THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 18, 1995 TAG: 9508180370
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Short : 47 lines
There was one benefit of Hurricane Felix's near miss: better water for city residents.
But it won't last long. As soon as the storm's heavy winds die down or change direction, officials say, the water will be as salty as ever.
For weeks, extremely high sodium and chloride levels in the drinking water the city draws from the Northwest River have alarmed officials and prompted residents to buy bottled water.
The chloride content, which makes the water taste bad but is not dangerous, was reported as 771 parts per million Tuesday. The federal threshold for water taste is 250 parts per million. Sodium levels, which were 385 parts per million Tuesday, repeatedly have been 15 to 20 times the recommended maximum for those on severely restricted diets.
Thursday morning, however, the chloride and sodium levels had dropped significantly, to 577 parts per million and 289 parts per million. That's still well above the standards, but residents reported noticing a slight difference in the way the water tasted Thursday.
Water Resources Administrator Frank A. Sanders said Felix gets the credit for the temporary change.
Heavy winds shuffled the water in the Northwest River, sending the salty stuff downstream and farther away from the city's intake pipes, he said. When the winds diminish or change direction, the bad-tasting water will come creeping back and probably will bring even more sodium and chlorides with it, he said.
What the city really needs is rain, and plenty of it. Fresh water from rain would dilute the Northwest River supply. Felix gave up only a trace, Sanders said. Officials had hoped for as much as 10 inches.
``We're not pulling for a hurricane, but we're pulling for rain,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
CHESAPEAKE WATER
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]
KEYWORDS: HURRICANE FELIX by CNB