Radio water prank scares listeners

OLATHE, MO — Two morning disc jockeys at Kansas City radio station KQRC scared at least 180 residents here when they falsely reported that the city's water supply was contaminated and unfit for drinking or bathing. Johnny Dare and Murphy Wells claimed the prank was an April Fool's Day joke. They said on the air that the water contained "high levels of a naturally occurring substance," dihydrogen monoxide, that causes increased urination, profuse sweating and wrinkling of hands and feet, reported the Kansas City Star. They told listeners that boiling the water long enough would get rid of the substance, the newspaper said. Jerald Robnett, Olathe's superintendent of water protection, said his department received calls from 150 customers, and city officials said around 30 residents called 911 and that others questioned the city's main switchboard operator for guidance, the article said. Dare and Wells announced the "contamination" at 6:30 a.m. and revealed the prank about 8 a.m., the article reported. Olathe officials were not amused. Robnett said he considered the gag a terrorist act, comparing it to going to an airport and shouting that you have a gun, according to the article. He said since 11 September, the city had spent a lot of time and money adding cameras, sensors and employees to ensure the safety of the water in Olathe. Neal Mirsky, KQRC program director, said that as soon as the station realized there was a problem, it was stopped. "We didn't intend for any of this," he said in the article. "We thought a couple of people would go to work without a shower." Water industry leaders have warned members about bogus water contamination scares in the wake of 11 September. Peter Beering, who serves on the US Department of Justice's National Domestic Preparedness Program and is a leading authority on water security and bioterrorism, echoed this sentiment in a WaterTechOnline interview published last August. He said that creating panic is a key part of a terrorist plan and that he feared not only actual contamination of a system, "but that someone put forth a credible enough threat that they persuaded the news media that they contaminated the system. Because the impact and the costs are every bit as real as if the actual contamination had been there." Several experts at a Water Security Summit in December in Hartford, CT, also stated that creating fear and panic in a community is often more important to terrorists than any actual damage that might occur.