Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 16, 1993 TAG: 9304160093
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
COVINGTON WATER PLANT FILTERLESS
A 91-year-old Covington water treatment plant could be susceptible to disease-carrying organisms like the parasite that recently struck thousands of Milwaukee residents.But City Manager David Dew said Thursday there's never been any problem with contaminated water, and a plan is being worked on to bring the city's water system up to federal specifications.
The Horse Mountain water plant, built in 1902, isn't equipped with a filtration system, Dew said. The plant is one of two that supply about 7,000 area residents with water.
Federal regulations require that all surface water be filtered, and Dew acknowledged that the city probably will be in violation of the regulations June 1, when they take effect.
"We're working on the problem," he said.
The city hired the Roanoke engineering consulting firm of Mattern & Craig a month ago to look into alternatives for its water system, Dew said.
There never has been a water contamination problem with the plant, which supplies 1 million gallons of water a day, but "theoretically, that could happen," said Sam McGhee, project manager for the firm.
"One bug can go a long way. . . . Something bad in the system gets a bunch of people."
While Covington's Jackson River plant does filter water, the Horse Mountain plant uses chemicals and microscreens, which McGhee compared to a coffee filter.
The screens are not enough to prevent passage of certain organisms, such as the parasite cryptosporidium, which was identified as the source of contamination in Milwaukee.
The Environmental Protection Agency found that water supply systems serving nearly 100 cities in 15 states lack filters to protect against disease-carrying organisms, even though the water comes from polluted streams and lakes. The list was made public by the Natural Resources Defense Council, a Washington-based environmental group.
The water system serving Milwaukee, which draws its water from Lake Michigan, has the required filtering system, but it is believed to have malfunctioned, according to EPA officials.
Covington and Fishersville were the only Virginia localities on the EPA list, although McGhee said there are others. His firm is working with at least one other local government, which he declined to identify.
Mattern & Craig has identified two plans, which are scheduled to be presented to Covington City Council at its May 4 meeting, Dew said.
One alternative would upgrade the Horse Mountain plant with a filtration system, which would cost about $1.5 million, Dew said. The other would involve building a pumping station to enable the Jackson River plant, now processing about 6 million gallons a day, to supply all the water. That plan would cost about $250,000.
The decision is one of whether "you put all your eggs in one basket, or do you split it?" McGhee said.
While upgrading the Horse Mountain plant would cost six times as much, "If something for any reason happened to one of the sources, they'd still have the second," McGhee said. "It's hard to evaluate the cost benefit of that."
Dew agreed, and said the city might not want to lose the second source, opting to pay the extra money with an eye toward possible emergencies and economic development.
Plus, he said, "it's good water."
Some information for this story came from the Associated Press.