Skip to main contentIn last Wednesday's cover story on Mayor Sam Adams' finest moments, Corey Pein pointed out that the mayor's copious use of Twitter allows him to keep connected to the day-to-day concerns of constituents.
Adams put those Twitter skills to work this weekend in the face of catastrophe. Or maybe inconvenience. Anyway, Adams faced a boil-water notice after a Washington Park reservoir tested positive for E. coli.
On Saturday, Adams was tweeting about gun control when word came in from the water bureau: Something had probably pooped in the reservoir again, and the West Side needed to boil its drinking water.
To the Twittercave!
Using the hashtag #boilwaterpdx, Adams responded to people's questions, fears and jokes for more than 20 hours until the crisis passed. Here are Adams' 10 best Tweets from the emergency.
Adams: "ALERT RT @portlandwater Boil Water Notice Issued for Portland Water Customers West of Willamette River"
Q: "Should those of us on the East side of the river be boiling our water just to be safe?"
Adams: "No. Eastside water ok."
Q: "Should westside bubblers be disabled?"
Adams: "Being turned off. Do not drink from westside drinking fountains."
Q: "what about washing your hands??Showers??"
Adams: "Health Officer here says, 'yes,' but avoid getting in your mouth."
Q: "pets (stronger immune systems, shots for water born illness)?"
Adams: "Health Officer says healthy pets 'ok' to drink water unboiled."
Q: "So let me understand this, when you say eastside is ok do you mean eastside is ok? Or do u mean eastside is ok?"
Adams: "eastside is ok"
Adams: "FYI: photo inside Westside Emergency Operations Center. We only took ownership of it last Wednesday."
Q: "do I live over by 205 mall safe???"
Adams: "Yes, safe"
Q: "How long will it take to refill reservoir 3? Is it filled by rain? A stream?"
Adams: "@portlandwater ?" (For those of you not up on your Twitter protocol, this means he forwarded the question to the water bureau.)
Q: "find a way to keep birds from crapping in w. side water. Suggest: bird pampers giveaway or signs pointing east."
Adams: :)
WWeek 2015