I did a search and didn't see anything, so my apologies if this is duplicated somewhere.
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/beer
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/beer
Also, alcohol didn't make the water safe to drink. It was the boiling of the water that made it safe to drink but they didn't know that at the time.
I'm having a hard time believing that 3500 gallons did all that damage... 35000 I could maybe believe...
I have a 1000 Gallon holding tank for my well water.. 6' high and 6' diameter... No way 3 and a half of those could demolish a neighborhood and kill nine people... unless the two houses were on top of the tank and the nine people were in them...
it was barrels, and 1 barrel =31 gallons. so.... 108,500 gallons. I could see that ruining someones day. On the other hand, it also give me images of boating down it in a raft with a paddle in one had, beer mug in the other.