THE PEABODY ADVOCATE - Friday, April 6, 2018

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PERMIT #67

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Vol. 3, No. 14

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Friday, April 6, 2018

Haiti’s hardships shared during 43rd charity walk By Christopher Roberson

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ne week out of the year, Peabody resident Brad Smith boards a plane and flies 1,643 miles to the island nation of Haiti. Since 2003, Smith, a volunteer for the nonprofit organization Faith and Concern, has strived to improve the quality of life in a place where things from education to safe drinking water are luxuries. He shared the story of his December 2017 trip during the 43rd Annual Walk for Haiti that was held on March 30 at the Senior Center. According to the World Bank, Haiti is one of the most impoverished countries in the world, with 80 percent of its residents either living in poverty or extreme poverty. Smith was able to help ac-

Brad Smith (front row left) gathers with walkers, including former Mayor Michael Bonfanti (front row right) during the 43rd Walk for Haiti on March 30. (Advocate photo by Christopher Roberson)

quire a SunSpring water purification system at the end of last year, which provides 5,000 gallons of drinking wa-

ter every day. “It’s microbiologically pure,� he said, adding that in prior years, visitors needed to bring bottled

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Member FDIC Member SIF

HAITI’S | SEE PAGE 2

State determines city water safe despite odor concerns By Christopher Roberson

father of four, including an infant son, I share your concerns orking with city officials, and frustration,� he said. “I am the state Department experiencing this smell in my of Environmental Protection home and although I have no(DEP) found that the odor in ticed improvement in the last the city’s water supply is com- few days, the smelly water is ing from a “naturally-occurring a nuisance that comes at the algae bloom�in Winona Pond. In end of what has been a very a written statement, Mayor Ed- long and difficult New England ward Bettencourt assured resi- winter.� Therefore, Bettencourt outdents that the results of numerous water quality tests“continue lined the measures that the city to meet the strongest state and and the DEP have taken thus far to resolve the problem.“Our wafederal requirements.� The 170-acre pond is a prima- ter technicians executed a sysry source of drinking water for tem-wide flush designed to cycle out smelly water,� he said. residents in West Peabody. “To provide further assur- “The flush involved draining ance to our residents, the DEP storage tanks and refilling them and I authorized an additional with fresh water as well as flushbattery of tests to be conduct- ing hundreds of fire hydrants ed at an independent certified throughout the city.� Bettencourt also said the DEP laboratory in Indiana,� said Bettencourt, adding that those will be implementing a more rotests were designed to detect bust water treatment program cyanotoxins and bacteria, and using a permanganate oxidant, “I am pleased to report the re- which is “designed to eliminate sults came back negative for the smell quickly and safely.� “DEP and independent wacyanotoxins and bacteria and confirmed our previous results.� ter specialists believe this new Although there are no health treatment protocol and continrisks, the foul smell has contin- ued flushing of our water sysued to linger, which Betten- tem will eliminate the odor in court said is “simply unaccept- relatively short order,� said Betable.� “Both as mayor and as a tencourt.

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water. “For the first time in 15 years, I could brush my teeth in Haiti – water is huge.� As a result of the country’s

poor water quality, Smith said, 60 percent of the viral infections originate in the water. With the exception of the SunSpring system, he said, there is no way to purify water as Haiti lacks the “energy and resources� to boil water. Smith said his most difficult trip was in 2010 after a 7.0 earthquake decimated the landscape. He said that even the horrors he witnessed during the Vietnam War did not compare to the cataclysmic level of damage inflicted by the earthquake. “The earthquake killed 310,000 people,� said Smith, adding that the death toll was greater than the combined population of Lynn, Peabody, Salem, Beverly, Danvers, Saugus and Wakefield.


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