used, must also include the year. If this calendar is used, there must also be a phrase next to it explaining the meaning of the date, such as �sell by� or �use before.�

Dates found on foods may be �open dating� or �closed� or coded dating. Open dating is the use of a calendar date that the consumer can understand. In general, open dating is found primarily on perishable foods such as meat, poultry, eggs and dairy products. Closed or coded dates might appear on shelf-stable foods such as cans, boxes, bags, etc.

This comes from a University of Georgia web page dated simply "2005." It could be out of date, but I'm cynical enough to believe that it is not. And that annoys me. There are some regulations that might go to far, but I'm pretty much pro-regulation when it comes to food safety. Expiration dates and such are pretty important when deciding what to buy and when to eat it. This is something that I feel strongly enough about that I'm headed over to change.gov to make a recommendation that there ought to be federal standards to the effect that:

• all processed or packaged foods intended for human consumption should have an expiration or use by date, and
• the date should be written as a calendar date that includes month and year in a format easily understood by consumers.

Join me if you wish. Of course, change.gov is the easy way to voice an opinion on the subject. I have not yet discovered that Texas is one of the 20 states that require food expiration dates on products manufactured or sold within the state, so it might not be a bad idea to tell your Texas Representative and Senator about this (if you wish). And then there's your congresscritters (one rep and two senators).

UPDATE: And here's the comment on change.gov. There's already a discussion!

Kitchen Food Safety

The dishcloth has me worried right now. Looking for more information about "dishcloth safety," I ran across this list of no-no's for kitchen food safety from the University of Nebraska.

I pretty sure that I'm okay on most of this, but I'm still thinking about some of the others. F'rinstance:

• I don't use brown paper bags or garbage cans for cooking, although I have used a paper bag to coat fish with cornmeal. I think we tend to think of our own kitchens as clean places, but maybe saving that Sonic bag to use for coating some fish is not the best approach to food safety. Still, I hate to think that I would have to use a fresh ziplock bag to do the coating right when I'm trying to figure out how to recycle the ones that I am using already. On the good side, I haven't used film canisters or plastic garbage sacks for food storage. The latter, however, are great for storing Christmas pillows and some of my winter sweat suits. I'm just saying.
  
• I am so-so on re-using the one-time use items. I re-use the plastic utensils to serve cat food (and thereby avoid using people utensils for the cat food). I have also re-used drinking water bottles for water and tea mixes. I now wonder about washing and re-using chopsticks. I know that bamboo is a renewable resource, but some of my chopsticks are pretty (like the ones BKC gave me for my birthday). I want to keep them around AND use them for a long time. There are some issues with disposable food service items that need to be balanced with food safety, but it does involve risk. Risk for oneself is, to be sure, different from risk for others, so re-use should, at the very least, be limited to personal use and not presented to others.
• OK, I'm good on materials in the microwave and getting rid of old mercury thermometers. It only takes one or two microwave fires to learn those lessons, and My Prince is our family hazmat expert. He disposes of old batteries and other dangerous things in the appropriate manner. *proud look*
• "Mis-using hard to clean items" has some pitfalls. I rarely use a whisk, so I will have to go have a look at what is on hand and how it works for cleaning. The basting brush, however, has long been a challenge. I have never liked them. They just look like the perfect place to grow crud. For years, I just used a spoon to dip and spread, instead of basting. Then I found some silicone basters that look like one of those squiggly ball things that kids play with. I got a bunch at the dollar store, toss them in the dishwasher after using, and no longer worry about the crud. Vegetable brushes go in the dishwasher also. I avoid sponges like the plague they surely carry. The dishcloth, however, remains a worry.
• "Re-using items that should be laundered" might have addressed that dishcloth worry, but it doesn't really. I use a dishcloth and dishtowel several times before tossing it to the laundry. Yes, I do dry them out before hand. I even dry them between uses. My Prince has lately installed one of those old timey racks that my great grandmother had over her sink; it has three arms that swing back out of the way and allow you to hang three cloths for drying. Instead of spreading the dishcloth out over the sink divider to dry between uses, it now hangs there. This allows it to really dry out and inhibits the growth of mildew (when I use soap to give it a quick wash and then rinse before hanging). I'm not entirely sure that this is entirely safe, but it is safer than the way I had been handling the matter.
• Cutting boards, we've discussed. It all goes in the dishwasher.

What I'm wondering is, how dangerous am I in the kitchen when I reuse the dishcloth or the dishtowel? Do you change them out after one use or one meal or one day? I have a cousin who managed to get loose in my kitchen a couple of times. She used up every single dishtowel that I owned--in one meal prep. Those were the days when I used terry cloth towels, so there were fewer in the drawer than now, but still I was amazed at her ability to use them up so quickly. The same thing happened with all of my hand towels in the bathroom. There might have been a little OCD involved--or there could be something that I am missing. I'm still wondering.

