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Posted on 10/27/2001 10:12:35 PM PDT by Big Bunyip

A Big Stinker
A Channel 5 reporter confuses sewage with drinking water
By Henry Walker

After warning that terrorist saboteurs might try to poison Metro water with "anthrax" or "smallpox," WTVF-Channel 5 reporter Rob Manning thought he'd show viewers how easily that could happen by dramatically crawling under a wire fence just "a few hundred yards" from the city's "water supply."

While the camera focused ominously on some large, nearby water tanks, Manning reported from inside the fence, "It's not too hard to crawl underneath.... It took me less than 20 seconds."

Even Metro security guards appeared unconcerned at the sight of a television reporter lurking near the fence. "A security guard pulled up in his truck but didn't question us," Manning noted, mocking the city's recently announced decision to post more guards around the plant.

If only the terrorists were that dumb.

Instead of cracking security at one of Metro's water collection facilities, located several miles away, Manning had only managed to break into the sewage treatment plant.

A Metro Water Department spokesman says that he didn't complain to Channel 5 because Manning's mistake might work to the city's advantage. "After all," he says, "if a terrorist tried to put something in our water supply, we'd rather he end up at the sewage plant."

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