A city repeatedly reopened foul-smelling wells whenever summer drought demand returned.

Evidence

That summer was hot and dry. The engineer at the Woburn pumping station declared the water “absolutely safe.” The wells were closed again in January, when the risk of drought had passed. Four months later, in May 1971, the wells were reopened. Councilman Mahoney told the Woburn Daily Times that he had been “bombarded by calls of complaint” about the “putrid, ill-smelling, and foul water.” — , Harr Jonathan - A Civil Action, 72

Categorization

• SEED: Angle: ‘The water is absolutely safe’ — how official assurance and public disgust can run in parallel for years without resolution.