I should point out that one reason I wonder is that the recent energy crisis is not really going away. We have to think about how much paper we are willing to use to dry our hands or wipe up spills and such and then toss away. How do we balance the need to conserve against the need to protect ourselves from the risk of disease?

Safe water after flooding or power loss

Much travel back and forth, little time to blog, and now I'm home again and seeettttttlllling in. Still unpacking. Still getting my bearings in the house after too much absence. But already having fun in the kitchen. Now to get myself back into blogging mode . . .

One place to start is my ongoing concern for food safety. Ike left his mark on my psyche, for sure. I often find myself rethinking what we did to survive and what we can do to better prepare ourselves for the next storm. Since it looks like climate change (AKA global warming) is in full swing, I think we have to count on another storm hitting Houston sooner rather than later. If not Houston, then some other part of the Texas coast will be devastated. More than a day or two without power is serious hassle, even trouble, for a family; any level of flooding is a disaster.

I often turn to the U. S. Food and Drug Administration for food safety information. Although the agency has become more politicized over the years and has, I believe, let us down on more than one occasion, I do know that there are some fine Americans serving us there, people who are dedicated to protecting the public and helping consumers identify safe and effective products.

The FDA has produced a flyer on getting safe drinking water and protecting food supplies in the event of power failure or flooding. I think it's worth printing out and studying to see where our storm preparations can be improved. I can already see a couple of areas that I need to work on: adding refrigerator thermometers and elevating the water supply.

Ike left the water on

When Mama and I were preparing for Tropical Storm Edouard, we spent some time working on the water supply. We were so very lucky when Hurricane Ike hit us that we did not lose our water supply. We stayed in Houston even without electricity--and we still don't know that that was the best choice--but we clearly could not have survived for two weeks without being able to turn on the tap and get clean water.

Some things did, however, go well, and some of our planning and preparation worked as it was supposed to. More did not.

• We ended our two weeks of no power with 5 gallons of drinking water still in storage, so we had enough for three adults to drink plenty of water on some very hot days. The Red Cross should be proud of us!
• I filled the bathtub with water the night the storm hit. It all leaked out before the storm was gone.
• I had begun saving gallon water jugs to fill up, but then read that we should find jugs that have screw tops rather than the little snap cap that we were getting. The only screw caps were were getting were on two-liter soda bottles. So we started saving those. I only got about 9 saved and filled up before the storm, so that was some incomplete work that might have hurt us.

The first thing I did the morning after the storm was turn on the tap to see what we had. I was so relieved to see that water. This gave us water for showering, toileting, cooking, washing, and all the zillion other things that we need water for on a daily basis.

Sadly, we often combine water and electricity in order to accomplish many of those things. The dishwasher didn't work without electricity, so I spent a lot of time washing dishes by hand. True, we often used paper plates, but we did try to avoid it when we could. We had to borrow the use of a generator to wash clothes after a week. I had made sure that all of our "water work" was done before the storm hit, but I was, after all, supposedly on a short visit and didn't have a lot of clothes, especially cool and casual clothes that would see a lot of dirt as we did after-storm clean up. It was even hard to do general housecleaning--the water was there, but sometimes I just couldn't see what needed to be cleaned without electric lights.

Houston issued a couple of "boil water" alerts, but we usually didn't hear about them until too late (emergency information really stank as far as I am concerned). We had good drinking water, but the dish washing and hand washing and such were probably questionable a few times. We all ended up with tummy issues, but nothing too serious, so I guess we handled it all pretty well.

One thing that we did throughout the time after the storm was fill up every plastic drink bottle we came across with pure drinking water and stash it in an ice chest. Water was good for us to drink at any temperature, but it always went down so much better when it was cold. We reused water bottles and even Coca-Cola bottles. For the trip home today, I filled up some of the small water bottles with water and froze them to help keep our canned drinks cool on the road. I also filled up some Coca-Cola bottles with cold water. I ended up drinking more of our "homemade" bottled water than I did soft drinks. I think we may have developed a new behavior!

No water

There was a break in the water main last week near where Mama lives. We were suddenly without water. No warning. No clue when water would be restored.

It's amazing how dependent we are on water. Mama was trying to finish watering her plants, but nothing would come out. We thought the hose was twisted at first. I was trying to brush my teeth. Suddenly, all the things that I had planned for the morning (shower, dishwasher, clothes washer, floor mopping) were impossible.

