Orlando mayor asks residents to limit water use amid Delta fuelled COVID surge

The mayor of Orlando city in Florida has asked the residents to cut back their water consumption so that liquid oxygen, which is used to treat the water supplies, can be diverted to hospitals for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.

“Nationally, the demand for liquid oxygen is extremely high as the priority for its use is to save lives,” Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said in aFacebook post on Friday.

The Orlando Utility Commission treats the city’s water with liquid oxygen. With Florida reporting a surge in coronavirus cases, largely due to the outbreak of the Delta variant, the officials from the municipal commission have been urging residents to stop excessive use of water and be prepared to do so for several weeks.

According tothe Floridahealth department, the state has reported 150,118 fresh Covid cases in the past week. According to reports from the local media, deaths in Orlando area have overwhelmed crematoriums, which are out of rooms to store bodies.

“It’s critical that we continue to work together and each one of us do our part, as we have done throughout this pandemic, to mitigate the impacts the virus continues to have on our community,” Mayor Dyer had said during a news conference.

“While this is another new challenge, I know that as a community, working together, we can overcome it with the help of our residents and businesses,” he added.

The municipal commission has been using liquid oxygen to remove the slight discolouration and rotten-egg smell that is found naturally in Florida’s water supply.