Opinion: The heat wave nearly broke our power grid and some of our readers agree that it’s time to take action
To say that there’s been some chaos at the water treatment plant at West Pointe is an understatement.
The National Weather Service forecast on Tuesday morning, before the heat wave struck, showed that the power would go out to Westpoint as early as 8 a.m. Tuesday.
But when we arrived at the plant, we were told that the heat had been so intense that a backup generator had kicked in — saving us the ordeal of rolling out of bed.
We were able to get the temperature back just enough to start the water treatment process and get the lights turned back on again. However, the electricity remains off.
There is no heat. No air conditioner. No fans.
It is the most uncomfortable heat wave in memory.
In fact, this is the hottest heat wave in decades, and some have said that we’re only weeks away from an official state of emergency.
If you’re wondering how we’ve stayed this cool, it’s because we’ve had no power, and we’ve had no running water. To make matters worse, there is only one bathroom at West Point.
We have to wait for the water treatment plant to turn on before we can shower. Then we have to wait for the water to heat up again.
But while we are waiting, there is a lot that needs fixing at the plant. For starters, the water treatment plant is old. Its filters are so old that they leak. And the heat and humidity made them very hard to work with to begin with.
In fact, after about 30 minutes, the water treatment plant was up and running again and things were looking up — until we noticed the smell.
At first, we thought the smell was coming from the heat, but as we kept sniffing, we noticed that the smell was not coming from the heat. It came from our clothes.
In the middle of the summer?
We thought of calling the company to come back out and fix the problem. But the phone was out and we couldn’t even call the person who answers the phone that often.
We kept wondering