WATERTOWN — This week, water customers again received postcards from the city notifying them of two disinfection byproducts that exceed acceptable levels at the Huntington Street water treatment plant.
The city is under a consent order from the federal Environmental Protection Agency to submit a Corrective Action Plan to comply with maximum levels of disinfection byproducts.
The two byproducts are known as total trihalomethanes, or TTHM, and haloacetic acids, or HAA5. They are formed when chlorine or other disinfectants used to control microbial contaminants in drinking water react with naturally occurring organic and inorganic matter, such as tree leaves, algae or other plants in surface water, according to the EPA. The city water is drawn from the Black River.
In December, the average for the prior four quarters was 90.8 micrograms per liter. The maximum allowable annual level is 80 micrograms per liter.
City Manager Kenneth A. Mix reiterated what he has said in the past — the city will spend at least $3 million to correct the problem and has already started working on it.
To try to resolve the issue, GHD Consulting Services, Syracuse, is conducting a pilot program at the facility.
Equipment for the pilot program has been delivered to the plant and installed.
“We’re just waiting for the results,” Mr. Mix said Wednesday.
GHD was awarded a $706,900 contract to design the project, with the remainder going toward construction.
The city is required to submit a series of reports to the EPA and the state Department of Health on the status of the city’s efforts to correct the problem. The city also is required by the EPA to send out the postcards.
According to the notices, the situation is not an emergency.
“You do not need to boil water or take other corrective action,” it reads. “No immediate action is required or necessary.”
The disinfection of drinking water by chlorination “is beneficial to the public,” according to the notice.
According to the latest violation notice posted online, studies have suggested that drinking chlorinated water with levels in excess of the federal standard for 20 to 30 years is associated with an increased risk for certain types of cancer, low birth weight, miscarriages and birth defects.
“However, in each of the studies, how long and how frequently people actually drank the water, as well as how much trihalomethanes the water contained is not known for certain,” the notice states. “Therefore, we do not know for sure if the observed increases in risk for cancer and other health effects are due to trihalomethanes or some other factor.”
The city plans to submit an application to the Department of Defense for the project.
The Development Authority of the North Country purchases water from the city, and in turn provides the water to Fort Drum. Correcting the problem will benefit Fort Drum, city officials have said.
Water Superintendent Vicky Murphy could not be reached for comment.
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(1) comment
This is what happens when you have the government doing things. Water should be supplied by unregulated private enterprise, if at all.
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