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Cleveland's Water Situation

Aired August 15, 2003 - 06:18   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We want to talk more about the water situation in Cleveland right now and other parts of northeast Ohio.
On the phone with us right now, Tom Moore from WTAM Radio.

The water situation was rather critical and still is, right -- Tom?

TOM MOORE, WTAM RADIO: It has been quite critical. For instance, some people, such as myself in my home, we had low water pressure. Some people had no water whatsoever, brown stuff coming out of the faucets, and so that's why the city of Cleveland and Mayor Campbell have asked people to boil the water for now. The National Guard is still going to be bringing in the tanks of water that they call the water buffaloes to some neighborhoods that have no water.

COSTELLO: Yes, and she mentioned three fires, and those two elderly people whose house caught on fire because they were burning candles for light. And I understand when firefighters arrived on the scene of these fires it was hard to pump water from the hydrants to fight the fires.

MOORE: Exactly, because again, the water pressure was so low. A matter of fact, last night there were people all over, the inner city especially, that were opening up the fire hydrants just to get water to cool off. And again, that's a big fat no-no because that drops the water pressure and that could have led to those tragedies this morning.

COSTELLO: That's just so very sad. So again, they are telling people to boil the water when -- I missed exactly when she said those pipes would be up and running and people will have water again.

MOORE: Well the thing is the pipes are going to be up and running, you know, later on this morning because as the power is slowly being restored. But again, you are still going to have a lot of sediment in the pipes and things like that.

And then you have another problem here in Cleveland as well that the mayor mentioned at the end. She said don't go swimming in Lake Erie. Well the problem is that the sewage treatment plants also have been shutdown and raw sewage has been pumped into the Cuyahoga River, which flows into Lake Erie.

Now our water supply comes from a pumping area about three to four miles offshore, they call it the five-mile crib because it travels five miles into a pumping stations and where they filter the water. And even if you get the little bit of a threat of that sewage getting out near where the water supply comes in, I think it's going to be a good idea to boil that water maybe for the next 24 hours at least or more here in Cleveland.

COSTELLO: Boy, you're not -- it's amazing just how many facets of life that electricity effects. It's just amazing. Tom Moore...

MOORE: It is.

COSTELLO: Tom Moore from WTAM Radio, we'll let you get back to work. We know you are busy there in Cleveland. We thank you for joining us on DAYBREAK this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired August 15, 2003 - 06:18   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We want to talk more about the water situation in Cleveland right now and other parts of northeast Ohio.
On the phone with us right now, Tom Moore from WTAM Radio.

The water situation was rather critical and still is, right -- Tom?

TOM MOORE, WTAM RADIO: It has been quite critical. For instance, some people, such as myself in my home, we had low water pressure. Some people had no water whatsoever, brown stuff coming out of the faucets, and so that's why the city of Cleveland and Mayor Campbell have asked people to boil the water for now. The National Guard is still going to be bringing in the tanks of water that they call the water buffaloes to some neighborhoods that have no water.

COSTELLO: Yes, and she mentioned three fires, and those two elderly people whose house caught on fire because they were burning candles for light. And I understand when firefighters arrived on the scene of these fires it was hard to pump water from the hydrants to fight the fires.

MOORE: Exactly, because again, the water pressure was so low. A matter of fact, last night there were people all over, the inner city especially, that were opening up the fire hydrants just to get water to cool off. And again, that's a big fat no-no because that drops the water pressure and that could have led to those tragedies this morning.

COSTELLO: That's just so very sad. So again, they are telling people to boil the water when -- I missed exactly when she said those pipes would be up and running and people will have water again.

MOORE: Well the thing is the pipes are going to be up and running, you know, later on this morning because as the power is slowly being restored. But again, you are still going to have a lot of sediment in the pipes and things like that.

And then you have another problem here in Cleveland as well that the mayor mentioned at the end. She said don't go swimming in Lake Erie. Well the problem is that the sewage treatment plants also have been shutdown and raw sewage has been pumped into the Cuyahoga River, which flows into Lake Erie.

Now our water supply comes from a pumping area about three to four miles offshore, they call it the five-mile crib because it travels five miles into a pumping stations and where they filter the water. And even if you get the little bit of a threat of that sewage getting out near where the water supply comes in, I think it's going to be a good idea to boil that water maybe for the next 24 hours at least or more here in Cleveland.

COSTELLO: Boy, you're not -- it's amazing just how many facets of life that electricity effects. It's just amazing. Tom Moore...

MOORE: It is.

COSTELLO: Tom Moore from WTAM Radio, we'll let you get back to work. We know you are busy there in Cleveland. We thank you for joining us on DAYBREAK this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com