I informed someone that had recently moved to the area that there was a water main break and you had to boil water. They brought me a jug of water from Walmart as a thanks. Now we are married. Go tell random attractive people.
I'll keep that in mind if I ever get divorced!
This is why I think something like mastodon works really well for government, public works or any service that wants Twitter/Facebook like notifications without all the bullshit like having to deal with all negatives of having those accounts.
That can easily be done by cell broadcasts (which can absolutely have different stages of priority nowadays), mass-SMS (every cellphone that first registers in an affected area gets a SMS, via designated disaster management apps, by placing handouts on peoples doors (you usually do that by identify people at risks e.g. homecare patients, then you go by high to low risk areas - depending on the search of the contamination) and last but not least a few trucks with loudspeakers (even regular cop cars do) do wonders.
What happens here if someone is not at home when called, is not an actual customer of the water company, etc.?
There are dozens of better ways than how this was handled in OPs case.
Source: I consult community and disaster response organisations on this stuff.
Ideally the advisory is going out over the radio too. People will hear it while driving and then spread by word of mouth.
I don't know what country you're in but in my country there are very specific regulations that outline how your water provider MUST give written or verbal notice. If you don't have a phone number or email attached to your account there's a chance that there's a letter for you in in the mail and has not reached you yet. If not you might have a case with the ombudsman.
Honest question, what method of alerting would you have suggested? Looks like they tried 4 different things at once - none perfect, but I'm not sure any would be
Around my place when they were digging up the neighborhoods water lines they literally left a note on your door.
Around a neighborhood is one thing. An entire town could be a hell of a lift, not to mention that there are still problems with notes on doors (I usually go in and out through my garage; the front door is rarely used)
Junk mail manages it? I imagine it's not hard to say to the postal service, here are 5000 flyers, please give everyone one.
It's even easier to respond with
"sorry, it's a Sunday on a holiday weekend"
"Our carriers are halfway done with their route for the day, we're not paying them overtime to go back"
"Our sorting system is already done and the trucks are loaded up"
"I haven't checked my mail for a few days" (as the recipient of that flyer)
A competent state would go door to door, not make those affected constantly seek out this type of information. It is a basic public healtg failure.
My water district has 55,000 customers, many of whom won't answer their doors thinking it's a solicitor. Even if they did, you could have dozens of people going door to door and it would still take forever
You drive door to door leaving flyers. Small crowds of teenagers and college students do this for political campaigns. Why do you think municipal or county staff can't drive, knock on doors, or drop flyers? You can easily do 100-200 houses per hour if it's just flyers and no converdationd. You can do the whole thing in a day with 50 people.
It feels like you'd think the US Postal Service is an outlandish fairy tale. "They do what!? Drop of letters and packages to every address? That would take years!"
You can drive from neighborhood to neighborhood, but when you go door to door it's almost certainly on foot. My parents live in an older neighborhood with mailboxes at the front doors, and unless we had a package they never had the truck on our street. It was always parked a block away while the carrier went on foot going from door to door.
And no, I don't think the water company would have an army of 50 people ready to do an organized canvas of the town (unlike the Postal Service, which has a roster of dedicated mail carriers)
This is literally something that already happens every day for junk mailers and junk from Amazon and you're trying to die on the hill of saying it's basically impossible. There are regions where direct verbal or written notice is required by law. These are things that happen and happen efficiently and in very boring ways, despite your continued attempts to argue about this from the position of, "nuh-uh it's too hard" ad nauseum.
And this is in defense of instead publishing this information in a dark corner as if it's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
“But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?” “Yes,” said Arthur, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard'."
And no, I don't think the water company would have an army of 50 people ready to do an organized canvas of the town (unlike the Postal Service, which has a roster of dedicated mail carriers)
Paying 50 people for one day of flyering is an army? How much do you think it costs to send a letter? A water boil notice already means they have failed their own liability and could cause very serious and expensive harms. Yes they have to pay for that (possibly literal) shit.
Just admit you were being silly, not clever, and move on.
Naw, I think "but we have cars" was silly, not clever (funny how you dropped that pretty quickly). I think "but you can get people and a plan immediately while also fixing the problem" is silly, not clever (admittedly places that require certain notices will also have a plan to implement it as required by law, not I'm thinking about wherever OP is which I'm assuming doesn't have that). I think comparing with organizations that need large coverage for their daily operations (not necessarily 100% of homes in a day, mind you) is silly, not clever.
Feel free to move on.
