Big kudos and 2 questions about the Aquapocalypse

Fred Laskey and his immediate staff did an incredible job in addressing the water main break in Weston. Full stop. Hosannahs all around.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, my questions:

(1) Why did so many towns with deep budget woes feel that they had to give out water?
(2) Is boiling water really so hard? (My kids enjoyed it…)
(3) Was the water we had available for a few days really so undrinkable? Was it considered drinkable in the 1990s? Have regulations changed and therefore perceptions about safety? Or was the water even by 1990s standards undrinkable?
(4) And will Fred’s freshly minted halo get him over the hump with my friends in the watershed associations who have tried to keep the MWRA from expanding its service area?

I lied. It’s four questions. Once I get started, you know how it is. And that second question was something of a gimme.