Special to El Rrun-Rrun
Brownsville Public utility Board CEO John Bruciak on Sunday plunked down the PUB ratepayers' good money to assure that according to the World Health Organization the the COVID-19 virus HAS NOT been detected in Brownsville's drinking-water supplies.
While that is reassuring, we know of no one in mainstream or social media, world leaders, or medical experts who have raised the question.
And in the full-color, three-page (counting front and back and the half-page overlay) ad enveloping the meager news offering of the daily, he also said that the utility's sewer treatment plants can "treat" viruses (including CODIV-19) and other pathogens" and that PUB customers don't have to boil their tap water.
The ad did stop short of suggesting that PUB customers could "treat" a virus infection if they bathe in the treatment plants.
"Consumers can continue to use and drink water from their tap as usual," the ad asserts.
This is just a guesstimate but political ads that cover three full pages cost a pretty penny. Let's call it around $5,000 unless PUB has a standing media contract where they can get a discount.
On Sunday, the PUB wrap ad covered the front and back of the daily with a number of pithy assertions by PUB's praising its tap water. (See the PUB-Herald cozy graphic at right.)Still, dividing the $5,000 by $200 - the cap on utility assistance per account holders under PUB's SHARE program - that amount would have help 25 households with their bills.
What's more, if they are really needy, they probably have to drink PUB's tap water and can heed PUB's admonishment that there's "no need to stockpile bottled water!"
We have to admit that it's a quirky spin on the theme of May being "Drinking Water Month" adding a twist of COVID-19 just for good measure.
But John will have to excuse our skepticism if we take a pass on chugging down a couple of quarts of it even if PUB says the World Health Organization has placed its seal of approval on Brownsville's water.
How could PUB waste $100 million on the Tenaska boondoggle and nobody has demanded an answer?
How can BPUB raise rates for five consecutive years and nobody has been willing to demand any answers ?
Will no one demand any answers on why CFO Leandro Garcia permitted two $1.3 million payments to Texas Noble Construction when only one was required?
Come to think of it, maybe it's not water Bruciak is offering us to drink. Maybe he wants us to drink the Kool-Aid.