All Newporters should have received a second notification that once again
the city is not meeting Federal water safety standards. As a Newport native
and long-time resident I do not personally ever recall seeing our drinking
water as cloudy and murky as it is. Many other Newporters have commented to
me about this. Public safety and assurance of good drinking water are among
the most basic services a municipality can provide and Newport can't even do
that. At least homeowners can avoid drinking it. What are local restaurants
doing about this?

The argument is made by the city that this is largely because Federal
standards have been increased. Federal regulations are not generally
mandated overnight. The city has probably had considerable advance
notification, perhaps two or three years, that those health standards were
raised and yet nothing was done about it.

Our failure to meet those standards certainly makes President Clinton's
visit to Newport look pretty ridiculous. You may recall that he came here a
couple of summers ago to announce the Clean Water Act. Symbolically, Newport
was presumably promoted to the entire country for its clean water.

Fred Faerber