February 24, 1999
Tiffin drinking water passes EPA tests
By Carol Bogart
Staff Writer
Contaminants in Tiffin drinking water are well under maximum limits established by the EPA, said Ohio-American Water Co. operations superintendent.
PCBs, for example, are at levels undetectable by present-day tests, water company documents show.
Trihalomethanes &emdash; the chemical result of chlorine combining with decaying organic matter &emdash; not only are well within U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guidelines in Tiffin water, Dave Little says, the contaminant is .05 parts per million. The standard is .10 although it drops to .08 in the next two years.
There is EPA discussion, Little says, of lowering it again to .07 parts per milion. ''Even if they do that in the next 7 or 8 years,'' he said, ''we're already there.''
He says the water company even treats the water in such a way that it coats the inside of pipes and seals them. One result of the process, he says, is the prevention of lead and copper leaching from fixtures in people's homes into drinking water. Experts say people with well water should let water about a gallon's worth of water run before using it for drinking or cooking.
Jack Kramer of Heidelberg's water quality lab said area residents can do what the water company does and run their drinking water through granulated carbon filters if they have a concern about contaminants in their water.
''They have to remember to change the filters,'' Kramer added.
Just how much of various contaminants the human body can tolerate appears to be an ever-changing science. In Washington, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry &emdash; a division of the Department of Health and Human Services &emdash; is studying MINIMAL risk levels for hazardous substances.
In many cases, how much is considered safe is very different from levels set by the EPA.
''Each MRL (Minimal Risk Level) is subject to change as new information becomes available,'' according to the agency. ''Exposure to a level above the MRL does not mean that adverse health effects will occur. MRLs are intended to serve a screening tool to help public health professionals decide where to look more closely. They may also be viewed as a mechanism to identify those hazardous waste sites that are not (presently) expected to cause adverse health effects.''