by Alex Brooks
A boil water order is now in effect for the Petersburgh Water District, because Well #2 is now in use, and it needs some work to bring it into compliance with Health Department regulations. [private]The Water District began using the activated carbon filter on Thursday evening January 26, and to do that Well #2 had to be turned on, in order to have an adequate flow of water.
Well #2 has been in service in its current condition for decades. There is not any new problem that triggered the boil water order, but since it is not in compliance, the Rensselaer County Health Department feels the prudent thing to do is ask residents to boil water used for drinking or cooking.
Water District Superintendent Ben Krahforst said there have been no technical problems with the carbon filter and everything is working fine. Water coming out of the filter is testing non-detect for PFOA.
The water level in the tank had been lowered prior to turning on the filtration system, and now it is full, so most of the water in the tank is new water free of PFOA, so the water in the tank has a much lower level of PFOA in it, but it is not yet completely free of PFOA.
Krahforst said he does not expect Well #2 to be brought into compliance until spring, so the boil water order will probably be in effect for a month or more. Krahforst said the Water District needs more than $20,000 worth of work in the very near future, and where that money is going to come from has not been determined.
Supervisor Alan Webster said he has had discussions with DEC and will be meeting soon with Rob Swider of NYS Department of Health. He has met with Chris Meyer at Rensselaer County and has written twice to State Senator Kathy Marchione. The Town is continuing to negotiate with Taconic about funds it will provide to cover the Town’s response to the PFOA crisis, but Webster said that negotiation “is going to take a while.” For the moment, no source of funding for the Water District maintenance and repairs has been found. [/private]