Cathy Wilson and her mother, Anne Wallace, don’t mind paying the Nicholson Water Authority for water service, but they sure would like to be able to drink, wash clothes with and cook with the water that comes out the faucet.
The two Old Kings Bridge Road residents attended the Aug. 3 meeting of the Nicholson Water Authority hoping to learn that the authority is addressing the severely iron-stained water they experience intermittently.
The authority is puzzled by the nature of the problem — it affects only a small part of the water system on Antioch Church Road, from 292 to 1370 Old Kings Bridge Road area and Stapler Cemetery Road. People upstream and downstream aren’t affected, the authority noted.
Wilson complained about the situation at her mother’s house the first week in July, but “within a week it cleared up. It was crystal clear until Sunday night (July 31), now it’s muddying up again.”
The same is true at the neighbors’ houses she said.
The authority expressed hope that replacing filters on the Spud Palmer well might help. The authority found the filters and casing compromised by mineral buildup when doing maintenance at the site. The well is known to contain iron and has a pair of massive filters aimed at removing it, but the filter elements need replacing, the authority said.
But a filter problem wouldn’t explain why the iron-laden water is just in a certain area, since water progresses down four other streets before it gets to the area from which the complaints arise.
Member Walter Barnett asked Wilson and Wallace to wait until the filters are changed and suggested that if the problem persists the authority should check its system for rusty steel fittings or pipes or mineral buildups.
“How long will this take?” Wilson asked. “I can’t wash clothes or drink the water.”
She also reminded the authority that the issue arises about once a month, and authority member Daniel Sailors commented that it usually happens on a weekend when water usage is higher.
“Something’s in that section,” he insisted.
The authority spent several minutes speculating as to whether steel casings or ductile iron pipe might cause the problem, and at one point chairman Tully Westmoreland suggested that the authority might have to do some test digs to investigate.
After the meeting Wilson seemed pleased to hear that the authority is contemplating action to resolve the issue.
“I have to drain the water heater every time it happens,” she said, “and I can’t put the water in the iron.”
She reported that a neighbor had taken a sample that morning to Jefferson’s lab and said the sample had 12 times the amount of iron allowed under state and federal drinking water regulations.
Wilson and Wallace said they both have to buy water to drink.
“We’re paying for water twice,” Wallace noted.
