The Board of Public Works takes iron in our drinking water very seriously. The water from our deep wells is of a very high quality with very low naturally occurring iron. Even so, there are areas within the City of Lewes where iron occasionally enters our distribution system from old iron water mains and valving. Homes that were constructed before the 1960s may also experience discolored water from their galvanized piping.
Dr. Richard Palmer's letter to the editor in the July 28 edition of the Cape Gazette correctly pointed out that iron can be a health problem for those individuals suffering from hemochromatosis and related iron overload diseases.
According to the Iron Disorders Institute (www.hemachromatosis.org), more than a million people in the U.S. have the genes that cause the disease. People who have this condition should consult their physician about the possible effects of drinking water that is discolored with rust.
The U.S. EPA and the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services do not consider iron a significant health threat to the general public, and so they don't include iron on their list of water-quality parameters that utilities are required to test for. The discolored water in the BPW's system occurs in localized areas and does not occur throughout our system. Because iron only occurs in localized areas, routine system-wide sampling for iron is not required, and would be meaningless and misleading to the average customer.
The BPW has budgeted $1.7 million for removal of iron mains in this fiscal year and a total of $4.9 million over the next five years. This will go a long way to resolving the problem.
We request that any customer experiencing discolored water notify the BPW. We will work with them to determine whether the source is our mains or their plumbing. This will help us identify and prioritize water main upgrades.
Over the next several months, the BPW members and staff will be involved in a strategic planning process. Our goal in this effort is to better understand what improvements we should make and what services our customers will be expecting in years to come. It should be remembered that the board and staff don't own the BPW; our customers do. Customer comments and suggestions about our BPW's services are encouraged and greatly appreciated.
D. Preston Lee, P.E.
president, Lewes Board of Public Works
-
A letter to the editor expresses a reader's opinion and, as such, is not reflective of the editorial opinions of this newspaper.
To submit a letter to the editor for publishing, send an email to newsroom@capegazette.com. Letters must be signed and include a telephone number and address for verification. Please keep letters to 500 words or fewer. We reserve the right to edit for content and length. Letters should be responsive to issues addressed in the Cape Gazette rather than content from other publications or media. Only one letter per author will be published every 30 days. Letters restating information and opinions already offered by the same author will not be used. Letters must focus on issues of general, local concern, not personalities or specific businesses.
