TESTING THE WATERS; FACTS AND MYTHS ABOUT TAP WATER VS. THE BOTTLED STUFF

John Riney, a water treatment plant operator, looks over a sample at the Cape Rock Treatment Plant. The water is regularly tested at the plant and samples are also sent to a private lab to insure water quality.

Water doesn't always elicit tranquility. A molecule as simple as two hydrogen atoms bonded to an oxygen atom can spark impassioned debate.

Myths and misconceptions about the major constituent of all living matter abound. Thomas Taggart, Cape Girardeau's Water Division Manager, and Jim Roach, Jackson's Public Works Director, have some answers.

First, some thoughts on bottled waters.

Said Roach: "People have the idea that bottled water is safer than what they get out of the tap, and that's absolutely not true. City water is ... more regulated as far as chemicals it can have in it, what it is treated with and periodic testing, than bottled waters in a store."

Taggart added: "Bottled waters ... up until two years ago, weren't regulated at all. We can't say that (city) water is sterile. What we can say is that we have ... by sampling confirmed that we have removed all of the pathogenic constituents to the levels of technology allowed.

"We sample for about 200 contaminants in the water each year. We monitor our treatment processes every two hours and very rigidly optimize the treatment processes. We think it compares very favorably to bottled waters in terms of the safety and quality."

Cape Girardeau has two treatment plants. Plant 1 handles water from the Mississippi River and Plant 2 takes its supply from three shallow groundwater wells. That's a contentious subject, Taggart said.

"There seems to be an inherent belief that ground water is somehow purer and a better source than river water," Taggart said. "And while there is truth in that ... the finished water, while it's not identical, is nearly identical. And it's not at that point well water or surface water."

Jackson uses water solely from ground wells.

The processes used at the two Cape Girardeau plants are very different. At Plant 1, there is a great biological issue with water from the Mississippi, so the primary concern is the removal of particulate matter such as clay, silt, leaves and animal waste. At Plant 2, things are a bit simpler, and the main task there is the extraction of iron and manganese, which pose no health threat but discolor plumbing.

At both plants, bacteria and viruses in the water are killed and a disinfectant chlorine residual is added, along with fluoride to help prevent tooth decay. Those two supplemented elements are the cause of some concerns.

Taggart said some people who move to the city from rural areas where they had private wells that didn't chlorinate the water have noted a difference in the taste of city water.

"The primary thing people react to in the taste of the water is the chlorine, the disinfectant taste. That really should be reassuring more than anything else," Taggart said.

Taggart added that cartridge-type filtration and absorption systems dechlorinate water and eliminate the disinfectant taste. But once the chlorine is removed, the water must be refrigerated and treated like any other food that can spoil, because the bacteria-killing agent has been eliminated.

The debate about fluoridation has lingered for about 40 years, but a consensus has nearly been reached. Taggart said that all prominent medical associations promote fluoridation of water and statistics overwhelmingly indicate benefits outweigh detriments.

Misconceptions also abound about boil orders. Taggart said many people don't realize there are two types of orders. The most common -- and the only kind Cape Girardeau has ever had -- is a precautionary order mandated by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources when a main is broken and water pressure drops below 20 pounds per square inch. These orders are given in small areas and almost never indicate that anything harmful has been found in the water.

The other type of order, in which something dangerous has actually been detected in the water supply because of something such as birds in a storage tank, has never occurred in Cape Girardeau, which acquired the water system from Union Electric in 1992.

So while people disagree about water, Taggart and Roach themselves have little debate about one question: Which tastes better, Cape Girardeau's water or Jackson's?

Particularly for Roach, Jackson's wins without question.

"That would be my analysis," Roach said. "I've tasted both."

Taggart says Jackson's water might be more palatable because the city uses a lime-based softening process that Cape Girardeau does not have.

But the "gap" may soon close. Cape Girardeau voters last year passed a bond issue for water system improvements. Among the enhancements: a water softening process.