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Town's water quality report shows 2009 was average year

Date: 6/21/2010

June 21, 2010.

By Katelyn Gendron

Reminder Assistant Editor

EAST LONGMEADOW -- The Department of Public Works (DPW) supplied residents and business owners with 614 million gallons of clean, drinkable water last year, despite some minor hiccups.

The DPW recently released its 2009 Water Quality Report, which noted the existence of some alarming organisms within an otherwise acceptable year.

"It's pretty comparable to every year. We are not displeased with the results," Sean Kelley, senior project manager for the DPW, said of the report.

He noted that violations including the existence of coliform bacteria in July 2009 were handled promptly and efficiently. Kelley explained the DPW conducted additional upstream and down-stream testing as well as retesting of the original site, all with negative results.

"It could've been something in the water or something very minute ... it could have been a contaminated lab. That's why you do an immediate test afterwards," he recalled of the detected coliform.

Kelley likened the presence of coliform in the environment to that of mushrooms. "There are mushrooms that are good to eat and others that are not. You have coliforms that are okay and others that will kill you," he explained.

Other contaminates noted in the report included both cryptosporidium and lead.

"Cryptosporidium is a microbial parasite found in the surface water throughout the U.S.," the reported stated. "Although filtration removes cryptosporidium, the most commonly used filtration methods cannot guarantee 100 percent removal. Our monitoring indicates the presence of these organisms in our reservoir water."

Symptoms of exposure to cryptosporidium include nausea, diarrhea and abdominal craps, which most people overcome within a few weeks, according to the report.

Lead was also detected in the water; however, levels were not a health violation.

"The water that we supply to you does not contain any lead or copper," Kelley explained. "There are trace elements of manganese and iron but no lead or copper; but what happens though is as it goes through a household plumbing systems it picks up elements."

He noted the most likely cause for the presence of lead was the corrosion of household plumbing systems or the lead content of solder used to connect piping.

Kelley said one way to avoid such particulates is to "let the water run for 10 seconds because any lead or copper would be flushed down the drain."

For additional information about the effects of containments in water, visit www.epa.gov or call the Safe Drinking Water Hotline at (800) 426-4791.