CITY NOTIFIES WATER USERS OF FINDINGS ON WATER QUALITY IN '98

Last month Cape Girardeau residents found out exactly what was in the water they drink.

Each household received a brochure outlining contaminants found in their drinking water. The brochure, which was included with their regular water bill, is designed as a service to be done once a year.

"It is a kind of consumer report to let people know if there are any problems," said Doug Leslie, director of the Cape Girardeau Public Works Department.

The report is a summary of the water quality in 1998. The water is tested every day. The tests cover some 188 possible contaminants.

"We usually take tests every eight hours," said William Pecord, production supervisor for Alliance Water Resources. "We also monitor the river constantly. We can monitor our treatments on a minute-to-minute basis. Some tests we do more than every eight hours. Some are every two, four or six hours."

By monitoring the water and doing the testing, Pecord said the water plant can adjust the treatment levels to take care of it. He said the plant also keeps in contact with state agencies to make sure there are not any oil spills or other large contaminants in the Mississippi River.

The report showed that of the 188 possible contaminants, the water in Cape Girardeau had traces of nine. The water had inorganic contaminants such as copper and lead, microbiological contaminants such as fecal coliform/E.coli, synthetic organic contaminants such as altrazine and volatile organic contaminants such as trihalomethanes.

Some of the contaminants are measured in parts per million or parts per billion and are so small that if it were not for sophisticated testing, they would not have ever been detected. In eight of the nine contaminants detected, only one was outside of the Environmental Protection Agency's requirements.

The report shows that a fecal coliform contaminated a portion of the water because birds got into a water storage tank affecting 41 customers along North Kingshighway. The city issued a boil-water order, shut down the tank and disinfected it.

"We contacted the media right away and did an immediate boil order," Leslie said. "Next year this won't show up on the report."

Leslie said the birds got into the system through the vent screens and the problem was corrected. System problems are often the one area where the water can be contaminated.

"The biggest thing is the system for the quality of the water itself," Leslie said. "The quality of water can change as it moves through the system."

Leslie said the city tries to make sure the water at the beginning of the water system is the same as it moves away from the plant. He said sometimes with age the quality can decrease as it moves through the system.

The water quality will improve with the expansion of the water treatment facility and construction of a new storage tank. Voters passed a quarter-cent sales tax in 1996 for a $26.5 million project to improve the city's water.

Currently the city gets its water from the river and ground water through alluvial wells. At some point in the system the sources converge. With the new system, the city will get all of its water from the alluvial wells.