DATE: Tuesday, September 16, 1997           TAG: 9709160263

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LEWIS KRAUSKOPF, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   66 lines

SALT-WEARY COFFEE DRINKERS HIT THE BOTTLE CHESAPEAKE AWAITS UPGRADE FOR WATER PLANT; RESIDENTS ARE TRYING TO ADAPT.

How do you take your coffee?

Black or with cream? Milk or half and half? One sugar cube or two?

Tap water or bottled water?

Huh?

Well, in Chesapeake, that could be your most important decision, depending on your tolerance for salty taste.

Chloride levels in the Northwest River Treatment Plant on Friday reached 465 parts per million - the highest this year. The federal taste threshold is 250 parts per million.

About a year from now, the city's residents - about half of whom use Northwest River water - shouldn't have to worry about their water.

By then, the city is scheduled to have completed an upgrade on the treatment plant that would filter the water from the Northwest River.

But that system is not yet in place. And when the chloride levels increase - as they have over the past couple of months - residents can still taste the salty water when they drink from their faucets.

Hence, some residents don't go to their faucets when they brew coffee. Margaret Garrett has lived in Chesapeake for 30 years and can't remember ever using tap water to make coffee.

``The smell of it is enough,'' said Garrett as she grabbed a package of Folger's at the Harris Teeter in Greenbrier.

Garrett is a resident of Greenbrier, which along with Great Bridge and parts of Deep Creek, draws water from the Northwest River. She uses bottled water.

Starbucks Coffee patrons need not worry about salty java. All of the chain's stores link filter systems to their faucets, said Kimball Carr, manager of the Greenbrier Mall Starbucks, which opened Saturday.

Because coffee is 98 percent water, Starbucks is vigilant about installing such systems - which also protect against rust, Carr said.

For those not wanting to install systems, Carr suggests buying filtered pitchers.

``If nothing else, use bottled water,'' he said.

For much of the summer, the chloride levels were relatively low - hovering around the low 100s, said Jim Walski, assistant director for the Public Utilities Department. But the levels began creeping up in August and then surged as this month began, he said.

The chloride increases are largely due to droughts. And the city's rainfall has been way below average this year, Walski said.

Strong winds from the south also can force saltwater from the Currituck Sound into the river, he said.

The current chloride levels are far below the high for the river. Two summers ago, the chloride levels reached about 1,600 parts per million, about 6 1/2 times the federal taste threshold. And since Friday, the levels have dipped, dropping to 390 parts per million Monday.

Still, not all people are dissuaded from the tap when the chloride levels increase.

Maureen Mulroy can't tell the difference when she uses tap water with high chloride levels to make Minute Rice or oatmeal.

The Great Bridge resident, who had just finished shopping at the Farm Fresh off Battlefield Boulevard, said she also uses tap water when making coffee - although, she admits, she can taste the salt.

``I just add a little extra cream and sugar,'' she said. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

Chesapeake water KEYWORDS: WATER CHLORIDE

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu