By Terry Loney - The Aberdeen Daily World , 7/19/2001
McCLEARY - Sometimes when McCleary residents turn the tap, their water stinks. Literally.
The odor is similar to the smell of sulfur. "But there is no sulfur in the water," City Administrator Brian Shay notes. "It is caused by iron and manganese in the water" reacting with the heating elements in water heaters.
The water picks up the iron and manganese from the soil near the city wells.
"I have smelled it at City Hall on occasion," said Shay, who lives in Elma. "I sympathize with the citizens."
To solve the problem, city officials plan to make improvements to the water system in late August and September.
The mineral concentrations in the water, though high enough to cause the odor, are not high enough to pose a health risk, Shay said.
The county Health Department tests the city's water monthly and the state Health Department tests it every three years. Shay said the water has always passed the battery of tests.
The odor problem is most noticeable in single - person homes and in the homes of people who travel a lot. It affects residents' hot water.
The longer the water is exposed to the heating elements the stronger the odor becomes, Shay said, so that's why "it's a problem in (homes) where there is not a whole lot of water usage."
The city often advises residents to drain their water heaters. But the odor invariably will come back, Shay said.
Most McCleary residents have learned to live with it.
"It is so common and been there so long that most people come to know the water is what it is," the city administrator said.
Shay noted that the city has been making improvements over the years. While the odor is still quite prevalent in some areas, it is not nearly as bad as it was before, he said.
To combat the odor, the city plans to change its well heads to improve the injection of Aqua Mag, a "masking agent." Aqua Mag doesn't remove the iron and manganese from the water, but it does help prevent the odor from forming, Shay said.
"Our engineers believe this is going to have a significant improvement," he added.
The city has been adding the chemical to the water for more than 10 years, injecting it at the same spot where chlorine, a disinfectant, is added. But "each needs to be fully mixed into the water independently" to be completely effective, Shay said.
To separate the injection spots, the city is going to build additions to the two buildings housing its pumps.
That will allow it to extend the pipe that runs between the pumps and the main water line.
Shay said a second injector will be added to the line to allow the Aqua Mag and the chlorine to be added to the water separately. "That will increase the effectiveness of the Aqua Mag tenfold."
The cost is estimated at $5,000 to $10,000.
This is the last option the city has to remove the odor without building a filtration plant to remove the minerals from the water, according to Shay.
The city administrator said building a test plant would cost the city $60,000 to $100,000, but the city has only $30,000 to $40,000 a year to spend on water system improvements.
The cost of a permanent filtration plant is in the millions.
Shay said McCleary residents would have to shoulder most if not all of the cost since grants for such a project would be hard to find. "It is not a health issue; it is an aesthetics issue. If it were a (health issue) we could get grants like that," he said, snapping his fingers.
The city's water system serves about 630 homes in McCleary and 20 homes outside the city.
Given the cost of a filtration plant, Shay said he is crossing his fingers and hoping this plan will work.
Terry Loney, a Daily World writer covering East County, can be reached at (360) 532 - 4000, ext. 137, or at tloney@thedailyworld.com
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