Nassau residents cope with water woes

As the temperature outside his North Valley Stream residence soared to 90 degrees, George Kravatz, 85, tended a hot stove Thursday, boiling a pot of water so that he could safely take his medicine.

"I take a lot of pills, so I need water," said Kravatz, who lives in one of several communities where water supplies were put under restrictions Wednesday because of possible contamination with E. coli bacteria.

Like many residents, Kravatz found out about the directive through a friend, who called him Thursday. By then Kravatz had consumed a glass of water straight from his kitchen tap.

"If it hasn't affected me yet, it shouldn't affect me," Kravatz said.

A spokeswoman for the Water Authority of Western Nassau County said workers are going door to door in the communities, leaving pamphlets warning of the water alert. Shahid Khan, 58, also of North Valley Stream, said leaving pamphlets in mailboxes wasn't the most effective way to alert residents. He worried that the wind might blow some into yards, or that people would toss the pamphlet before reading it.

"Maybe a sticker on the door would be better," he said.

Khan's wife, Narghis Khan, 56, sent her husband for bottled water early Thursday and also said she will boil water.

"But it's a lot of work to boil it and a lot of time," she said.

The inconvenience caused by the directive was compounded for restaurant owners. Xenis Thoma, owner of the New Hyde Park Diner in New Hyde Park said the E. coli scare is "going to cost me more money on gas, now, to heat up the water," Thoma said.

"We have to boil the water for 25-30 minutes before we use it."

With Aisha Al-Muslim, Gary Dymski and Hugo Kugiya