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mrosner
Citizen
Username: Mrosner
Post Number: 2784
Registered: 4-2002
| | Posted on Monday, May 22, 2006 - 11:20 am: | 
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Just for the record: The Water Quality report that some residents received and the same one being discussed in this thread was sent out by Eeast Orange Water. I still have not received one.
PDG: I agree the water tastes lousy - but I have yet to find water anywhere in NJ that is as good as NYC. |
campbell29
Citizen
Username: Campbell29
Post Number: 443
Registered: 4-2002
| | Posted on Monday, May 22, 2006 - 2:43 pm: |
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The Water Quality Report might have been sent out by EOW, but they were nice enough to put the return address as "Township of South Orange Village" and the very nice banner on the front as "Proudly Presented by: Township of South Orange Village". At face value it appears to be put out by the Village.
It is also interesting to note that they tested all of "30 homes throughout the service area". Not a very representative sample. It also says there are "REgularly scheduled Board of Water Commission Meetings" on the 2nd Tuesday of each month at 99 South Grove Street, EO at 5pm. Has anyone ever been to one of these and voiced their complaints? If not, maybe we should form a group and let them know how dissatisfied we are.
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buddybak
Citizen
Username: Buddybak
Post Number: 12
Registered: 4-2006
| | Posted on Monday, May 22, 2006 - 2:58 pm: |
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When we were first hookedup to EOW they were supposed to spent over $20 Million to upgrade the water system by installing Air Strippers at their water Pumping station off of JFK Parkway and improving their water qualityat the same time. The East Orange Water Commissioners were to do this about ten years ago. |
campbell29
Citizen
Username: Campbell29
Post Number: 445
Registered: 4-2002
| | Posted on Monday, May 22, 2006 - 5:00 pm: |
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I thought the JFK facility was NJ-American water?
I do not understand why the village is powerless because some contract was signed. Just because someone signed something doesn't mean that for the next 10 years we should have to put up with disgusting tasting and appliance ruining water. Why can't whoever signed the contract tell EOW that there are many residents complaining about water quality issues and that if they are not resolved, SO Village will purchase water from another source. If the supplier is not living up to their part of the agreeement(and I would consider supplying unpotable tap water to be breaking their agreement ), why should the village and its residents continue to pay for something sub-standard.
It doesn't seem like just a few crazy people, who are really picky about the taste of the tap water, it seems like a serious problem for certain neighborhoods. |
buddybak
Citizen
Username: Buddybak
Post Number: 14
Registered: 4-2006
| | Posted on Monday, May 22, 2006 - 6:36 pm: |
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The pumping Station for the East Orange Water is just before the East Orange Golf Course off of JFK Parkway. |
Crazy_quilter
Citizen
Username: Crazy_quilter
Post Number: 304
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, May 25, 2006 - 1:41 pm: |
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Corragio just had my water tested due to large amounts of what looks like sand in my hot water. Also, all the faucets in my house keep dripping soon after being fixed.
The results were:
hardness 18 Grains/ Gallon (with the comment "very hard" written beside this).
pH 6.9
Iron none detected
they recommended a sediment filter for the "sand" and a water softener for the hardness of the water.
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wnb
Citizen
Username: Wnb
Post Number: 386
Registered: 8-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, May 25, 2006 - 8:24 pm: |
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Did they test for other contaminants? Chlorine, etc? |
joel dranove
Citizen
Username: Jdranove
Post Number: 512
Registered: 1-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, May 25, 2006 - 8:43 pm: |
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As a former Water Pollution Chemist for the NYS Field Water Pollution Laboratory, I note the absence this time of a report on the amount of coliform bacteria.
In the past the amount was at the absolute upper limit.
Now there are no numbers at all.
The bacteria is a measure of real pollution from, e.g., droppings.
I'll bet that the public wants to know.
In the meantime, boil your water.
jd |
wnb
Citizen
Username: Wnb
Post Number: 391
Registered: 8-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 30, 2006 - 11:00 pm: |
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An excellent point. This deserves to be bumped. I was trying to determine the type of water testing kit to purchase... the more expensive one includes bacteria tests. You just convinced me to splurge on the expensive ($59) one. I for one want to know exactly what is in my water before deciding on a course of action.
For those who are interested here are the test kits I have been looking at.
http://www.waterchoices.com/online-store-products-testkits.htm
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Crazy_quilter
Citizen
Username: Crazy_quilter
Post Number: 307
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 31, 2006 - 8:50 am: |
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i'm disappointed that when the plumber tested my water, the result for the sand like stuff was "sediment".
i want to know what it is. |
Soparents
Citizen
Username: Soparents
Post Number: 576
Registered: 5-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 31, 2006 - 10:35 am: |
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I called the pumping station today... As soon as I said I wanted to talk to someone about the water, the lady said "it smells and doesn't taste good." she went on to say that they have been having a tremendous amount of calls about the hardness and therefore are mixing our water with Newarks, and the Newark water has a lot more chlorine. She said to give it a few days to settle down....
