The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Law aims to protect water supplies
Public water systems in the area are reporting no problems with implementation of Ohio House Bill 512 and its rules for measuring and reporting lead and copper levels in drinking water.
HB 512 was proposed in 2016 in the wake of drinking water crises in Flint, Michigan, and the Mahoning County city of Sebring. It was signed into law last June 9 by Gov. John Kasich.
The Painesville Water Treatment Plant pumps an average of three million gallons a day to 24,000 residential and commercial customers in Painesville and parts of Painesville Township and Concord Township.
“The requirements of 512 are not an imposition,” plant superintendent Frank McKeon said. “We want to meet all standards and comply with all the Ohio EPA requirements.”
Plant supervisor Danine Schultz said the plant’s water is tested multiple times every day for chlorine, turbidity, pH (hydrogen ion concentration), hardness, alkalinity and fluoride.
Schultz said the Painesville plant never has produced samples with elevated lead or copper levels. Based on that track record, the Painesville plant is required to test for lead and copper levels once every three years. Results are derived from 30 samples, evenly split between lead and copper.
“We don’t have issues with lead or copper, but I can understand why they made the new law in Ohio. They want to protect consumers,” Schultz said.
The Lake County Department of Utilities supplies drinking water to 116,000 customers in Eastlake, Wickliffe, Willoughby, Willoughby Hills, Willowick, Lakeline, Timberlake, Perry Village, North Perry Village, Perry Township, Madison Township and parts of Painesville Township. It has water treatment plants in Willoughby and Painesville Township.
Public information coordinator David Schick said LCDU submits its samples for lead and copper level analysis every three years. Sampling will be done again this year.
Schick said LCDU lines have never tested positive for elevated lead or copper levels.
“We have seen minimal changes in our day-to-day operation as a result of HB 512 because many of the new requirements LCDU was meeting already,” Schick said. “Our reporting of sample results has always been timely and transparent because it is for the betterment of the public.”
LCDU already had substantial documenting of its service lines prior to HB 512 requiring water suppliers to furnish maps of their delivery systems to the Ohio EPA.
“This mapping didn’t tell us anything we didn’t know already,” Schick said. “We had knowledge of lead in certain areas given the time frame they were built. Those lines have been replaced from the main to the curb box.”
Schick said there was an initial wave of customer inquiries in 2015 as the Flint story burst into national prominence. Between an illadvised change in the water source from Lake Huron to the polluted Flint River, the failure to use anti-corrosion chemicals and other systemic failures, lead levels in Flint’s drinking water rose alarmingly above from the EPA limit of 15 parts per billion to, in one sample, 13,200 parts per billion.
“During the news cycle of that story we received about 10 to 15 calls but they have trailed off since,” Schick said.
The Sebring story broke in January 2016 and centered on the city water supplier holding back from customers news of a positive test for elevated lead levels. The problem was compounded by the city’s failure to treat the water with an anti-corrosion chemical.
Jim Berkey, superintendent of Chardon Water and Wastewater, said the supplier with 2,000 customers in Geauga County is due to test this year for lead and copper levels.
“The water we are putting out does not have lead or copper and never has tested for elevated levels of either,” Berkey said. “It’s a little more work on our end to keep up with 512, but having those requirements there is definitely a good thing.”
Berkey said he was initially frustrated with the way HB 512 was rolled out with some of its key elements still being shaped by the Ohio EPA after the bill was signed into law.
“I must have called (the Ohio EPA) 100 times,” Berkey said, chuckling. “As soon as I saw what happened in Flint, I knew something would happen here. The people who made this law had their hearts in the right place, but they pushed it through quickly and then did the fine-tuning.”
Gerard Morgan is manager of the Geauga County Department of Water Resources.
The system serves 700 customers in Bainbridge and Newbury townships. The system has never tested positive for elevated levels of lead or copper.
“We’re here to make sure the water is safe and were already doing most of what’s required (by HB 512), including the mapping,” Morgan said.
Ohio EPA spokeswoman Heidi Greismer said that the agency occasionally fields complaints from water suppliers about the change in time frame for notifying customers of elevated copper or lead levels.
“We all want to work together to maintain the quality of our drinking water,” Greismer said