Town of Robbinsville fights back against allegations of poor water quality
Robbinsville – A petition presented at City Hall on March 4 called for immediate improvements to the quality of water being delivered to town residents.
The petition – signed by 86 residents, though not official due to most failing to record their official address – called the town to task on allegations of inadequate supply.
“We … feel that the water supply in our town does not meet state standards and guidelines for safe drinking,” the petition reads. “The taste of the water and the foul smell is awful. The waterlines are in bad condition and causing some of these problems, and should be fixed immediately.
“The color of the water is also another health concern,” the petition continues. “We feel that this must be addressed immediately, and respectfully ask you to talk to the concerned citizens signed below and take immediate action.
“Avoiding these issues could cause many sicknesses and possible diseases in our small town.”
Mayor Steve Hooper and Water Treatment Facility Operator Carrie Stewart were presented with the petition shortly after the Robbinsville Board of Aldermen meeting concluded. Rumors of the petition had been discussed during the meeting.
“Every one of the operators at the water plant has to do checks and documentation, then Carrie comes in and sends in quarterly and yearly reports,” Hooper pointed out. “The first bad sample they send in, Raleigh is going to come in here.”
There are 1,050 customers that receive town water and sewer services. Stewart noted that a wide variety of locations – both residential and commercial – are used as collection sites for samples, spread across the coverage area.
“The Town of Robbinsville is responsible for anything up to the meter,” Stewart said. “Anything past the water meter – going into a house – is on the customer.
“Everything we do has to be approved by the state.”
Numbers don’t lie
The Graham Star visited the town’s treatment plant off Long Creek Road on Monday. At the facility, Stewart explained that chlorine samples are collected five days a week, while other chemicals are checked quarterly.
Detection of dangerous elements and bacteria – such as e-coli – would be caught within a 24-hour period, at which point the town would immediately notify all residents of the issue.
“We test regularly,” Stewart said. “We know bacteria is not coming out of this plant. The water that comes out of this plant is what’s feeding the town. We know that our water’s good.
“If we had something harmful, the state would come in and shut us down.”
Stewart also provided a litany of paperwork to show that the town is compliant with every state requirement.
A pesticide and synthetic organic chemical analysis – conducted by independent laboratory Environmental Chemists on Oct. 1 – shows that of the 26 different elements found in the samples, each level was below the allowable limits.
Additionally, the town was picked by the N.C. Division of Water Resources as one of just 57 water treatment plants in the state to receive the N.C. Area Wide Optimization Award for 2018.
The press release about the award notes that Robbinsville’s facility – like each award-winning plant – met performance goals for channeling out cloudiness or haziness in water by individual particles (turbidity), which in turn, can cause the growth of harmful microbes.
The 2018 Annual Drinking Water Quality Report for Robbinsville – which featured findings from tests performed by the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency – also gave the town a clean bill of health, stating that exactly zero violations were found during the calendar year.
The 2019 report will be available in July.
“If we can pull the harmful elements out of our finished water – no bacteria, no e-coli, nothing harmful in it – then we’re doing our job,” Stewart added.