Anyone seen the advertisements? Made for TV movie entitled "Thirst"? I just posted about those of us living in the Cadillac Desert and how tenuous our hold is on life without much thought about the massive interdependency of the water distribution system that also happens to supply power to much of the Las Vegas/Phoenix/Scottsdale area of country.

Anyone heard anything about the movie "Thirst" other than the previews...? I'm gonna suggest my city council view it...few clips present sobering view of our area with contaiminated water for lengthy period of time....

Not Georgia...but Water on my mind...

"All day I've faced the barren wastes without the taste of water...Cool water (water, water water)"

-- Donna Barthuley (moment@pacbell.net), October 24, 1998

Answers

Donna, I mentioned this movie on a thread about a week ago. I think it will be interesting in light of Y2K. I checked the NBC website and this is all they say:

Sunday, October 25, 9-11 p.m. ET THIRST

Emmy Award nominee Adam Arkin (Dr. Aaron Shutt on "Chicago Hope") and Golden Globe nominee Joely Fisher ("Ellen") star in a two-hour thriller about a deadly parasite that infects a water system and causes a public health hazard that leaves citizens a drop away from total destruction. Giancarlo Esposito (NBCs "Homicide: Life on the Street" and NBCs "Five Desperate Hours") also stars. In the taut pertinent drama, Arkin plays Bob Miller, a water filtration engineer with a crisis on his hands involving thousands of human lives. Fisher co-stars as his wife, Susan, a nurse who has to deal with medical emergencies resulting from the catastrophe. Bill Norton directed. Paul A. Kaufman ("A Promise to Carolyn") is the executive producer. "Thirst" is produced by Citadel Entertainment LLC (an Alliance Communication Company) in association with The Kaufman Company..

-- Gayla Dunbar (privacy@please.com), October 24, 1998.

hmm,....see my post "Think You've Got Water Storage Problems?"

yep!

-- rocky (rknolls@hotmail.com), October 24, 1998.

Also thought it was sort of interesting.

This summer we had asteroids. Now we've got "thirst." And a Thanksgiving we get 'The Seige.'

Is someone paying attention and we're just not getting the clues?

-- j (hemwat@bellsouth.net), October 24, 1998.

This movie is loosely based on actual events which took place in Milwaukee (my hometown) several years ago. The water supply was contaminated with the cryptosporidium virus, which killed several people (AIDS patients and elderly with weakened immune systems), and gave roughly a MILLION people (myself included) diarrhea and other nasty symptoms.

I was an early victim, as I worked very near the water treatment plant that had problems. Before anything was reported on the news, I became violently ill. Couldn't figure out why.

Our local rag interviewed the producers of "Thirst" for that local connection. They wanted to do a story similar to the Milwaukee water problem, but said something along the lines of "diarrhea just wasn't sexy enough", or some such silly Hollywood talk. Instead, to heighten the drama, they created a much nastier virus that KILLED. Makes for much better TV.

Of course, no one but us will make a Y2K connection.

-- Steve Hartsman (hartsman@ticon.net), October 24, 1998.

isn't it amazing how things like this already occur here in the U.S. without warning and yet people still deny that major disruptions could occur? ---------------------------------0---------------------------------

-- Michael Taylor (mtdesign3@aol.com), October 25, 1998.

Steve, I imagine they combined what happened with you all, to what happened in Atlanta this past summer in the swimming pool. Robert Cook probably remembers better than I do, but as I recall, even the Brave's shortstop (Weiss) nearly lost his son. It should be an interesting story.

-- Gayla Dunbar (privacy@please.com), October 25, 1998.