Cornell turns off tap on oil-tainted water

Penn students annoyed by the frequent half-day water shutdowns in the high rises should be grateful they don't attend Cornell University, where an off-campus oil spill contaminated the school's drinking supply this week, forcing students to go days without drinkable water. Approximately 1,000 gallons of oil spilled at a concrete plant near Cornell's Ithaca, N.Y., campus Tuesday night, polluting Cornell's water supply, according to Cornell spokesperson Linda Grace-Kobas. While Grace-Kobas stressed that only minute amounts of oil were discovered in the school's water supply, Cornell officials advised students not to drink the water because the level of pollution exceeded federal limits. The water was "safe to wash in, just not to drink," Grace-Kobas said. She added that students who drank the water before seeing the alert --which was circulated via e-mail, posted in campus restrooms and announced on local radio stations --should not be concerned about possible health effects. Grace-Kobas stressed that she doesn't recall anything like this happening at the school in the past. In a message posted on the university's World Wide Web site, Cornell's Department of Environmental Health and Safety said it "recommends that as a precautionary measure and until further notice, the water not be used for drinking or cooking. The water may be used for other purposes such as flushing toilets, bathing and general cleaning." The school's water system was flushed out Wednesday night and Cornell students were alerted Thursday that water on most parts of campus was safe to drink, Grace-Kobas said. All the water on campus should be safe sometime today, she added. Cornell freshman Kristin Haacke said her dorm was still advising students not to drink water last night. She explained that students were given free bottled water in their dorms, adding that dining halls used paper plates and plastic silverware in order to avoid washing dishes in the water supply. Haacke, who found out about the water ban via e-mail, said that campus water fountains were covered with plastic in order to prevent their use. Cornell sophomore Andrea Berman had to purchase her own bottled water Wednesday, but received water from the school yesterday. She noted that the ordeal taught her an important lesson: "I never realized how important water was to our daily lives," she said.

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