By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
It was standing room only at the Thomas City Hall Tuesday, August 13th. Members of the public, the City Council and representatives of State, local, civic and County Government gathered to discuss the latest developments in an ongoing water crisis in the City. Among those present were State Senator Randy Smith, the Tucker County Commissioners and Tucker County Director of the Office of Emergency Management Kevin White.
Since the end of June, the City has been battling excess iron in their drinking water that has lead to discoloration, odor and concerns within the community about the safety of the water. Flanagan said the water is safe to drink and that no health concerns are raised from the excess iron. Flanagan also called it an “aesthetic issue” when reading from a prepared statement.
Flanagan said the water was safe to drink and that the high iron was in no way a health risk. Flanagan also said that the City was supplying both drinking and non-potable water to the citizens at the City’s expense to help alleviate any concerns in the community about the water. The City is also working with Davis-Thomas Elementary Middle School to supply water for returning students and staff, according to Flanagan. “We’re getting ready to work on that this week,” Flanagan said.
As of now, there is no timeline for when normal water service will resume for the City of Thomas. Officials with the City has said it is dependent on rainfall and time. “Its hard to give a timeline on something when you are dealing with iron,” Flanagan said. “So until, I call it flipping the reservoir, until we get enough fresh water and stuff coming into that reservoir to drive that iron back down, its hard to give a timeline.”
The State, in response to the social media campaign, has supplied non-potable water to residents for use for cleaning and other non drinking use, according to Flanagan. Non-potable water is water that has not been approved for drinking, but is safe to use for any other use such as cleaning or flushing of toilets. “The State’s seen all the stuff you’re putting out on social media about the aesthetics and stuff like that,” Flanagan said. “That’s what the non-potable water is here for. In case you don’t want to flush your toilet with out town water because it stains it or ruins it. You have the option to go up there and get 4,000 gallons of non-potable water to use however you feel necessary to use.”
Potable water is water that is safe for human consumption. During the meeting, Tucker County Director of the Office of Emergency Management explained the difference between the potable water tank under City supervision and the non-potable water tanker. “All tanks that have potable water have to be certified by the Health Department,” White said. “So they have to be sanitized, there’s a process they have to go through and then when that tank is certified, as long as its using water from a certified system, it is ok to drink. The reason that, that state road tank is not is because they could get that water out of the river or anywhere to use, but the water that is sitting downstairs has been certified, it is used for potable water. That water is safe to drink. The reason that it is locked up downstairs and only open certain hours, is the fact that they can monitor that no one is tampering. That one is non-potable because it is standing out and anyone can theoretically do something to that water.”
During the meeting, officials from the City discussed the issues surrounding the water crisis. According to the City, the pumps can only run for around 15 minutes before the system has be be back flushed due to iron build up in the system. The DEP and Health Department were both notified of the situation from the beginning and have been investigating the cause. According to the City, the preliminary cause of the high iron levels in the water is the extreme drought. According to U.S. Drought Monitor, as of last week, Tucker County was classified D3 Extreme Drought.
Flanagan said the City is working on future plans for a new water treatment plant and a settlement basin for the water treatment facility to handle high iron levels in the future. “We have been in talks with Abandoned Mine Lands, the DEP and the Health Department about putting a temporary settlement basin in our plant, which our plant does not have, which is to treat high iron, so we hope to get this thing funded and get it put in so this problem doesn’t happen in the (future).”
According to Flanagan, the City has been paying for all the water that has been brought in and handed out to the citizens of Thomas. Flanagan and White said that while the drought has been declared a State of Emergency by the State, no State funds exist to assist Thomas with the added costs of the crisis. White said that the drought also does not qualify for FEMA funding or assistance and while a fund does exist in West Virginia for assistance, no money has ever been put into it. “The State had passed many years ago, they passed a fund that is for emergencies that does not meet a FEMA declaration,” White said. “This one does not meet a FEMA declaration, but the problem is that fund has never had a dime of money put in it. So the fund does exist, but its at a zero balance.”
According to Flanagan the iron levels in the water are fluctuating daily with the level exiting the plant to the citizens at a level of .03, but coming from the intakes at .10 to .12 some days. “I believe the City Council past and present City Council that’s on here now has worked diligently through this water crisis to try to get clean water, potable water, non-potable water to the citizens of Thomas,” Flanagan said. “There’s not much updating to do when all you have out there is high iron in your water. Nothing is changing. The iron is fluctuating everyday. Its fluctuating everyday.”
When asked by one member of the audience why the community should continue to pay their water bills when the water was unsafe to drink, Flanagan said there was a lot of misinformation being spread on social media about the water situation.“There’s been a lot of Facebook stuff on social media that isn’t true,” Flanagan said. “EWG, they are a lobbyist organization. This is not the correct information that is being put out all over. Its not through the EPA, its not an EPA website.”
Flanagan went on to admit that the City has had water violations in the past “We’ve had violations, but we have never been fined,” Flanagan said. “Some of the violations that are on the DEP website, some of them are clerical errors, is the main thing. You didn’t find what you wanted on the DEP website so you pulled this up and cited a lobbyist group.”
According to Flanagan, the City’s water is tested every two weeks and submitted to the state. “The water gets tested every two weeks,” Flanagan said. “It gets submitted by the State. If we had nine, 10 violations there’d be a padlock on that door out there. They don’t let you have one violation and let you get away with anything.”
Below is a transcription of the prepared statement read by Mayor Flanagan at the meeting.
“The Thomas City Council would like to recognize the challenges of the last month due to our city’s drought induced water crisis,” Flanagan said. “It has been a hardship for everyone that lives and does business here. Our homes and businesses, our appliances, our patience’s have all suffered. This has been a West Virginia guided emergency and disaster response process. Every update/protocol received from the State has been forwarded along to its residents and business owners. Unfortunately, there has not been many to pass along. That the water was an aesthetic issue alone was an update that the City received from the West Virginia DHHR and forwarded to the Thomas residents. The City received a tanker of non-potable water from the WVDOH as a donation to help alleviate citizens concerned about this aesthetic issue. This was an update that was received and forwarded from Governor Justice’s Office and the DOH. The City employees will continue to do everything they can at our water treatment plant and continue to update the community accordingly. We will forward along any information regarding any State assistance if and as it becomes available to struggling businesses. In the meantime, until the State gets rain, please be kind to our City Clerk. Your frustrations are real. She is not at blame here. Additionally, the City Council has been working on a website. We have been stuck in limbo with the domain transfer and it has stalled out our efforts and if you would like, please direct your thoughts to the offices of your State Representatives. They are paying attention and only they have the power to bring the resources here.”
