The Murky Waters of Rio Dell
By Marylynn Wolff
Saturday, March 25, 2006
The drinking water of Rio Dell has never really been anything to brag about, possibly because water is something that isn’t supposed to have a smell or a flavor. Understandably, my family has been using a Brita pitcher to try and filter out anything disturbing in our water. Things had been working out pretty well, even with the occasional days of brown water. Sadly, it’s something that people seem to have gotten used to around here.
Within the last month or two though, strange things started happening. The sinks and bathtub just got dirtier and dirtier, especially when bleach was used in an attempt to clean it. The shower water made people itch and have unbelievably dry skin, and the soap reacted so badly that at one point my arms were covered in white film. After a couple of tries, we’ve found that liquid Oil of Olay seems to react the least. Some days the toilet water would be cloudy and ominous. Occasionally, the water would seem carbonated. The water from the drinking fountains at the local elementary school would also fizz. The problems with the laundry were the worst though. Like most families, we run bleach loads – a load of white clothes that are a little dingy are thrown into the washer with a small amount of bleach to clean things up. After they ran through the wash one Saturday, my mom opened the washer to move the clothes along to the dryer. Imagine the shock when she opened up the machine and pulled out wet clothes that looked like they’d been tie-dyed in a tub of dark brown dye. Socks, white shirts that I use for marching band, tank tops, t-shirts….all ruined by the same water that the people of Rio Dell bathe in.
The next day, we happened to go to the local feed store to get some chicken feed. We mentioned the laundry problem to a woman who worked at Wildwood Feed, who pointed us out to one of the most wonderful products ever...Super Iron Out (http://www.ironout.com/mini_sites/super_iron_out/index.asp). This stuff could easily be Rio Dell’s replacement for bleach, which is what’s been reacting with the water ( more on this later ). Thank you Wildwood Feed, for you have saved my whites and made our porcelain clean again. And thank you, Super Iron Out. Thank you.
Because of how abnormal the water situation had become, I was talking about it with my classmates one day in my Chemistry class. Our teacher was interested in what would cause the bleach to react like that, and asked that I bring in some of the water. That same night, I went to Rio Dell’s City Council meeting. Something curious was mentioned; with the new water system going in, Rio Dell had apparently been on well water for awhile. As of noon Tuesday ( the day of the meeting ), the water system was back in use, so the water conditions would improve. As soon as I got home I grabbed some of the water in the Brita pitcher ( which had been gathered before noon, so although it had been run through a filter, it was still well water ) and grabbed some water from the tap. Water that we were told wasn’t coming from a well anymore.
So I brought the two containers of water to class, and my chemistry teacher had fun. Some of the tap water was put into a beaker, and a small amount of Clorox bleach was poured into it. Only a few minutes later, the water that wasn’t from a well had turned a dark amber color. It looked like something most people wouldn’t touch, let alone bathe or do their dishes in. Absolutely disgusting. I still felt a little safe though, because after all; the water I drank was filtered. So then we tried a portion of the filtered water. Not quite as bad, but still a healthy deep yellowish orange. Believe me, there are reasons that Rio Dell has such a bad reputation for water, and if I didn’t believe it before I certainly do now.
My chemistry teacher has been teaching for years and years, and never seen anything like it. So we decided to try and find out what it was. With normal distilled water, we added a small amount of iron. Then we added a solution that, when combined with even a small amount of iron, turned a vibrant blue. It worked instantly, so we decided to test the Rio Dell water that had no contact with any of the bleach. Even with a ton of the blue reacting solution, the tap water didn’t change at all. We tried again, this time with the filtered Brita water; nothing. No reaction. Even using a very liberal amount of this reacting solution, nothing. It isn’t iron, people. Iron off may work, but that isn’t what’s causing the problem.
I’ve been looking around on the internet….looking up stories on water quality, looking up what reacts with bleach. It’s manganese. Here’s a link to a health summary of Rio Dell’s water: http://www.ewg.org:16080/tapwater/yourwater/system.php?pwsid=CA1210012. This is a very interesting site, and I suggest you all take a look. This should be especially interesting for you people that have lived here a long time, because this is something that everyone should have been well aware of. Here’s a summary of the contaminants in our water, from the same webpage as sited earlier:
Health Summary
Contaminants found in your tap water (1999 - 2002): 5
Barium (total), Manganese, Sulfate, Vanadium, Alpha particle activity
Health effects or target organs of contaminants found: Developmental Toxicity, Immunotoxicity, Kidney Toxicity, Gastrointestinal or Liver Toxicity, Neurotoxicity, Reproductive Toxicity, and Respiratory Toxicity.
Browse around this site and you’ll find a lot of interesting facts about our water that you may not have been aware of. This is the water we bathe in. What we do our laundry and our dishes in. It’s the water we give our pets to drink, and what we brush our teeth in. If you want to know more about manganese, you can go to http://www.manganese411.org/?src=googlead or search around on your own – there’s plenty of information out there if you look.
Until something is done, I seriously suggest that people drink bottled water.
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Contact: Marylynn@riodelltimes.com