Wednesday, January 30, 2002
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Wednesday, January 30, 2002 |
| County: 'Water
is safe to drink'
By DAVE HAMRICK
Some local residents' reluctance to drink Fayette County water due to a sweet smell may actually be contributing to continuation of the smell. That's the word from Tony Parrott, director of the Water System. "We're flushing hydrants to clear up the system," Parrott said, "but as many miles of pipe as we have and with people using less water ..." Recent rains have added to the problem by lowering demand as well, he said. Some residents have questioned the validity of tests run recently by the state Environmental Protection Division, because all but one of nine tests showed no contamination of the water, and yet their water still smells. Rob Jones of Peachtree City said reading that testing showed no contamination while his nose told him otherwise causes him to doubt the tests. "The truth is it smells like antifreeze," he said. And he is worried about how long the testing process takes, he added. "It'd be two weeks before we could officially know there was a problem" if the water were truly contaminated with something, he said. Parrott said the water receiving a clean bill of health doesn't mean there won't be a smell. "It doesn't mean there isn't any [contaminant] there at all," said Parrott. "[The water] can actually have a smell without it being anywhere near a problem" as far as safety of the water is concerned, he said. But he stressed, "The state EPD ran their own tests and said our water is safe to drink." Parrott said he sent some samples to a private lab as well with the same results. Crews are flushing fire hydrants each time a neighborhood complains of the odor, Parrott said, and in some cases the residents report that the odor went away. In areas where the flushing doesn't work the first time, it's being repeated, he said. The system has about 460 miles of pipe, he said, adding that it may take some time to completely clear up the problem. The problem cropped up earlier this month with about 50 residents of south Peachtree City phoning the Water System to complain. When some residents put forth the theory that glycol used in deicing planes at Hartsfield Airport may have spilled into the Flint River and contaminated the water, the system shut down its South Fayette Treatment Plant, which draws water from the Flint, called in the EPD and asked that the water be tested for that and other contaminants. The system also added activated carbon to remove chemicals from the water. Last week, when the latest round of tests showed no problems, the plant was reopened, after its equipment and holding ponds were flushed. "The water continues to be safe," Parrott said last week. "Even though we had some problems, at no time did the water exceed the health advisories or the Department of Natural Resources' rules and regulations." In one of three samples originally sent for testing, a "trace" of ethylene glycol was found, said Bert Langley, director of the Georgia Environmental Protection Division's emergency response program. Since then, five more samples from Fayette came back with no detectable levels of any contaminants. State environmental officials are investigating a reported spill of a deicing chemical at the airport. "We want to know how it happened and why it happened so it won't happen again," Langley said. The chemical is also found in antifreeze, which means it can also enter streams whenever rainwater drains off the roadway, Langley said. Hartsfield officials reported that 250 gallons of the deicing chemical spilled into the Flint River from its storm water drainage system Jan. 3, Langley said. That's not enough to have caused the widespread odor in the water, Parrot said. Parrott said officials closed the plant although they were not required to by state regulations. Clayton County, which also pumps water out of the Flint River, continued to do so, but Fayette officials decided to draw more water out of the Crosstown Road water treatment plant. In a news release this week, officials at the Clayton County Water Authority said that system simply added activated carbon to the water when they learned of the deicing spill at Hartsfield. "Our analyses continually confirmed that our water being produced for our customers met all health standards during this time in question," said Guy Pihera, water production manager.
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