Naw, I think "but we have cars" was silly, not clever (funny how you dropped that pretty quickly).
Hmm I never said that. You'd rather make stuff up than acknowledge an everyday thing is actually entirely feasible?
I think "but you can get people and a plan immediately while also fixing the problem" is silly, not clevet (admittedly places that require certain notices will also have a plan to implement it as required by law, not I'm thinking about wherever OP is which I'm assuming doesn't have that).
Thanks for explaining how your idea that this can only be done ad hoc is actually dumb, refuting your own point!
I think comparing with organizations that need large coverage for their daily operations (not necessarily 100% of homes in a day, mind you) is silly, not clever.
What are you even talking about? Use your words.
Feel free to move on.
But your bad faith obstinance is funny. You can go ahead and ignore my advice and embarrass yourself as much as you'd like.
Hmm I never said that.
This you?
You drive door to door leaving flyers. [...] Why do you think municipal or county staff can't drive
Anyway...
What are you even talking about? Use your words.
You're talking about what Amazon and USPS can do. They can do it (Amazon not every home in a given area) because they're equipped to. Saying that the water company should be able to cover a town with flyers because USPS goes door to door is about as logical as saying USPS should fix a water main because the water company does it.
Now, if the law requires something that will always change the calculus but that doesn't seem to be the case here
Hmm I never said that.
This you?
You drive door to door leaving flyers. [...] Why do you think municipal or county staff can't drive
Anyway...
Hey there champ, those are different words meaning different things. Love this strategy of yours known as, "pretend to be less literate than a gradeschooler", though.
You're talking about what Amazon and USPS can do. They can do it (Amazon not every home in a given area) because they're equipped to. Saying that the water company should be able to cover a town with flyers because USPS goes door to door is about as logical as saying USPS should fix a water main because the water company does it.
Okay so there's this thing called paying for goods and services. I know, difficult concept, but stick with me. Companies and agencies with liabolities write things called "contracts" or "budgets" where they pay others to handle needs for goods and services. Such as paying USPS to knock on doors like they often will for packages, leaving behind a flyer. Crazy, I know. There are already municipalities that use Amazon delivery drivers for services due to neoliberal austerity, but that is an actual thing that happens.
These are just some competent, simple options. They could also use a slew of government workers, contractors, hell they could be lazy asses and supplement with day laborers. The sky's the limit.
Now, if the law requires something that will always change the calculus but that doesn't seem to be the case here
Oh? How does it change the calculus?
This is silly.
Yeah by replying I think I'm giving the false impression of taking you seriously, person whi thinks things that happen are impossible.
Ok, where do you get those 50 people?
Do you have 50 people sitting around on-call 24/7/365 just in case they need to go knock on everyone's door?
Are you taking them off of other jobs to go do this? If this happens at 3AM on a holiday weekend, there's probably a pretty good reason those other people are already on the clock, like maybe fixing whatever issue is causing the advisory.
Are we relying on volunteers? How are we going to get ahold of them to let them know, let alone guarantee that they're actually going to show up.
We gonna mobilize the national guard to do it? How long is that gonna take to get going?
Maybe we'll just press-gang the first 50 people we can get our hands on to do it. What could possibly go wrong?
But let's say getting the people is a solved problem. How are they getting around? Not every area is easily walkable. Do we have 50 municipal cars on standby for them to use? Are we going to have additional people driving them around to the needed areas in vans? Are they using their personal vehicles and will need to be compensated for gas and mileage (not to mention probably an insurance nightmare for those people using personal vehicles for non-personal use)
Ok, where do you get those 50 people?
There are places that regularly do this. Where do you think they get enough people to visit and/or mail every address? Who works at the post office? Cops? First responders? Utility workers? Social workers? Delivery drivers?
This is not just a failure of imagination, it is trying to pretend this kind of operation doesn't already happen every day right where you live.
Do you have 50 people sitting around on-call 24/7/365 just in case they need to go knock on everyone's door?
Why would they need to?
Are you taking them off of other jobs to go do this? If this happens at 3AM on a holiday weekend, there's probably a pretty good reason those other people are already on the clock, like maybe fixing whatever issue is causing the advisory.
Yes you are taking people off of other jobs to do this. Why would they all be working on the problem that caused the boil notice? Do you think your mailman is cranking on water mains?
Are we relying on volunteers? How are we going to get ahold of them to let them know, let alone guarantee that they're actually going to show up.
