Is it Safe to Drink the Water? Mass. Terrorism Alert Issued – Middle Eastern Students Caught Trespassing At Boston & Western Mass Major Water Supply - FBI Investigating

Update: From the Boston Globe The water has been tested, and is fine to drink. This is common procedure after any incident involving public safety.

CBS Boston: Massachusetts State Police are stepping up patrols around public water supplies after a group of seven recent college graduates, suggesting they were chemical engineers, were found at midnight at the Quabbin Reservoir in Belchertown, Massachusetts. The men and women are from Amherst, Cambridge and New York City, with countries of origin: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Singapore. Local Western Massachusetts Springfield Republican’s, MassLive is reporting that the individuals were released, and will be summoned to Hampshire District Court on trespassing charges.

State Police spokesman David Procopio said there is no evidence that the group of seven who were stopped at the reservoir near the middle entrance were engaged in terrorism or any crime beyond the trespassing charge.

Still, he said, state police have alerted officials with the FBI office in Springfield and theCommonwealth Fusion Center, which is the state’s centralized hub for collecting and analyzing data related to possible terrorism and threats to public safety.

Procopio said the state police would also be increasing patrols at Quabbin and at other water supplies around the state. The Quabbin is the major water supplier for the eastern part of the state, but also supplies water to Chicopee, Wilbraham and part of South Hadley. When full, the Quabbin holds 412 billion gallons of water.

“Further investigation is being undertaken because of the late hour when they were observed, their curious explanation for why they wanted to see the reservoir and the fact that they were in an area marked no trespassing,” Procopio said.

There is good reason for increased security after missed opportunities to prevent the Boston Marathon terrorist attack: “The Boston Regional Intelligence Center and the Commonwealth Fusion Center in Maynard, where information about potential security threats are analyzed, were both unaware that the FBI had interviewed Tsarnaev during its three month investigation triggered by warnings from the Russian government about his radical Islamic ties.

David Procopio, the spokesman for the Massachusetts State Police, which oversees the Fusion Center, told the Globe the FBI didn’t share the information with the anti-terror centers.

“We were not privy to the tip,” he said.(The Blaze)

Although no-one in Massachusetts wants to be accused of being xenophobic, a public notice might be in order, here - given the fact that the lack of data on these foreign students and their potential proclivity to kill American’s is yet to be determined. Frankly, since there has been no indication yet, from any news source that the water supply has been tested for chemical contamination (or biological), those Western Massachusetts and Boston residents waking to this news, might be better served by hearing an “all clear” to make coffee, tea, etc. with tap water. To be clear, Singapore, one of the nations listed as home for one or more of the students, is known having an intolerant breed of Islam”, something that is not a “given “when thinking of nations that export extremists (New Age Islam). Add to that the other individuals were of Saudi Arabian and Pakistani origins, were here post-graduation, noted they were at a major water supply, in the middle of the night, as part of their career interests as chemical engineers, makes one more than a bit concerned about public safety in the Bay State.