Boatnerd Discussion Forum

Dave F. - What you cited was exactly what I had read. Must have come across the same thing.

Thanks for the insight and the posting. It would be interesting to figure out who and where if those details still exist out there somewhere. Little earlier than I thought and no one got sick, thank goodness.

The Milwaukee problem, however, was with a new filtration system and they had big problems with cryptosporidium in 1993, I believe. Nasty little bugs.

In the late 80s early 90s, the city of Milwaukee contaminated their own water supply and everyone fiitting out at Jones Island got sick

This is usually referred to as a backflow incident. I found this in a Michigan Depratment of Public Health publication. It does not identify the ship or city.

In 1963, a freighter docked at a Great Lakes port, caused the contamination of a portion of the public drinking water supply system. The ship had been utilizing city water for sanitary purposes throughout the winter months while in the yard for repairs. Prior to resuming its normal shipping season in the spring, it was necessary to test the fire fighting system. It was later determined that approximately 3,000 gallons of untreated surface water were pumped into the city system over a period of 45 minutes. The problem was first noticed when an employee in another portion of the shipyard noticed the water from a drinking fountain was highly turbid. The city water superintendent was notified and he immediately increased the chlorine application at the water treatment plant and began flushing hydrants in the area to remove the contamination from the system as soon as possible. This demonstrates how problems of an extremely serious nature can occur without the public water supply losing pressure. The high pressure fire pumps were operated at approximately 100 psi while the city was maintaining normal pressure of about 60 psi in the vicinity. All persons involved were extremely fortunate that no sickness or other problems resulted from this severe cross connection problem.

I don't know anything about this incident, but it shouldn't have happened. We operate a piece of equipment that uses lots of water and frequently fill our tanks from municipal water supplies. The number one requirement when hooking up to a municipal supply is an air gap between the hose and the tank or a backflow preventer (AKA anti-siphon valve).

I seem to recall reading something about a laker fitting out somewhere on Lake Michigan and causing illness in the municipality in which it was docked. Apparently, if I recall correctly, the ship was hooked to the municipal fire hydrants and was testing its own fire pumps. The resultant buildup in pressure created a backflow where contaminated water from the ship's fire mains was pressurized to the point where it overcame the municipal hydrant pressure and the dirty (pathogenically contaminated) water made it into the municipal system where it ended up making people sick.

Anyone familiar with this? Which ship, when and where?