The Town receives an assortment of complaints. They come at various times and in numerous ways. In most cases, it has to do with individuals who refuse to take personal responsibility for their actions. Often issues arise between people, when one or the other shows no respect for their neighbors. The Town is tasked with dealing with situations that violate particular ordinances. Ordinance complaints that should be straight-forward seem to take longer.
From that standpoint, water and sewer issues are actually easier to deal with. The complaint comes in, and the office creates a work-order and sends someone out to identify and correct the problem.
Some complaints come in without names or addresses. Anonymous complaints are a waste of everyone’s time. The Town cannot do anything to help until we know who you are and where you are located. However, since we have received a similar complaint from those who identified themselves, we will address another who did not identify themselves. The following is a response from Sam Dunn, CWPO & CWWO. It reads as follows:
Dear Resident,
I understand your concerns, and I realize that as a paying customer you are automatically going to assume the problem is with the water and may not consider that the problem can actually be in the plumbing of your home. I assure you the water produced and put out of this water plant either meets or exceeds the Water Quality Standards set by the Environmental Protection Agen-cy and the WV Department of Health. In fact, I can prove every step of the treatment process is documented either daily, hourly, and in some parameters every 5 minutes.
Samples are routinely taken from the raw untreated water as it enters the plant. The finished water is tested before in leaves the plant. The testing checks for Turbidity, PH, Alkalinity, Hardness and Chlorine. Results from these tests are recorded and used for calculating the disinfection rate and corrosive factors of the water. All of these results are logged and submitted to the WV Department of Health in the Operational Report at the end of each month. In addition, we are required by the Health Department to take two (2) Bacteriological samples a month, quarterly disinfection biproduct samples, quarterly Total Organic Compound sample, and yearly samples for Inorganic/Volatile/Synthetic compounds, Arsenic, and Nitrate/Nitrite.
Lead and Copper are taken every three years and were taken last September. When or if requested, copies of any of this information will be made available upon request, or may view them at any time on the WV Health Department website wvdwv.gecsws.com
The Consumer Confidence Report is a summary of the entire year’s results of water production and Water Quality. The current CCR is posted on the Town of Marlinton website under the Consumer Confidence Report tab, a printed copy is available upon request.
We used three chemicals during the process of treating water, Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda) for PH and Alkalinity adjustment, DELPAC 2020 (poly aluminum sulfate) is a coagulant that binds solids and particulates together and causes them to settle, and Chlorine – for disinfection. Fluoride is added to the water after treatment for the benefit of the dental health of the children in this town. These chemicals in the raw state are extremely hazardous, however the amounts we use in plant operation are kept to the minimum amount required to effectively do their job and levels remain well within the standard limits set by the government agencies.
To address the issues in your initial email, there is nothing in our water that will produce a sulfur/rotten eggs smell, produce chemical burns, or bleach your clothes. Chlorine obviously would do it but not at the level we maintain in the system, with minimum level a .2 ppm (parts per million) and the max level at 4.0 ppm, we keep it between 1.5-2.0 ppm. Even at the Max level of 4.0 ppm it’s not concentrated enough to bleach out clothes.
Believe it or not, the cause of certain issues is most likely the hot water heater. The hot water tank is basically a collection point in house plumbing. Manufacturers suggest that you turn them off and flush them out, at least once a year. Most people don’t. Because we don’t think about it or even know to do it. Inside water heaters is a cathode rod. It protects the tank from corrosion… until it doesn’t. With age the rod breaks down, the tank starts to oxidize and rust inside, and when it’s not flushed out all that stuff builds up to the bottom heating element. As the heating element get hots it heats up the rust and deposits in the bottom of the tank and creates Hydrogen Sulfide, which is the rotten egg/sulfur smell and likely the cause of the skin irritation and the ruining of your laundry.
I have had one other complaint called in recently similar to yours, I can offer you the same thing that I have been instructed to do for that customer.
I have been instructed by the WV Public Service Commission to flush the fire hydrants closest to the residence and to give them a 1,000 gallons water to flush the plumbing in the house.
If that it is something you would like to do I will need you to contact me and set up a time and date, and I will come and pull your meter and put in one of mine so that that 1,000 gallons does not go on your bill, and you will have to shut off your water heater and drain it, take all the screens out of your faucets and remove any filters or screen you may have in place, and open anything else attached to your plumbing that may need to be flushed out.
