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City needs your assistance: Water problem not easy to figure out

Managing editor

The glass jar of water showed something brown and murky.

What was it?

Dirt? Sand?

Actually, it was rust.

Where did it come from?

It came from water pipes at the home of Ron and Ruth Herbel, 611 South Freeborn St., Marion.

The longtime Marion residents know City of Marion officials are doing their best to find out what’s causing the tempered water.

“We have confidence in the water,” Ron Herbel said. “The city has spent a lot of money on a new water treatment plant and we’ve been told it’s one of the best in the state.”

The Herbel’s mission is for other property owners in Marion to come forward and tell the city if they are also having water issues.

“Marty (Fredrickson, city street superintendent) is trying to locate the problem but it would be helpful to know of other people’s water issues,” Ruth Herbel said. “Then they can figure out how to fix it.”

The problem began in June. The city tried different remedies that corrected the discolored water for a while, but it returned. Ruth Herbel called the city again in October and the city responded again by flushing hydrants and checking other possibilities.

The last call the city received from the Herbels was Nov. 11 and the jar of rust-colored water was collected.

The retired couple has a reverse osmosis system in their home, which they use for drinking and cooking. They bought the system four years ago when they became concerned about the amount of chemicals necessary to purify the water.

When a filter was recently changed in the osmosis system, they discovered it was completely saturated with what appeared to be rust.

The Herbels presented their concerns Monday to the Marion City Council and showed three jars of water collected at their house.

A large jar of water was the most dramatic with rust settled on the bottom. When the jar was shaken, the water looked dirty.

Ruth Herbel told the council the water was drawn from her bathtub.

The Herbel’s grandson has a skin allergy. Although the water he bathed in was not this color, he still had a reaction to it, causing a rash.

“I wish I knew what was wrong with it,” Fredrickson said at the meeting. “It’s not continuous.”

Councilman Gene Winkler lives across the street from the Herbels. He said he didn’t have any water problems.

City crews collected samples from the Herbel’s hydrant.

“The samples looked good,” Fredrickson said, “but we had nothing to compare it to.”

Ruth Herbel held up two jars — one filled with water from an outdoor hydrant at the Herbel home and one from the kitchen sink that had been filtered through the Herbel’s reverse osmosis system. The water collected straight from the spigot looked darker.

The challenge for city workers is figuring out what’s causing the problem. Typically, if it were a pipe problem, the rust issue would be consistent. Rust is mostly noticed by the Herbels when a large quantity of water is used. Such was the case Thanksgiving Day when the Herbels had 15 guests.

Fredrickson and another employee worked Thanksgiving Day after the Herbels called to try to figure out the problem.

“Our house plumbing is 30 years old,” Ron Herbel said, and galvanized pipe was used at that time.

On Tuesday, Fredrickson said the city is responsible for water distribution pipes to the customer’s meter. Customers then are responsible for pipes from meters to their houses.

City crews will dig on the city side of the pipeline at the Herbel’s property to check the condition of the pipe.

“Our home was built in the 1950s,” Ron Herbel said Tuesday. “Other homes in the neighborhood are newer.

“We’re not saying we’re not sharing the problem,” he said.

The couple is appreciative of the city’s efforts to figure out the problem and realize they may need to make improvements on their property to remedy the problem.

“We know the problem is coming from the north,” Fredrickson said.

Crews will flush hydrants from Main Street to Highland Street, looking for brown water.

With the new way of treating water for distribution, Fredrickson wonders if ammonia in the water is doing something different to the distribution lines.

Kansas Department of Health and Environment and Kansas Water Office employees are assisting.

Regardless, the mystery continues.

“We want to hear from customers who have water problems,” Fredrickson said.

Customers are urged to call the city office at (620) 382-3703.

“We’ll continue to work on this until we get it figured out,” Fredrickson said.

Last modified Dec. 3, 2009

 

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