Why Boston Has the Best Tasting Tap Water in the Nation

[unhappycamper]

http://www.alternet.org/why-boston-has-best-tasting-tap-water-nation



New Yorkers may disagree but Beantown's environmental protection efforts are its water's secret ingredient.

Why Boston Has the Best Tasting Tap Water in the Nation
By Daniel Moss
June 23, 2014

If you already love Boston for its unmistakable accent and unpredictable baseball team, you might want to consider adding its tap water to your list. Boston came out on top of this year’s tap water taste test, an annual competition hosted by the American Water Works Association—a network of more than 50,000 water professionals charged with keeping our water supply healthy. The honor was particularly fitting since the association’s conference was held in Boston this year.

Forests in the protected area clean the water naturally so that by the time it gets to the city it requires only limited filtering. There’s no need for the cocktail of chemicals most cities’ water utilities use.Boston’s secret ingredient? Watershed protection. Between 1985 and 2012, the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority—from which Boston buys its water—purchased conservation land in the watersheds that feed the Quabbin and Wachusett reservoirs to the city’s west, the sources of Boston’s water.

Not surprisingly, the city’s path to its current water purity was no walk in the park. In the early ’80s, the filthy state of the Boston Harbor made national news and the Conservation Law Foundation sued state agencies for violating the Massachusetts Clean Water Act. One result of the litigation was the formation in 1985 of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority.

On top of the billions the authority spent on restoring the Boston Harbor and Charles River—resulting in some of the cleanest urban beaches in the country—it invested $131 million in land preservation around Boston’s drinking water sources. Four hundred square miles of forest makes a protective ring around the city’s two major reservoirs.

--

I remember the MWRA starting their cleanup in the mid-80s. (I also remember my water bill took a large hit.)

The Charles River was disgusting, as was the smell of the water from the tap.

The Deer Island water treatment plant was built:



30 years of taking care if our infrastructure has paid off.

[merrily]

1. But, there are still no fish in Boston harbor.

The taste of the water:

I cannot discern any taste or smell at all in filtered Boston tap water, which is perfect for me.

The Boston accent:

The Boston accent is much less pronounced than it used to be I haven't heard anyone who sounds like JFK, not even his brother, Ted. Even Ted's accent was more obvious than most people I run into daily. You can still hear some accent in people from certain parts of town, but not as strong as JFK's. More like Ben Affleck in Good Will Hunting.

I am sorry about that because I have always loved the variety of American accents. I think broadcasting may be causing us all to sound more like each other, along with more people moving from one state and region to another.

Boston Harbor

When I first moved to Boston, I occasionally met widows of men who had actually earned a living and supported-their children by fishing off the piers in Boston proper. They, their wives and their children ate the fish, too.

By the 60's, the filth in the harbor had entered pop culture, via a novel and a song.

By the time Dukakis ran for President, Poppy used the condition of Boston harbor to claim that Poppy had a better environmental record than Dukakis.

Surrounding cities sued. Finally, Judge A. David Mazzone, a federal district court judge, ordered the Boston harbor clean up after the federal government sued. Mazzone is now buried on Deer Island in Boston harbor, the site of the sewage plant that played a pivotal role in the clean up. (I guess it was supposed to be an honor?)

The clean up occurred well before I moved to Boston From everything I've heard, though, the change was dramatic. But, there are still no fish in Boston harbor

But, there are still no fish in Boston harbor.

And, how could I not.....

[MannyGoldstein]

2. Agree - accents are fading

The closest thing I've heard to a Kennedy accent is in Maine, I think.

Nobody sounds like John Kerry.

[merrily]

3. He was born in Colorado. Military brat (Forbes family style, though.) Didn't get to Massachusetts

until he was 14, when he enrolled at the Fessenden School (later to become infamous). Also went to schools in Concord, NH and Europe before college at Yale (Connecticut).

By the age of 14, I think your accent is pretty much set? And he didn't spend many years in Massachusetts until law school. So, if he had a Massachusetts accent, I'd have to wonder if it was as real as his "Boston Irish" roots.

I just noticed in his wiki: he went to Boston College Law. Not what you'd expect of a Yale grad who had the Forbes family connections and the Forbes family willing to pay for his education--not that B.C. is cheap, anyway. But, as far as Massachusetts law schools--if it just had to be in Massachusetts--the rankings would probably be Harvard, then BU, then BC, then Suffolk and then New England.

Seems odd.

[MannyGoldstein]

4. On reflection...

Thurston Howell III? Major Charles Winchester?

Perhaps it's a rich WASP accent, although I don't know any rich WASPs in real life.

[merrily]

5. I havent seen MASH in a while. Didn't

the actor who played Winchester do a pretty bad Boston Brahmin accent?

Thurston Howell did a speaking through clenched teeth kind of thing that Kerry doesn't do.

But yes, Kerry does sound like a patrician. What else would he sound like? A longshoreman? (Maybe he does. I guess I have no clue what a longshoreman sounds like.)

As an aside, Boston must be a very hahd, um, hard, accent to mimic because the only one I've ever heard get it right was Affleck in Good Will Hunting.

The Boston accent of the guy who played Cliff Clavin on Cheers was pitiful. Laughable, but not in a good way.

So is that of very actor I've heard attempt it, aside from Affleck. Wait-- Leo Di Caprio's wasn't bad in The Departed. He only did a hint of it, instead of attempting a heavy accent, as did the Clavin guy. Most actors are better advised to forget about it and just speak normally, I think. At least then, they won't have us laughing during a drama.

Quintessential old school Boston accent: Mayor Menino. Being a fan of all accents, I used to love, love, love it every time Menino bet other mayors over ball games, because he always bet a loahbstah dinnah.

