(The following article is the opinion of David Riffle - posted Feb. 18, 2005)

City water (supplied by the Cottageville PSD)

City water (supplied by the Cottageville Public Service District) takes a toll on humidifiers, hot water tanks, coffee pots, etc..... I have posted an article about this problem on this website on Dec. 24, 2004
(click here to read it).

Well, during the week ending Feb. 13, 2005, I experienced a very serious problem related to the "quality" of the city water. Some of the "cold" water lines in my home in Millwood, WV became completely plugged up, while some would only provide little more than a trickle of water. The toilet tanks would take 4 or 5 minutes to fill up, but they wouldn't shut off, because the "gritty white substance" damaged them. The washing machine wouldn't work, because no water would come through the plugged up screen filter on the rear of the washer. To clean the filter was in vain, because you were lucky if you could get the washing machine filled before it plugged up again (and the flow rate was very slow, and the pump made a strange sound). It would take about 2 minutes to fill a gallon jug at the kitchen. For one bathroom sink though the flow was perhaps 80% (not as bad as some water lines which had a flow rate from 0% to perhaps 30%). Virtually I had no "cold" water! Oddly enough, I had no problems with my hot water (but it was very difficult to take a shower because the hot water was "too hot"). Everywhere in my home I had hot water and at a normal flow rate and pressure! Obviously the "gritty white substance" was being removed from my hot water lines by the hot water tank.

I took some of the "gritty white substance" to the Jackson County Health Dept. (I think it was on Friday, Feb. 11, 2005), but I was told that there was little they could do "from a health point of view" about the "hardness" (minerals) of the water. They do testing to verify that the water is "safe" to drink (checking for bacteria and any potentially harmful substances)....but they don't mandate hardness specifications. From the Health Dept., I walked over to the Jackson County Commission office, but none of the commissioners were there. I did speak to Mr. Waybright (one of the commissioners) by phone later in the day, but he had few recommendations as to what I could do with my plugged up water lines. I spoke also to the Cottageville Public Service District, and there was a recommendation for me to replace my hot water tank (my hot water was fine though, it was the cold water lines that were plugged). I also spoke by phone to Mr. Robertson of the Public Service Commission in Charleston, WV about the problem as well as the high cost of such poor quality water.

On Saturday, Feb. 12 , 2005, I purchased a new water regulator, hot water tank, toilet tank repair kits, and I replaced them all. I also disconnected every cold water pipe connection in my home and "reverse flushed" the "gritty white substance" back out through the main water line which is outside. Some cold water lines were so clogged that they wouldn't flush in either direction. I would get just a trickle of water, and I was getting really concerned that they just weren't going to open up. With a lot of time and effort all day Saturday and Sunday, we got them unplugged one line at a time. Then I had to fight the persistent water line leaks....what a job!!! (and it was uncalled for..... if the quality of our city water would be better!).

Photo 1		Photo 2		Photo 3		Photo 4
Poor quality city water		City water plugs up water line		City water can damage items		Poor quality city water
supplied by Cottageville PSD		(So is it really safe to drink?)		(But does anyone care?)		(Where?....Millwood, WV)
						Is the city water in Millwood and Cottageville, West Virginia really safe?????? (you be the judge)
Photo 5		Photo 6		Photo 7
Who wants to drink this crud?		More city water crud		Scum floating on city water
Any long term health effects?		supplied by Cottageville PSD		supplied by Cottageville PSD

(click on the photos above to enlarge them)

Above are some photos of the "gritty white substance" that came out of my cold water lines (this crap came out of every one of my cold water lines). Some of the particles were quite large (it's not surprising how they would clog a water line....some of them looked similar to small rocks in fish tanks). This brings me to an important question.....If a persons home has severely restricted water flow and they can see rather large white particles (and many of them) in the water, under what conditions should a person report a possible terrorist attack with the water supply? Did anyone that I spoke to become overly alarmed at the major problems I was having? Did anyone come to my home to take a look at it. The answer is "No!".

Seriously....if the "gritty substance" was green, or purple, or red, would that have raised any possible terrorist concern? Keep in mind that this "substance" wouldn't come through my cold water pipes. Since it was "white" in color, does that mean there is no reason for concern? Sure, calcium and lime deposits I think are both white, but should city water really have that many "white" deposits in them (especially large chunks). Unfortunately, to my knowledge there isn't one single person in Jackson County that is responsible for the overall "water quality" of Jackson County (notice I didn't say "water safety").

There seems to be very little oversight (at the county level) of the several small "mom" and "pop" public service districts. In addition, some of these small public service districts are very inefficient (they have too many employees vs. the number of customers they serve). In any case, we are paying a high price for city water, but we aren't getting the "quality" we are paying for! In my opinion, we are being ripped off! Not only are we being ripped off, but we are also paying a high price to replace the household items that the city water damages. (Do you think the water company is going to reimburse me for everything I had to replace this past weekend?....I'm doubtful!).

It's time for someone in Jackson County to step up to the plate and take some action on "water quality" and the "high cost of city water / sewer"! One way to do that is to improve efficiency. Consolidation of the several small public service districts "should" help, because then there is one central billing department instead of 5 or 6. Meter readings would be staggered in different areas of the county, so that would require fewer employees (it's ironic that it takes two or three people to read our water meters but only one person reads our electric meter). If there are 3 board members per service district, then there are perhaps 15 or more water board members in the county....does a small county the size of Jackson County need 15 board members? What about service?...well, major water line breaks should actually have more people readily available to repair them because currently some districts have only about 3 employees doing such work. Administration costs would go down (further reduced because there would be a combined smaller workforce), efficiency would be improved, and the cost of water per user would go down. (If the county is concerned about increasing the unemployment rate, then they should get serious and bring some business development into this county. Part of the reason Millwood, WV residents are paying high water and sewer bills is because we are subsidizing the industrial park which for the most part is empty).

Since no one seems to be in charge of overall "water quality" in Jackson County, perhaps the next time we (residents) get these "large chunks of gritty white substances" coming out of (or clogging) our water pipes we should contact the WV State Police for them to inform the proper government authorities of a possible terrorist attack of our water supply. Afterall, if the white crap won't come through our water lines, how do we honestly know it hasn't been a terrorist attack?.....hmmmm, good question!

I grew up in Jackson County, and I've traveled to about 15 countries and I lived in Asia for more than 10 years......and I don't remember ever seeing scum floating on their water after it was boiled.

If you are a city water customer of the Cottageville Public Service District and you are also not satisfied with the quality of our city water, please give me a call at (304) 273-1020.

(The article above is the opinion of David Riffle)