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A comment on Undercover Cops Hired 118 Handymen, Then Arrested Them for Not Having Licenses. Parent comment

Re:Undercover Cops Hired 118 Handymen, Then Arrested Them fo... by 93po on Thursday February 06, 2020 @11:27AM (#22257352)
I don't understand. They had a machine for washing parts where the water intake for the machine was pulling from an open container with the plating solution? How does this contaminate the building's water?
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Re:Undercover Cops Hired 118 Handymen, Then Arrested Them fo... by jamie_ca on Thursday February 06, 2020 @12:44PM (#22258246)
I think it's the case where the water supply (out of the wall) had an open hose that dropped down into a basin and at the bottom, made physical contact with a resting pool of cyanide-containing fluid.

Capillary action could possibly induce the cyanide fluid up into the hose, and/or backwash/turbulence could mix fluids inside the hose, and in just the wrong conditions, could result in some cyanide back-flowing up to the piping, to be distributed elsewhere in the building. As an extreme layman, I'd assess that as unlikely but at least possible.

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