Oxford County Water Warning

[Pipes]

I have it from an inside source that Oxford County water treatment will be adding a new "toxic mess" to their already questionable water. As of August they will be adding ORGANO-PHOSPHATES to the municipal water. Chlorine / chloramines will remain at current levels, with this stuff being added to the mix. The purpose is to de-lime ( calcium removal) of the main trunk supply lines. As a plumber I know that what ever they add to the main lines will end up in your house - even if it is for flushing purposes. That's why the copper pipes are failing in our houses ( over chlorination).
If you aren't using an R.O. you may be headed for a serious crash! Look it up. Organo-phosphates and the effects of organo-phosphate poisoning. Toxic to the human nervous system, what about our fish?
Let your friends in Oxford county know because I live here and had to find out from an employee of the county.
I can't divulge my source because he may lose his job. All I can say is sometimes it pays to have friends in "low" places.....

 

[heath]

holy crap, I don't like the sounds of the toxic part.. I only use the ro for the fish tanks..will changing our filters/membranes help to remove it and I don't have a di on y system...is this something that is short term or is it going to there all the time now and is it better to wait until they are done "flushing" don't they have some type of obligation to advise us what they are doing..

 

[sunnykita]

not impressed with Oxford County once again ! and they have the nerve to charge us for all the water we use ! thanks for the heads up !

 

[Pipes]

Not sure on the permanence of the organo-phosphates in the water supply. I used the word "toxic" b/c I know water treatment at the residential level (water softners and drinking water etc.). I wont drink what comes out of my tap...ever! Apparently I know too much for my own good. I looked it up on Wikipedia. This chemical can poison nerve endings and cause sever issues on neurological levels and reproductive levels. But... the government sais it is safe to use and meets drinking water standards. I'm thinking we're just overpopulated and they can be weed us out a bit. Guess we'll find out what it does to people in 20 years.
An R.O. should take it out, and a D.I. cartridge would just strip the water down even more.
On a personal note I only drink R.O. and Alkaline bottled water. Prefer not to drink spring water either but it does in a pinch ( R.O. is <20 ppm, D.I. is <1 ppm, and spring water is <500 ppm)

 

[heath]

Well to be on the safe side, can you order me the membranes that I need for the ro unit and also order me the di unit.. This really sucks that there is no notification from the county/city that there are going to more additives added to the water.. not so worried about my reproductive levels but, my dogs drink tap water..

 

[sunnykita]

I'm concerned about my dogs too. I think that the county should be obligated to inform us when they are changing or adding new chemicals to our water supply system. Sad indeed !

 

[Pipes]

They probably put it in fine print on the water bills, or post on their web sites, so they make us look for it. Every time they add a new chemical to the water people freak out. Especially in Ingersoll. Our flouride levels are already above safe levels, but they are naturally occurring and can't be removed. If things keep going down hill with the water in Oxford County we'll end up sucking it out of Lake Huron just like London. Guess this is what happens when you live on top of an ancient coral reef. We drill wells into it then can't even use the water for our own aquariums......

 

[Pipes]

Oh and then add a new dump in an old lime stone quarry.... How dumb can people be. If Walker Landfill goes through, and there is a breach all of Oxford County is F*@&#D !!!! Not to mention every one down river on the Thames. Lake erie will really smell then....

 

[reef keeper]

To be honest a short term flush of the lines is pretty standard fare. One thing that does bother me is the low bid attitude on infrastructure investment. I've been working on jobs where the engineering is so bad that we are redesigning as we build. Alternate products either are not longer made or don't work as intended, saving a few thousand up front and running a repair or replacement bill into the 10s of thousands or more.

We are in real trouble going forward over the next few years here.

 

[Pipes]

Pretty sad the way things are going with infrastructure. I've been watching the progress on 2 areas being re-done in Ingersoll ( water mains). Both areas are into their 3rd and 5th month. I swear if the job was being done by non-union plumbers it would be done by now... Lots of digging, filling, re-digging and so on. No one is ever in a hurry to get anything done. Just dig the damb thing up and replace it already! I couldn't run my company like that. That's how I get work.... The other guy gets thrown off the job site and I get it done. Sorry off topic again...
Short term flushing is fine but the chemicals are still going to end up in our houses. And the way things are going in my town, they are flushing non-stop throughout the summer. The county is also re-lining the older water mains with concrete to prevent the digging until they just cant wait any more. More chemicals = more damage to the plumbing in our houses....

I wonder why my cousin ( head of the water department) tries to avoid me at family functions? Well, Ha Ha, I still wont tell him where I get my information....

 

[Sewerat]

And that's just the water main part. You should see what goes on inside the sewer part.

 

[Pipes]

And that's just the water main part. You should see what goes on inside the sewer part.

Water and sewer are to different entities. Same as the plumbing in your house. Never connected directly, but related none the less. Ever notice on your water bill that the sewer charge is 1.5 times the water usage? Always more going out than in.....Wasn't that something Shreck said.....or something sorta similar.....
I can never stress it enough to remind every one, that what they flush the mains with does end up in your house. No matter what you do, it does come out your taps one way or another.