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« Grand jury indicts British man accused of killing wife and baby in Mass. | Today | Cranston woman charged with embezzling from parent-teacher group » March 28, 2006Updated: Security breach at Blackstone facility spurs warning not to use waterNORTH SMITHFIELD -- At least 83 Rhode Island residents and more than 8,800 Massachusetts residents have been urged not to drink, bathe in or even touch their tap water this morning, following a break-in last night at a Blackstone, Mass. water department building. North Smithfield Town Administrator Robert Lowe said that warning notices have been hand-delivered to the local residents living in areas receiving Blackstone water. He said that officials in Massachusetts and Rhode Island are working to investigate a security breach that took place at about 6 p.m.. A 1.3 million-gallon water tank at the water department facility was damaged, according to state Department of Health spokeswoman Maria Wah-Fitta. Authorities also discovered an empty 5-gallon bucket on top of the tank. "We're hoping that it's a bunch of kids as opposed to what we all fear," Lowe said. "Being post-9/11, it's better to be safe than sorry." The warning notice instructs residents to completely avoid contact with tap water "until further notice" and urges them take "extreme care" while exercising a few safety precautions: - Flush all taps (hot and cold) for a minimum of 10 minutes without coming into contact with the water. - Discard ice cubes made yesterday and purge automatic ice dispensers - Discard juices and baby formulas prepared with tap water yesterday The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection has isolated the damaged water tank and is testing Blackstone water for a variety of contaminants. Test results are expected to come by tomorrow morning at the latest, according to DEP spokesman Edmund Coletta. More to come ... Posted by Steve Peoples |
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