As it happens, My Prince and I have some experience with water shortages. We lived for a while in an area where clean water was an issue and so was the frequent loss of water supply. That experience was called into play when the water was cut off a second day at Mama's and then we had to get ready for Tropical Storm Edouard.

Luckily, we were without water for only a few hours when the mains were being worked on, and nothing dreadful happened with Edouard. While I should have taken the work on the mains as a sign of things to come (but didn't), I did wake up with Edouard and decided to take the opportunity for some real disaster planning and preparation. Mama and I treated it like a drill.

Here's what we did (and talked about doing):

• We bought more drinking water. The Red Cross recommends having a 2-week supply on hand. They recommend 1 gallon per day per adult. For Mama and me, that worked out to 28 gallons. We don't have that much yet, but we are close.
• I filled the bathtub with water. While I would never want to drink that water, it could be purified with 16 drops of household bleach per gallon and then consumed. My goal was to keep the toilet reservoir filled so that Mama could flush when needed. We did, however, have a little discussion about when to flush. "When it's yellow, it's mellow. When it's brown, it's down," according to Larry on Dharma & Greg. We may need to work on this one.
• We discussed other sources of water. I mentioned that I had learned about the secret supply in the hot water tank. Mama suggested that we fill the tub of the washing machine.
  
• We talked about water usage. This included reminding Mama that she would have to keep drinking water, an especially critical issue for her health problems. We agreed that we could "bathe" in very small amounts of water.
• Before Edouard was due in, I made sure that all the clothes had been washed and that we had showered and washed our hair. Same for running the dishwasher and mopping the floor.
  

Here is what I didn't do, but might consider for future disaster planning:

• Set up a system for rainwater collection (not likely to be needed in Houston since we would evacuate before reaching that level of need).
• Find some aluminum sulfate (which I have incorrectly been referring to as "alum"). This little chunk of mineral, when just swished through a bucket of water a couple of times, will cause all of the suspended matter to precipitate out and sink to the bottom of the bucket. We used this while overseas, and found that it made water purification much faster and simpler.
• Get an alternative cooking unit for boiling water (and cooking). Again, we would likely evacuate before getting to the boiling water stage, but electric stoves tend not to be handy when the lights go out. A gas grill (which I had already begun to covet) might be just the thing.
• Start saving the empty plastic jugs that the drinking water comes in. We may fill them up with tap water and store them in the bathtub. The tub seems to leak a bit even with double stoppers, so this might preserve a needed water supply. We can also stack the jugs higher than the drain outlet and (I think) store more water. Or we could just have a big mess. It's worth a try.

I'm not thinking we need to set up any sort of filtration system, but this has been in the back of my mind for years. I don't like the taste of tap water. (The only place I've ever been able to drink from the tap and like it is Seattle.) I need cleaner water to protect my kidneys now. One of the jobs that we had to do while overseas was make sure that we had safe drinking water. That mean using "alum," double filtering, and boiling. I just keep thinking that a filter would be handy, but we've never done anything about it. Maybe it's time to talk about it.

Cutting board fever

Or salmonella. Or botulism. Or some other crud. These are all the things that I keep thinking about when I look at my cutting boards.

When I was younger, the butcher block cutting board looked like the height of culinary sophistication to me. To own one of those would probably instantly give one +5 skill in the kitchen. That My Prince owned a butcher block cutting board may be one of the reasons I actually married him (never connecting his -12 skill in the kitchen with said cutting board).

Then one day I saw a print ad that showed a knife laying on a cutting board. I don't know what was being advertised, but the text of the ad pointed out that the cutting board was more likely to kill you than the knife. It made me think--and made me paranoid.

As I get older, I think more and more about the real war that we are in, the one where the microbes are winning. So food safety gets to be an issue around our house. And the pretty butcher block cutting board is long gone in favor of plastic boards.

The issue has arisen again here are Mama's. Mama hasn't cooked in forever, so she doesn't really have a lot to work with. I bought a cheap wooden cutting board to have something to use while I am in her kitchen. I didn't think much about it until the day I started to cut up some raw chicken. I couldn't do it, not on that wooden board. I had to take out a pottery plate to finish the job.

The next day I went out and started buying plastic cutting boards. I got multiples because I use the boards and then put them into the dishwasher (after a pre-wash with hot soapy water). I try to use a separate board for veggies and meats, and I use a clean board for each meal.

As with many things related to food and health, we seem to have conflicting opinions being batted back and forth. The debate over wood versus plastic for cutting boards seems to be a lively one, and the research just goes back and forth about what material is safest. All I know is that heat kills those little microbe critters, the more the better. As long as I can put it in the dishwasher, turn on the sanitizing feature, and throw in some soap, I will tell myself that I am "safe."

Now about that dish cloth . . .