If you wanted to use volunteers you would do it by having a group ready to meet up, get trained, and then do these kinds of tasks when needed. You would get their phone numbers in advance and then call around to get together a group. This is how all civil volunteer groups work. Search and rescue. Emergency volunteer firefighters. This is an everyday thing and very basic. Why imply it's impractical?
We gonna mobilize the national guard to do it? How long is that gonna take to get going?
The governor could do that, yes. They mobilize very quickly, they do evacuations for natural disasters. They train for this kind of logistics thing. But sending notice in the mail would be much cheaper.
Maybe we'll just press-gang the first 50 people we can get our hands on to do it. What could possibly go wrong?
"What about [stupid thing]? You're so dumb for thinking the thing I just made up."
But let's say getting the people is a solved problem. How are they getting around? Not every area is easily walkable.
The US is car-dependent. You would use cars. Those owned by the authority, municipalities, owned by USPS, cop cars, etc. How do you think your mail works? Purely pedestrian?
Do we have 50 municipal cars on standby for them to use?
For an area with 55,000 people? Yes you have 50 vehicles that could be used, though you don't need 50 because you can do 2-3 per car if you're doing the door knocking strategy.
And yes most municipal vehicles are "on standby". Tons sit in parking lots all day. Ask your county about their staff vehicles and the reservation process.
Are we going to have additional people driving them around to the needed areas in vans?
Why would they need to?
Are they using their personal vehicles and will need to be compensated for gas and mileage (not to mention probably an insurance nightmare for those people using personal vehicles for non-personal use)
Could be. Depends on exactly how incompetent the water authority is. As we can see, publishing info in the internet equivalent of a dark corner in a broom closet is a strategy they actually went with.
They are liable for this and can opt for as expensive snd dumb or cheap and efficient of a method they'd like.
Useless with getting news out, useless in preventing a dictator from taking control.
American militias as mentioned in the second amendment are really no actual use, are they?
We go the extra mile. It will makes us look good. Therefore we only announce it on corporate social media.
Must be nice to have your problem. During COVID-19, my county health department kept sending area alarms with emergency messages during COVID-19, most of which contained no actual useful information about threats or change of status to regulations and were just reminding people to social-distance.
They also robo-called landlines with the same messages.
Home to all things "Mildly Infuriating" Not infuriating, not enraging. Mildly Infuriating. All posts should reflect that.
I want my day mildly ruined, not completely ruined. Please remember to refrain from reposting old content. If you post a post from reddit it is good practice to include a link and credit the OP. I'm not about stealing content!
It's just good to get something in this website for casual viewing whilst refreshing original content is added overtime.
Rules:
1. Be Respectful
Refrain from using harmful language pertaining to a protected characteristic: e.g. race, gender, sexuality, disability or religion.
Refrain from being argumentative when responding or commenting to posts/replies. Personal attacks are not welcome here.
...
2. No Illegal Content
Content that violates the law. Any post/comment found to be in breach of common law will be removed and given to the authorities if required.
That means: -No promoting violence/threats against any individuals
-No CSA content or Revenge Porn
-No sharing private/personal information (Doxxing)
...
3. No Spam
Posting the same post, no matter the intent is against the rules.
-If you have posted content, please refrain from re-posting said content within this community.
-Do not spam posts with intent to harass, annoy, bully, advertise, scam or harm this community.
-No posting Scams/Advertisements/Phishing Links/IP Grabbers
-No Bots, Bots will be banned from the community.
...
4. No Porn/Explicit
Content
-Do not post explicit content. Lemmy.World is not the instance for NSFW content.
-Do not post Gore or Shock Content.
...
5. No Enciting Harassment,
Brigading, Doxxing or Witch Hunts
-Do not Brigade other Communities
-No calls to action against other communities/users within Lemmy or outside of Lemmy.
-No Witch Hunts against users/communities.
-No content that harasses members within or outside of the community.
...
6. NSFW should be behind NSFW tags.
-Content that is NSFW should be behind NSFW tags.
-Content that might be distressing should be kept behind NSFW tags.
...
7. Content should match the theme of this community.
-Content should be Mildly infuriating.
-The Community !actuallyinfuriating has been born so that's where you should post the big stuff.
...
8. Reposting of Reddit content is permitted, try to credit the OC.
-Please consider crediting the OC when reposting content. A name of the user or a link to the original post is sufficient.
...
...
Also check out:
Partnered Communities:
Reach out to LillianVS for inclusion on the sidebar.
All communities included on the sidebar are to be made in compliance with the instance rules.