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September 26,
2008
Little Rock -- Officials at the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) and the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) have been working together to address concerns about drinking water safety in Clinton. Boil orders recently imposed on drinking water from local public water systems are not due to the exploration and drilling processes being used in the Fayetteville Shale area for development of natural gas resources.
“We know that whenever drinking water is placed on a boil order people become concerned about any possible long-term health effects, but we believe that the recent water quality issues are not related to any direct effects of the drilling itself,” said Robert Hart, P.E., ADH Engineering Section Director.”
“It’s my understanding that there have been recent water pressure disruptions in the Clinton water system causing concern that the pressure changes may have allowed for contaminated water to enter the system and be delivered to residents. This led to a boil order advisory,” Hart said, “which is standard Department protocol whenever a pressure outage occurs.”
“Along with the city of Clinton, the Department regularly tests the water delivered to customers and we can assure consumers that their water is safe,” stated Hart. The Arkansas Department of Health is charged with monitoring water safety in drinking water in the state, and routinely monitors for unsafe levels of a number of contaminants, both natural and man-made. If unhealthy bacteria or other substances in water supplies are discovered, ADH water officials will work with local water companies to notify the public and recommend actions to mitigate the threat, such as a boil water advisory, until the threat has passed.
Hart also noted that the city of Clinton has recently found higher than normal levels of manganese in its water source, Greers Ferry Lake, which may have caused some discolored water to be delivered to customers. “Dissolved iron and manganese in the lake, depending on the level at which the water is being withdrawn, is normal.” Hart said. “It is possible that recent rains have kept the lake stirred up. In any case, the water system operators can treat for the higher presence of iron and manganese. Customers may have nuisance problems but there is no adverse health effect from consuming water with elevated levels of iron and manganese.”
Both of these occurrences – pressure outages and manganese in the raw water - are normal for the type of source from which Clinton obtains its water and for the breadth of the distribution system which Clinton operates, according to Hart.
Although the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hasn’t set Maximum Contamination Levels (MCL’s) for iron and manganese, there are secondary drinking water standards for iron and manganese at 300 parts per billion (ppb), and 50 ppb respectively. These levels are based on aesthetic impacts to the water like taste and color rather than a health impact. Clinton’s drinking water quality for iron and manganese is testing well below these standards.
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