Turbidity

The word of the week here is turbid:
1.

not clear or transparent because of stirred-up sediment or the like; clouded; opaque; obscured: the turbid waters near the waterfall.

2.	thick or dense, as smoke or clouds.

3.	confused; muddled; disturbed.

The word, while also describing my current state of mind re: writing, is relevant this week because for the past eight days Vancouver has been under a boil-water advisory due to high levels of turbidity in the reservoir waters. The heavy rains last week caused mudslides that dirtied up the reservoirs, turning the tap water here a nice yellowish brown. (This was best illustrated by the water in the toilet, which perpetually looked like it needed to be flushed. I was going to take a picture, but good taste prevailed. Or possibly I just didn't get to it while the waters were particularly bad.)

Because of fears of bacteria contamination in the water, they issued the boil-water advisory. So, for the past week, no using tap water for drinking, brushing teeth, or washing fruits and veggies. The water all has to be boiled or bottled. Which reminds me of living in China last year, except that at least everyone there knew that the water was unsafe and had big bottles of water delivered to the apartment.

The water looks better now, only faintly brown. But they aren't going to make any decisions about the advisory until after the weekend, so it's off to the store to get more bottled water.

And then I'll try and clear up my mental turbidity about this story that won't decide what it wants to be.