THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 16, 1995 TAG: 9507180449
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: COVER STORY
SOURCE: BY JANIE BRYANT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 175 lines
ON A HOT DAY, it's a cooling sound - the brownish lake water cascading and spraying fountain-like over steps at the Lake Kilby Water Treatment Plant.
That pretty scene is actually the aerating of the water - the third in about 14 chemical and physical processes each drop goes through between the Suffolk lakes and your faucet.
And, these days, some of the 16 million to 20 million gallons of water that leave the plant each day are destined for a round trip.
For three years now, more than 135 homeowners have been sending containers of their tap water back to the treatment facility. They are volunteer participants in a testing program designed to measure the lead and copper in the city's drinking water.
The testing is done to meet federal standards that will become increasingly more stringent as the nation moves toward full compliance with the 1998 Safe Drinking Water Act.
Volunteer Edwin Foster signed up for two reasons.
``I thought I'd be doing my civic duty as well as checking my own water supply,'' he said.
Foster drinks tap water and was relieved to find that the readings ``were very low and well within the limits'' for lead and copper.
``As long as they want me to, I'm glad to do it,'' he said.
Sue Reynolds also was glad she signed up as a volunteer. She found it simple and ``unobtrusive.''
When it's time to take test samples, the city leaves an empty plastic container on the porch or front steps of each volunteer's home.
Volunteers fill the container the next morning, fill in a form and leave both out front for the city to pick up.
The most difficult part of the test is remembering not to use water overnight.
The samples have to be taken first thing in the morning, because when water stands in the pipes for several hours more lead and copper is likely to dissolve into it.
``The longer you leave water standing in something the more it's going to dissolve,'' explained David Haddaway, the city's chief chemist.
So the day before testing, volunteers had to remember not to turn on the tap or flush the toilet during the night.
``I'd always write me a note on the vanity upstairs, so I'd remember not to brush my teeth or turn the water on,'' said William Shelton, who lives in Park Manor.
But that was a small price to pay for the peace of mind he got.
Shelton had noticed silvery particles in his ice cubes. He was concerned that it was lead.
But he checked with the company that did the plumbing in the house and was told they had not used lead in a long time. His water samples came back fine, too.
Shelton found out the particles were a little solder from his plumbing fixtures and had a filter installed.
``I'm happy that I participated in the program,'' he said. ``It was educational. I want to know every-thing.''
Harvey Boyce lives on the other side of town in a fairly new home in Southside.
Like Shelton, he signed up as a volunteer and ended up feeling a lot better about the water he drinks.
``We heard that the water wasn't pure,'' said Boyce of what people told him and his wife when they first moved.
``It was a just a rumor in the neighborhood - nothing definite, just hearsay,'' he said.
But he and his wife both thought the water tasted sort of flat, different from the tap water they were used to when they lived in the Cavalier Manor neighborhood.
They purchased a water purifier and, like other volunteers, they put out their samples and waited for the news.
``After they test it, they get back with you by letter and tell you what they found,'' he explained.
Boyce admits he was a bit nervous when the first letter came.
``I didn't know what to think so I was overjoyed . . . when I found out everything was all right,'' he said.
On the other hand, his water filter broke. He hasn't replaced it.
Sue Reynolds, who lives in Churchland, wasn't so thrilled with her first read out.
``Originally, some of our testing came back high,'' she said.
Reynolds was actually one of about 27 homeowners whose readings came out higher than the action level, said Haddaway.
``I wasn't in a panic, but I was concerned,'' said Reynolds. ``I think most people are.''
But Reynolds said it was no time before a representative from the testing program came and inspected the pipes in her bathroom and kitchen. Most of them were the PVC plumbing type.
``I can't remember if they saw some iron solder being used around some of the joints or not, but they didn't think that should have been the point of contamination.''
They did the same kinds of inspections on the other homeowners who had high readouts.
Finally, they figured out the problem was with their own testing techniques, Haddaway said.
The city had initially asked homeowners to take off the aerator on their faucet before filling the sample bottle. It turned out that was actually causing the water to stir up particles.
``You have to understand, a microgram is one billionth of a gram,'' said Haddaway. ``It's easy for a particle that size to fall into the water.''
After they told volunteers to keep the aerators on when taking a sample, two more samples were taken from those homes.
Haddaway said the initial testing values had ranged from 15 to 186 parts per billion.
``With proper sampling, the typical value was less than 5 parts per billion,'' he said.
So Reynolds got better news along with the other 26 residents who had tested high the first time.
``Everything has . . . tested fine since that time,'' she said.
Reynolds isn't surprised so many people were willing to participate in the testing program.
``I think it's relieved people's minds with the threat of lead contamination,'' she said. ``Especially if I had children I think that would really be a concern for me - to make sure I did everything to make sure they're healthy.''
On the copper levels - which the EPA says should not exceed 1.3 parts per million - only one volunteer initially exceeded the level. That homeowner also showed high levels for lead.
``When we first saw those results, we were concerned with what was going on at that household,'' said James Spacek, the city's public utilities director.
Spacek said they went out and did an inspection.
``When we talked to the resident, we found out he had bought a water softener,'' said Spacek. ``Portsmouth's water is naturally soft. By putting that extra softener in, he was corroding his own piping.
``Our advice to him was `you don't need it,' '' said Spacek.
The lead and copper testing targeted homes identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as high risk. At first, some of those households didn't sign up.
Instead, the city got responses from people who assumed they were at risk because they lived in older homes, said Haddaway.
So the city did a direct mailing to the targeted homes, which were actually some of the city's newer ones. Between 1982 and 1987, a lot of plumbing and plumbing materials were made with copper plumbing and lead solder, he said.
In 1987, the government began to regulate the lead and copper content of plumbing materials.
After making that clear to potential volunteers, they came up with about 150 homeowners who wanted to participate. Some have moved or dropped out of the testing for other reasons.
Even before the testing, public utilities officials were confident there was no problem with the source water. Several years ago, the city had done some preliminary testing on lead and copper in conjunction with the school system to make sure there were no lead problems in the schools.
Things looked good, said Spacek.
Haddaway said lead and copper levels of the city's source water are less than 2 parts per billion and less than .05 parts per million of lead and copper.
But that didn't tell the story on what amount of lead and copper was being introduced through pipes or plumbing fixtures.
Three years later, the city is touting its water report card. And the results mean a steadily decreasing schedule of testing is required. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by JIM WALKER
Harvey and Eleanor Boyce say they were glad to find out the rumors
of impure water in their neighborhood were false. As testing
volunteers, they take samples of their tap water for the city.
Samples of tap water to be tested line the shelf at the Lake Kilby
Water Treatment Plant. The tests measure the lead and copper in the
city's drinking water.
Kathleen Bielecki-Wilkin, a chemist at the Lake Kilby Water
Treatment Plant, analyzes a sample of Portsmouth tap water.
Graphic
ON THE COVER
The cover picture of chief chemist David Haddaway was taken by
staff photographer Jim Walker.
by CNB