THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 19, 1996 TAG: 9607170124
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 125 lines
Thanks to good weather this summer - heavy rain and a break from winds that sometimes push brackish Currituck Sound water into the Northwest River - the river water that serves about 40 percent of the city's residents has remained relatively fresh, free from high chloride and sodium levels.
ABOUT THIS TIME last year, Chesapeake residents began shuddering at the taste of the water flowing from their taps.
The water supplies from the city's Northwest River Treatment Plant were salty - nearly impossible to drink straight, and tongue-curdling when mixed with coffees, teas, sodas and juices. Residents on salt-restricted diets were advised not to drink it.
Stores selling spring and distilled water were swamped for the nearly four months the problem persisted. Restaurants that could, displayed signs boasting that they had distilled water on tap.
Things are different now.
Thanks to good weather this summer - heavy rain and a break from winds that sometimes push brackish Currituck Sound water into the Northwest River - the river water that serves about 40 percent of the city's residents has remained relatively fresh, free from the high chloride and sodium levels that plague the river when precipitation is low and winds are uncooperative.
Tuesday, the chloride level was at 63 parts per million, compared to 122 parts per million on the same date last year. Water begins tasting bad at 250 parts per million, according to standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency. Sodium is tasteless, but can pose problems for people who need low-salt diets.
At one point last year, the chloride level reached 1,600 parts per million.
Last weekend, when Hurricane Bertha blew brackish water from Currituck Sound into the Northwest River, chlorides spiked at 169 parts per million, a high for recent weeks.
That was only a temporary condition - good news for city public utility officials, who take the heat from angry citizens when the water is bad.
But no one can rest easy yet. Until late 1998, when construction on a new $72 million water treatment system is complete, the city still will have to rely on Mother Nature's occasional largesse for decent quality water.
``If we were to get a long period with no rain, the chlorides would come back,'' said Francis A. Sanders Jr., a city water resources administrator who oversees the Northwest River plant on South Battlefield Boulevard near the North Carolina line.
``It'd be surprising if we got through three summers'' with no water problems, he said.
City officials have proposed some temporary measures that would help residents cope when the water gets too salty, such as digging shallow wells that residents could visit and draw water from. That proposal, debated by City Council, is stalled.
Meanwhile, Sanders and his co-workers will wait and watch and hope.
They monitor daily the content of the water that comes from the Northwest River and heads into Chesapeake homes.
It's a complicated process, sanitizing the brown soup that is the raw river.
More than 10 million gallons a day are sucked from the waterway and funneled into large vats at the treatment plant, where the sediments are sifted out, and cleansing chemicals are added.
The water is churned, sifted and filtered through sand and gravel until it comes out clear. It trickles through a tower of golf-sized balls, allowing poisonous gases to escape. Then it heads to homes and offices for consumption.
Along the way, it's tested in a high-tech lab. The lab at the Northwest Treatment Plant conducts 30,000 tests a year on water samples.
Great Bridge resident Thomas L. Land, 73, said the complex process doesn't do enough to make his water desirable.
``It just doesn't have a good taste to it,'' he said. ``I don't know what chemicals they put in it or what, but it doesn't taste good, unless you have ice in it.''
Officials hope their plans for new water systems will change that.
The new treatment system will have a high-tech, reverse-osmosis water filter that will squeeze even the tiniest particles from the river water and from water drawn out of a series of new deep wells.
Amar Dwarkanath, director of the city's Department of Public Utilities, said he expects the process to make Chesapeake water sparkle and taste like spring water.
While citizens' biggest concern so far has been flavor, Dwarkanath is dealing with another issue: how to supply enough water for a fast-growing city over the next 30 to 35 years.
The city can send 10 million gallons a day from the Northwest Treatment Plant. The Western Branch section of town is supplied by 3 million gallons per day purchased from Portsmouth; South Norfolk and Indian River residents get 3.75 million gallons a day from Norfolk.
All of that - 16.75 million gallons per day - is enough to meet current demands. Chesapeake soon will need more. Dwarkanath estimates city residents will demand about 26 million gallons per day by 2030.
He's sealed a deal with Portsmouth to get an extra 2 million gallons per day. He'd like to secure an agreement with Norfolk for an extra 4 million to 5 million gallons per day.
But he's mostly relying on the embattled Lake Gaston project, a plan to pump water from a North Carolina lake to supply water for Virginia Beach and Chesapeake. The pipeline project has been held up by legal challenges from opponents.
Dwarkanath, however, said he's confident that the pipeline will be built, and Chesapeake will get its water. MEMO: Trail of salt
Since the Northwest River Water Treatment Plant was constructed in
1980, Chesapeake has had two years with long periods of salty water,
caused by below-average rainfall:
Year Duration Below
1986 168 days 13 inches
1995 132 days 5 inches
Source: Amar Dwarkanath, city Public Utilities director ILLUSTRATION: Color photo on cover
Staff photos by STEVE EARLEY
Northwest River Treatment Plant control room operator Gene Culpeper,
who was also featured on the cover, tests the water quality.
Amar Dwarkanath, director of the Department of Public Utilities,
discusses water quality with Francis A. Sanders Jr., the
administrator who oversees the Northwest River plant. ``If we were
to get a long period with no rain, the chlorides would come back,''
Sanders said. ``It'd be surprising if we got through three summers''
with no water problems, he added.
Testing for chlorides at the water treatment plant is done about
every 24 hours.
KEYWORDS: CHESAPEAKE WATER DEPARTMENT WATER QUALITY by CNB