SIDNEY — Sidney residents can consume the city’s drinking water with confidence was the message of the public meeting, Tuesday, on the 2016 Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) at Sidney’s Water Treatment Plant (WTP).
The report revealed no violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act standards and assures the drinking water surpassed “strict regulations” of the Ohio and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). All public water suppliers are required by the EPA to provide an annual report for consumers.
Sidney’s Water Treatment Plant has been providing clean drinking water since 1979. Historically, said the CCR, Sidney’s public water treatment system has effectively treated its source water to meet drinking water quality standards.
With only a hand full of people present at the public meeting, Sidney Utilities Director Larry Broughton, gave a tour of the WTP to illustrate the water treatment process. Broughton said the plant is staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year by nine employees. The Ohio EPA licensed staff continuously preforms chemical and bacteriological testing on the 10 million gallons of water per day processed, he said.
The tour began in an area where murky, greyish colored creek water flowed into the plant. Broughton explained the city’s source water comes from four wells, Tawawa Creek and the Great Miami Valley River. He said the incoming water goes through several treatment phases, including adding a powdered activated carbon to eliminate odors, herbicides and pesticides; the removal of sediments; disinfection to kill viruses and microbial contaminants; and filtration to remove other “harmful contaminants.”
Broughton said a softener is added to prevent indoor pipe corrosion, which could cause lead to seep into the drinking water. Also, he said, it would take a much greater amount soap to wash clothes and create suds without the softener. Fluoride is also added to the drinking water before it is put in storage.
Broughton pointed out the WTP has three pumps for distributing water to consumers that can be utilized; However, the city only requires the use of one on a regular basis. He recalled being the only worker at the WTP in the late ’80s during the Goodwin Furniture Store building fire when all three pumps were actively pumping to the fire.
The water is tested every 15 minutes, Broughton said, to ensure contaminates are within the EPA’s prescribed parameters along the treatment phases. Over the process, the water changes colors from grey to red to black to white to bluish-green, to finally clear. Near the end of the tour in the laboratory, he presented several water sample vials ranging from cloudy to clear. From the vantage point of the naked eye, a couple were impossible to tell apart. But one, Broughton said, still wasn’t quiet up to regulation standards.
The Sidney WTP houses the only certified laboratory in Shelby County. It also performs testing and calibration of analytical equipment for surrounding communities.
Broughton said Sidney collects tap water of 30 homes every three years, to ensure the water quality. As a result of continuously remaining above regulation standards over the years, the number of homes tested has dropped from 100 down to 30. However, due to concerns arising from the 2014 water crisis of the lead seepage in Flint, Michigan’s drinking water, the U.S and Ohio EPA are actively involved and many changes are coming this year for keeping Ohio’s drinking water stable.
The 2016 CCR can be viewed on the city’s website at www.sidneyoh.com. For more information about Sidney’s drinking water, or opportunities to get involved, call Broughton at 937-498-8152.
