Jackson Free Press

Recently, in jackson, there was a water crisis. To me the details are still fuzzy, but word of mouth says that numerous water lines burst under the cold conditions. As a result we were (and may still be) under a boil water alert. This included homes, hotels, and restraurants alike. The problem with this is that restaurants were still serving food. At first I thought it did not sound all that bad, but consider the amount of food used in restaurants and the contact that water has with our food. The cooks and servers have to wash their hands, the pots, pans, and counters have to be washed, and in some instances the food is cooked with water in it.

As an employee of a fast food restaurant, I was estatic to know that I was still able to work on those days (life isn't free), but I must consider the cleanliness of our environment. Where I work we must wash our hands for 20 seconds, every 20 minutes (20/20 rule). With water the way it is, we found ourselves using A LOT of bottled water! We boiled water on the grill to even clean the floors. We bought bags of ice to put into cups and poured 2 liters in the cups to serve them to customers. We went to great extents to ensure the safety of our food and our customer's health.

To the restaurants that went to these extents, I thank you. We truly appreciate your service, but my question is to the restaurants who were too lazy to purchase bottled water, or boil water, or buy ice. What were you serving? What were you cleaning with? Who ate at these restaurants? You? Me? The mayor? This instance is only one of many that signify the true importance of urbanizing our infrastructure and watching what we eat.

Water is one of the basic essentials of life. Use it wisely...because we never truly can appreciate it's full value until we have to suffer without it.