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oh come on. NASA would never ignore or cover up critical flight safety issues!

/s


does it though? my experience is that it still hot garbage.

my win11 disk shit the bed and I had the local PC guys put in a new one (wiping all my data). they gave me the the machine back with a local 'user1' admin account. so that's me now. user1. hi.

I reported this to 99pi as an Article of Interest

Being from LA, I am used to a water system that works without needing power. I think most of CA is like that. It was a surprise to lose the water back east when the power went out during a storm.

The only places I've heard of losing water during power outages are houses that use a private well (no power, no well pump), which would be the case anywhere. Municipal water systems may or may not use power to provide pressure, but are going to have generator power outside of the most severe outages.

Also, water towers. As long as the power isn't out long enough to deplete the tower.

Apartment buildings often have pumps to increase pressure in the basement. Without power, the higher floors lose water.

I wonder if this was in an apartment building. We owned a condo in a 5 story (4+1) apartment building and because it was taller than the San Jose water system was built for, our building needed (electric) pumps to provide water pressure to the building (there were tanks on the roof). If we lost power, then we lost water.

Now that we have moved to a 2 floor detached home (also in San Jose) we do not have that issue, and everything is gravity fed.


Do you lose water in the whole building, or just those apartments above the water-line?

Usually these relatively low height kinds of top-tank systems lose water for the entire apartment building, because there's one pump to raise the water to the tank, which then passively provides the pressure (usually through pressure regulators at each floor if I remember right).

Larger buildings tend to have multiple independent systems


We happened to live on the top floor, so I don't have personal experience for the lower floors, but the communication on the (non official) group chat for the building always hinted that any water outages (we had a few non-power issues with the pumps as well) applied to to the whole building. But thinking back that could be an unfounded assumption.

The LA water system is dependent on power as a whole. There’s many pumping stations along the various aqueducts.

Some of the aqueducts that deliver some of the water to LA do rely on pumping. But, the Los Angeles Aqueduct, which is the subject of this post, does not. The LA Aqueduct is entirely gravity driven, and under normal circumstances it is sufficient to supply LA's water needs.

Another nitpick is that California's various aqueducts are net producers of electricity (i.e., after accounting for pumping), so, while some of them do rely on electricity, they do not require an external source of power to operate.


We do not lose water on the east coast when the power goes out

It depends where you are. Most cities in the Northeast you are correct. But coastal areas, big swaths of New Jersey and Long Island IIRC are definitely dependent on power. Towns with water towers usually pump it from the ground.

Alot of suburbs that can't or won't hook into city supplies will sometimes need more active measures to filter their water as well.

Sanitary sewers are heavily dependent on power.


Odd. Most places use water towers to provide water pressure and have backup generators for the pumps that fill them.

I know NYC doesn't treat their water at all, but LA doesn't either?

My city runs on surface water, so we have treatment and then pump to storage tanks. You would have to be out for quite a while to run the city out of water, though - the tanks are large.


LA definitely treats the water. Both the surface water before consumption (I'd be surprised if any city doesn't do this) and the wastewater, for reclamation for nonportable use like irrigation, and for recycling back into the general clean water supply.

The aqueduct water is specifically purified by the Los Angeles Aqueduct Filtration Plant. That plant is gravity fed, but it doesn't operate without power.

LA just has the advantage of having mountains in the city, so it's cheaper building more elevated water storage so the capacity lasts longer during power interruptions (which are also not as common or extended as they are in the east). They will still eventually run out if they're not replenished by powered pumps.


Where did you get that idea about NYC water being untreated? NYC treats its water. Chlorine is added if and when needed. Testing stations exist to evaluate water quality all around the boroughs, etc.

You can't have a city of millions of people and have the water be potable from the tap without testing and treatment


https://www.nycfoodpolicy.org/10-facts-you-may-not-know-abou...

> New York City’s water (including drinking water) is unfiltered, making it the largest unfiltered water system in the country. Were New York to begin filtering its water, it would cost the city approximately 1 million dollars per day to operate the filtration plant.

