Demand for safe drinking water amid bacteria contamination depletes Halethorpe Fire Station's bottled supply
Halethorpe, Md. -- Hundreds of water bottle packets were given out at the Halethorpe Fire Station Tuesday afternoon, but the packets ran out by the evening as people sought to avoid drinking potentially contaminated water.
On Monday, the Baltimore City Department of Public Works warned of the presence of E. coli bacteria in the water supplying a fire station in West Baltimore. Now, a large swath of the city—more than 1,500 homes and businesses along with several hospitals—is under a boil water alert.
The affected area also impacts some of Southwestern Baltimore County and a sliver of Howard County.
People had been going to Halethorpe Fire Station for supplies on Tuesday until the station ran out of them.
"Now what are we gonna do tonight for water," said one woman who claimed to live around the corner from the Halethorpe Fire Station.
Another mother, Angela Desields, said she'd been to Safeway, Walmart and Sam's Club looking for water, coming up empty-handed.
Those who couldn't get water at the fire station were redirected to the Lansdowne library.
According to a map released by Baltimore DPW, parts of Howard County and some of Southwest Baltimore County are also under a water contamination advisory.
Baltimore County issued a boil water advisory Tuesday for those areas within the map including Arbutus, Halethorpe and Lansdowne. And while Baltimore County said E-Coli has not been detected in their water, their boil advisory is a precaution.
"But I'm still afraid of it," said one Baltimore County woman who lives within the advisory area. "Who wants to get sick? I don't want to get sick."
Tony Bridges, the executive director of Blue Water Baltimore, said more needs to be done to ensure safe water is available.
"We've got to do as much as we can to fix that crumbling system," Bridges said. "Make sure we have up-to-date galvanized pipes so we don't continue to have these breaks and sewage backups and things happening right in our own backyard, in our neighborhoods."
