Some Houston County residents concerned about water quality

ERIN, Tenn. — Some Houston County residents have become concerned about their drinking water after receiving letters from the City of Erin informing them of slightly higher amounts of harmful contaminants in the water system.

Susan Tanner, who lives in the Limekiln Holler area of the county, is trying to make people aware that Haloacetic acid levels in the drinking water can lead to cancer.

She said over the last two years six family members in that area have died from cancer.

“We have a sick child currently in the hospital at Sarah Cannon (Cancer Center in Nashville) with pancreatic attacks and is on feeding tubes,” she added.

Tanner said a Nashville doctor told them because of the “odd types” and occurrences of cancer affecting the family the drinking water could be a factor.

Meanwhile, city officials say the drinking water is safe, and its quality is checked on a regular basis as required by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

City Recorder Angie Neilson said eight water samples per month are collected at random locations among the 240 miles of waterlines the city Water Department maintains and are sent to TDEC.

TDEC issues a quarterly “Sanitary Survey” report on the sample. The results is an average of the three most recent quarters.

In the last report, Erin’s water system scored 98 percent. The legal limit for contaminates such as Haloacetic acid or HAA is .060 milligrams per liter. The three-month average level in Erin’s system was .065.

Neilson said when contaminates are recorded above the legal limits, the city passes along the information to customers with a letter that is essentially a duplicate of what the city receives from TDEC.

“If you eat dill pickles, the same thing is in them,” said Mayor Paul Bailey.

He added that HAA is a by-product of the chlorine treatment of drinking water and levels can be higher during summer months. And because TDEC uses a three-quarter average, levels can remain high even after water in problem areas is flushed from the system.

After being contacted by The Leaf-Chronicle/Stewart Houston Times, TDEC officials say they are reviewing the situation.

“TDEC takes all allegations about water quality seriously, and we are looking into this matter,” said Kim Scholfinski, deputy communications director for the agency. “We are currently waiting on information from the Erin Water Department.”

Such notification letters are not uncommon. In March of 2015, more than 1,750 water customers of the North Stewart Utility District in Stewart County received notifications that the levels of HAA in their water had exceeded the standard from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2014.

NSUD customers get another letter about violations

Customers were assured there is no need to panic and there was no immediate health hazards.

While HHA is a carcinogen, the Environmental Protection Agency considers such small amounts less dangerous than drinking water with microb contamination.

EPA indicates the "actual risk has been identified as 1 out of 10,000 people may get cancer if they drink 2 liters of water each day for 70 years."

Mark Hicks can be reached at 931-212-7626 or on Twitter: @markhicksleaf.