They have hundreds of sampling stations to check daily.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/01/nyregion/nyc-tap-water-qu...

This causes some issues for observant Jews, because the water technically might not be kosher.

https://oukosher.org/blog/consumer-news/nyc-water/

https://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/07/nyregion/the-waters-fine-...


Ok, but unfiltered does not imply untreated. Maybe that's where they got the idea, though.

It is, indeed. I'd edit the post but... too late.

It's largely unfiltered, but it is still treated for disinfection. Chlorination and UV is standard for NYC water, and its fluoridated as well.

Treatment is usually just the addition of chlorine and in some countries, fluoride.

Filtration isn't common.


Settlement, however, is fairly standard in surface supply.

I know NYC doesn't treat their water at all…

EDIT: I'm a dork an grabbed the wrong URL. Changed URL to a PDF for lack of better.

A major metro doesn’t treat its tap water? Where on earth did you get that crazy idea?

<old URL deleted>

https://www.nyc.gov/assets/dep/downloads/pdf/water/drinking-...

I'll save some digging: "Even without filtration, the water is carefully treated to reduce the risk of harmful microorganisms."


You linked to wastewater treatment, not drinking water. Wastewater is definitely treated in NYC.

Tap water is treated (UV and chloride disinfecting), but is largely not filtered: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_water_supply_sys...


He was talking about the drinking water that comes from the faucet, not the sewage.

The untreated NYC water has tiny crustaceans in it, which make it not Kosher, which is why thee bagels from a Jewish deli in NYC are so good. Go figure.

https://newsfeed.time.com/2010/08/31/drink-up-nyc-meet-the-t...


There's no way the water is untreated. Like just about everywhere else on earth, they will add chlorine when necessary.

Thanks for the correction, I should have looked harder at that page before posting. I've since corrected.

anecdotally from Mesa:

DoorDash has these little cute robots doing delivery. I often seen them followed by a person on a e-bike. This has been going on for more than a year. My recent Lyft driver said one reason is because the Waymo's ignore the other robot and kill them and the bike ensures they don't.


BYD just released a car that charges 250mi of range in 5min for exactly this reason.


Or instead of paying money for a car that still fills up slower than a gas one, has all the extra issues that come with EVs, and hope that there is charging infrastructure in my area, I could just buy any ice car made in the last 35+ years.


Extra issues? Or "different" issues? The jury is still out on whether ICEVs or EVs are better overall, but despite being a less mature technology my EV is the best car I've owned so far. Seems to me that EVs win pretty easily in the long run.


the new sienna's are all hybrid and get 36mpg. best you are gonna do.


I recently drove a brand new Toyota EV. It was ... fine. But I wouldn't buy it. Kia/Hyundai make the best EV's for the US right now.


Doesn't that describe most Toyotas, EV or not? You buy a Toyota because you expect it to last forever (or because it has low running costs because it has great resale value because it lasts forever).

You want a Supra to drive much better than fine. But if you're in the market for a Corolla, "fine" might be better than some of the cars you're comparing against.


That used to be the case, but modern Toyotas have a lot of problems with their engines. This doesn't inspire confidence in the brand's overall quality.

Add the fact that EVs are a lot simpler, and I don't really see the reasons to pay the Toyota premium. Perhaps less depreciation?


> Kia/Hyundai make the best EV's for the US right now.

They are suffering with just incredibly terrible reliability. Every model was a failure on top of terrible support.

It's Rivian and Tesla, and it's not even close for the rest.


^^^ THIS



Tesla captures 90% of global EV profits, but ok I guess facts don't matter that much when you suffer from EDS.


Sounds unlikely given:

* https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2025/trends-in...

* https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/global-ev-sales...

China no longer subsidizes their EV production to the level they did at its industry's inception.

Can you expand on your comment and reference data that supports your reasoning?

> when you suffer from EDS

Edit out the cheap swipes please.

See: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html


> facts don't matter that much when you suffer from EDS

Please don't post flamebait or call names on HN.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html


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