Tri-County authority addresses water quality questions
A letter sent out to Tri-County Joint Municipal Authority customers in Fayette and Washington counties cautioning that trihalomethane (TTHM) levels exceeded allowed levels attracted concerned citizens at the authority’s April meeting.
TTHM forms when organic material in the water bonds with chlorine used to disinfect the water. The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) sets the acceptable level for TTHM at .08 milligrams per liter. In a March 31 letter, the water authority stated that the Local Annual Running Average for the four test sites in the system ranged from a high of 0.1255 mg per liter to a low of 0.0992 mg per liter.
“This is not an immediate risk. If it had been, you would have been notified immediately. However, some people who drink water containing trihalomethanes in excess of the MCL over many years may experience problems with their liver, kidneys or central nervous system, and may have an increased risk of getting cancer,” the notice stated.
That sentence has drawn the attention of customers who have wondered if what they have experienced constitutes “many years” of exposure.
“It’s been five years now that I’ve been getting this type of letter about our drinking water quality,” said Marilyn Gallagher of Fredericktown.
Gallagher said she has had surgery on the nerves in both of her arms for problems her surgeon said may be environmental in nature.
Consulting engineer Rob Horvat, of KLH Engineers of Pittsburgh, said the standard for prolonged exposure is about two liters of water a day for 70 years. That assessment is supported by the Centers for Disease Control website and the World Health Organization (WHO).
“The WHO has established guideline values for the concentration of the four THMs allowed in drinking water. These guideline values are conservative, as they are based on a maximum of 1 additional cancer in 100,000 people who drink 2 liters of water every day for 70 years,” The CDC website states. “More importantly, however, WHO specifically and repeatedly states in the guidelines for drinking-water quality (1996): ‘Where local circumstances require that a choice must be made between meeting either microbiological guidelines or guidelines for disinfectants or disinfectant by-products, the microbiological quality must always take precedence, and where necessary, a chemical guideline value can be adopted corresponding to a higher level of risk. Efficient disinfection must never be compromised.'”
Horvat said the authority has undergone major organizational changes in the past year, with a new board and new engineer, and that 11 permits have been sought from the DEP, designed to bring the system into compliance.
“Since I’ve gotten involved here, a year to date, we’ve gotten involved with the execution of a consent order, much of which had to do with disinfectant byproducts,” Horvat said. “The people you’re looking at here weren’t involved five years ago.”
Horvat said a corrective action plan is in place, some of which has been approved already by the DEP, and is awaiting the awarding of contracts and other elements which are still going through the permitting process.
Horvat cautioned that the high numbers will stay with the system for at least a year after all improvements are made, even if the water quality is acceptable, because it is based on a running average over the course of a year.
Horvat said the longer water stays in the system, the more likely it is to develop TTHM, so areas with low flow, such as the Scenery Hill portion of the water system, are more susceptible to high TTHM levels.
Horvat said the authority already has permits to make improvements to the filtering system and for the reservoir, with additional permits pending for the clear well disinfection system and a TTHM removal system known as an air stripping system.
“We’re making progress, Horvat said.
“What are people to do in the meantime? I’m afraid even to wash with this water,” said Marilyn Curler of Millsboro.
“I work here, and I live within the water system,” said Dave Bojtos, the operations manager. “I drink the water, and my wife and daughter drink the water, I understand it a lot better than I did four years ago. If it were that harmful, we wouldn’t be able to sell it to the customers.”
Veronica Coptis, the deputy director of the Center for Coalfield Justice, an environmental organization in Washington, Pennsylvania, said she had reviewed the permit applications the authority has submitted to the DEP.
“I’d like to commend the water authority. They are doing a lot. The DEP is a monster of bureaucracy within itself. I’ve reviewed your 11 permits and you’re doing a really good job,” Coptis said.