Morning Roundup: Water Worries Edition

Good morning, Washington. We've just been catching up on the rather scary looking but thankfully not terror-related explosion in Manhattan yesterday. Naturally, our parent site Gothamist has complete coverage of the steam explosion that occurred on East 41st and Lexington Avenue (41st between Lex and Third) just before 6 p.m. yesterday. Unsurprisingly, the explosion, which killed one person and injured 30, had New Yorkers worried for a while, but Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said “There is no reason to believe this is anything other than a failure of our infrastructure.”

D.C. Water Safety in Question, Again: The Post has the A1 story today on a report from the nonprofit Environmental Working Group, which has found unsafe levels of toxic chlorine pollutants in 40 percent of D.C. tap water samples tested this spring. The test, conducted at different sites around the city, also found another class of chlorine toxin in 90 percent of samples -- at levels associated with low birth weight and serious birth defects. Coming on the heels of more lead concerns, the report blames the Washington Aqueduct's antiquated treatment system and the EPA's lack of knowledge of the consequences of that system.

Anti-Terror Funding Increased for New York, D.C.: After last year's famous decrease in the amount of counterterrorism aid given to New York and Washington, D.C., this year Homeland Security is increasing funding for both cities. Anti-terror funding for the District and its Maryland and Virginia suburbs was increased to nearly $62 million, $15 million more than last year and the largest increase among the seven metro areas deemed at highest risk of attack. The money is to be used in the next three years to upgrade bomb squads, improve interagency intelligence "fusion centers" and link police databases in a network dubbed "Google for cops," among other projects, according to the Post.

Briefly Noted: Sale of Greater Southeast Community Hospital falls apart ... AU Board to meet to decide whether to name interim President Cornelius Kerwin to the position permanently ... City hires teens, ex-offenders to remove graffiti ... Georgetown driveway parking plan stalled.

This Day in DCist: In 2006 we noted that Arlington has been declared the "smartest" city in the country, and in 2005 we got excited about the arrival of free WiFi in Dupont Circle.

Photo by Peter F. Martin