[merrily]

6. P.S. a few years back, I went to the Paul Revere House during Harborfest to

hear the Revere re-enactor do his spiel. I don't know if the same guy is still there, but he was great and incredibly knowledgeable. Even looks a little like Revere, too.

Anyway, while doing his prepared spiel, he mentioned that, by 1789, the colonists spoke just like he was speaking, meaning no British accent.

That comment prompted me to stay for the Q. and A. because I wondered how he even knew how colonists sounded. We have no recordings of them speaking, after all.

I guess my question was not clear, because he replied that Paul Revere's accent actually would have used would have been a lot like a Maine accent, but he could not use that for his spiel because it would take him forever to finish his speech. (I guess he is too conscientious to shorten the speech.)

So, you nailed it.

[MannyGoldstein]

7. Ha!

IIRC what's now Maine was part of Mass back then. I guess Mass changed, Maine's remained the same.

Wanna read a great book?

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32080.Paul_Revere_s_Ride?from_search=true

Paul Revere was a linchpin in starting the Revolution, which I didn't know. I thought he played more of a supporting role.

[merrily]

8. 16 kids and his mom and him and his second wife in a 2 bedroom house.

And about six businesses to feed all those mouths.

He had to take it out on someone. And he was probably grateful for those rides. At least they got him out of that house.

I have a friend--not a close friend, but a friend--whose mom is a descendant of Revere and, not Abe Lincoln himself, but someone closely related to Lincoln. (Two of Revere's daughters married two of the Lincoln brothers. Abe knew of the Massachusetts Lincolns, but thought they were no relation to him--he was mistaken.)

And then, there was a Rockefeller in the family as well. Not John D, but very close.

When I first met her mom, her mom said to me, "There was a lot of ancestor worship in our family." I replied, "I can understand why. I've worshipped several of your ancestors and I'm not even related to them." (I fell in love with Lincoln in 4th grade and never got over it I fell in love with Revere after I moved to Boston.)

I told my friend, if her family didn't exist, half the PBS American Experience series disappear.

Anyway, my friend refuses to visit the Revere House. She won't say why.

Thanks for the recommendation. If you've never read The Late George Apley, you might pick that up. It conveys the Brahmin mentality so very well. No mention of the Kennedys, of course, but reading it will give you an idea of why Kennedy could have had more money than God and never been accepted into that society. And now his family is referred to as "American royalty." Way to go, Joe!

[Warpy]

12. Have you been through the house?

People back then were either shrimps or hunchbacks, the low ceilings forcing anyone over 5'6" to stoop when indoors, and anyone over 5'2" to stoop going through door frames. The ceilings were kept as low as possible to trap the most heat down in the living area.

If George Washington ever slept there, it was an extremely uncomfortable visit. He was quite tall even by our standards.

[merrily]

13. Yes, but not recently.

Most of them were petite. Washington must have looked like Goliath to them. Good for a general. His troops could probably see him from anywhere on the battlefield. On the other hand, he probably made a good target for the British, but he was probably smart enough to compensate for that.

They would have kept roofs (rooves?) as low as feasible because no central heat, only whatever fireplaces the house had. Hot air rises, so high ceiling means cold short people.

How I know their sizes. Clothes on display in various Boston museums, including military uniforms from both sides. Also Betsy Ross's bed in Philly. Very short by today's standards.

[Warpy]

14. The Conquistadors were little shrimpy guys, too

A lot of the armor is on display in the various museums out here in NM. Holes in the chain mail tell the story of how they died.

[Warpy]

10. I left before much of the cleanup had taken effect

and what I remember most about Boston water was that it tasted like fish, and not in a good way. I was told it was due to the algae in all the old pipes. I just got used to it. At least it didn't give me the shits like water in Florida always did.

As for the accent, it's probably still alive and well in places in Boston like Maverick Square and there is still likely a center of eastern Mass people keeping it alive in Taunton. Once you get into Back Bay or the financial district, you run into the people who came from elsewhere or paid to get rid of the worst of it.

My favorite accent story is about a lady who was a commercial spokeswoman for Star Market for many years. She went on happily, "I'm Kay McCahthy for Stah Mahket...." Shortly before I left, someone decided she was sounding downscale and needed elocution lessons. She very proudly did one commercial, "I'm Kay McCahthy for StARRRR (think pirate) MaRRRRRket..." It killed her career. Moral: leave regional accents alone, it never works all that well to kill them off.

[merrily]

11. Strong accents, though, work well only in their native land.

If you move to an area where the accent is different or imperceptible, you don't fare well and you don't get a job as commercial spokesperson, either.

Someone once asked Conan to do his own Boston accent, meaning drop that fake broadcasting accent and show us what you really sound like, Conan.

He tried a few times, but he couldn't even do a good imitation of a Boston accent anymore. Suppressed too long. And I don't think he knew until that moment, on national TV, that he could not even fake it anymore.

When I first moved to Boston, I was talking to some older women. (Sadly, I spend a lot of time at the neighborhood health center and Mass Gen, waiting to see a lot doctors then and so did a lot of elderly widows from the neighborhood.)

I don't think most of them had ever been outside Boston, maybe even not very far outside their own neighborhood. Poorer women, families never owned cars, etc. They had no clue they had an accent. Except for one woman who had lived in San Fransisco fouor a time.

When she first moved out, she got lost and needed to find a very prominent street. She asked on person after another if they could tell her how to get there. Everyone said they never heard of it. It was Market Street. No one knew what she was saying.

I didn't know you were from Mass, though. Hi! No wonder you are not rightist.

[MannyGoldstein]

9. Thanks for posting!

P.S. Deer Island is waste water (sewage) not drinking water.