Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 16, 1993 TAG: 9306160182
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
The Radford water and wastewater utilities director has heard stories from other cities where people have dropped dead on the spot from drinking contaminated tap water. He wants to make sure it doesn't happen here.
Montgomery took that message to City Council Monday night. After a lot of talking and explaining, he finally persuaded council to approve his proposal for what's called a "cross connection and backflow prevention program."
It's something the state Department of Health already has cited the city for not having.
"We must put the customer first," he said, citing the danger of water contamination through direct connections with equipment or machinery that could introduce foreign substances into the water supply.
The plan got a lukewarm reception from council, which reluctantly voted 4-1 to approve it. The fact that the program carried a $41,000 first-year price tag and would add a new employee to the city's payroll didn't help.
"Like it or not, the city has a responsibility as a water purveyor for the health of the water supply," Montgomery said.
Under the program, an inspector will check the city's 5,000 water connections to make sure there's no way for harmful substances to be drawn back into the water supply.
Montgomery elaborated Tuesday, pointing out that the potential exists across the country for "hundreds of deaths and no one knows how many illnesses" from direct water supply connections to such things as hot tubs and photo-finishing equipment.
When a Radford woman complained that her water was "burning her mouth," Montgomery's investigation turned up a failed backflow device in a downstairs convenience store that allowed carbon dioxide from a soda fountain canister into the drinking water.
Montgomery said his department will target places where the hazard potential is greatest. That includes hospitals, medical offices, mortuaries, industries that use chemicals and schools.
He doesn't expect to start surveying residential connections until next year.
Buying and installing any required backflow devices will be the customer's responsibility, Montgomery said.
Devices could be as simple as a vacuum release device for an outdoor garden hose tap - which, for example, would keep pesticides from a garden sprayer from being drawn back into the water supply - to more expensive and complex double-check valves or reduced-pressure zone devices.
Montgomery concedes the issue has been full of debate and controversy and said he doesn't plan to "go gung-ho into this thing." Besides, he said, "it's not a five-minute job" to survey customers and check thousands of service connections.
"No one likes someone coming in and telling them they've got to do something in 30 days," he said.
It's also a program that will continue indefinitely, but one Montgomery believes will keep the city out of hot water in the long run.
"If a [backflow device] failure does occur, it can be very expensive," he said.
by CNB