I then asked about the coliform that JD mentioned. She wasn't quite sure about that, and said that the water is routinely monitored etc and is safe to drink, I said that it apparently was at the upper limit on a previous report and not on this one at all which is a concern. She said she will look into this and call me back....
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Newsteadmom
Citizen
Username: Newsteadmom
Post Number: 21
Registered: 8-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 31, 2006 - 11:10 am: |
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In 1995, when I bought my current SO house, the Jayson water softener installer set the gauge for 13 grains/gallon. Now it is 19!! Need to readjust the setting it seems..... Here is some comparative info. FYI.
Water Hardness Scale
Grains Per Gallon
Milligrams Per Liter (mg/l)or Parts Per Million (ppm)
Classification
less than 1.0 less than 17.1 Soft
1.0 - 3.5 17.1 - 60 Slightly Hard
3.5 - 7.0 60 - 120 Moderately Hard
7.0 - 10.5 120 - 180 Hard
over 10.5 over 180 Very Hard
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Soparents
Citizen
Username: Soparents
Post Number: 597
Registered: 5-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 31, 2006 - 9:42 pm: |
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Pat from East Orange water returned my call about the coliform bacteria question I asked her earlier today (Why we had this mentioned on prior quaity reports but not on the one we had just received). She has checked this with Tom Valenza and said the year before last, 300 samples were taken and 5 were "bad" i.e, showed traces of this bacteria and because of that they had to be reported. Last year, which is the info on the report we have just received, none of the 300 samples showed coliform bacteria which is why there was no mention of it on the quality report. |
Crazy_quilter
Citizen
Username: Crazy_quilter
Post Number: 309
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Saturday, June 3, 2006 - 10:48 pm: |
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the water tastes a little better to me. |
tomp
Citizen
Username: Tomp
Post Number: 52
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, June 4, 2006 - 11:32 am: |
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wnb, did you ever go ahead and order that test kit? I hope you'll post your results online when you get them. |
Bajou
Citizen
Username: Bajou
Post Number: 458
Registered: 2-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, June 4, 2006 - 2:00 pm: |
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Help what is going on .... the water is getting worse and worse....I mean it actually smells funny!! Could it be that all the rain is messing with it?? |
campbell29
Citizen
Username: Campbell29
Post Number: 469
Registered: 4-2002
| | Posted on Sunday, June 4, 2006 - 7:17 pm: |
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My water has shown improvement in the past couple days. Doesn't smell as chloriney, and there is less stuff floating in the bottom of my water glasses. It even tastes somewhat drinkable. |
tomp
Citizen
Username: Tomp
Post Number: 53
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 6, 2006 - 9:34 am: |
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If anyone hasn't seen it yet, copies of the Water Quality Report are available at the Baird Center, downstairs, on the shelf outside the reception desk. It's glossy and attractive and makes it sound like the water's great! (Maybe it is?).
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Lucy Smith
Citizen
Username: Lucy123
Post Number: 162
Registered: 6-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 6, 2006 - 9:55 am: |
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Our hot water STINKS-not like chlorine-like rotten/mildewy something!!!!!!! Anyone else having this??? it's been like this for about a week!!!! I'm worried.... |
wnb
Citizen
Username: Wnb
Post Number: 395
Registered: 8-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 6, 2006 - 4:33 pm: |
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I just received the test kit in the mail yesterday. I'm hoping to run some of the tests tonight if I can. I still intend to post the results! |
joel dranove
Citizen
Username: Jdranove
Post Number: 562
Registered: 1-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 6, 2006 - 9:16 pm: |
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tomp:
Send me some of that great water.
jd |
tomp
Citizen
Username: Tomp
Post Number: 55
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 6, 2006 - 11:19 pm: |
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Joel, you're drinking it! Who are you going to believe? Your own senses or a snazzy, professional looking report, compiled by impartial and dedicated public servants? |
joel dranove
Citizen
Username: Jdranove
Post Number: 565
Registered: 1-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 7, 2006 - 9:34 am: |
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I ain't drinking it.
Due to my excellent education, I have devised the complete beer diet.
Unfortunately, I can only get through breakfast: Oatmeal Stout.
Any suggestions for lunch, dinner, snack?
I sniff the town water and marvel at the chlorine content.
If you leave the water unattended for a day, the chlorine will escape into the atmosphere, causing global warming.
EO Water Supply is killing the planet.
jd |
wnb
Citizen
Username: Wnb
Post Number: 396
Registered: 8-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 7, 2006 - 9:57 am: |
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I ran the tests last night. The bacteria test takes 48 hrs to run, so results aren't in yet for that, but the rest are quick. You can look to my earlier post to see what gets tested in this kit.
I was pleased to find the tests came up mostly negative. Hardness was, of course, detected, and it appeared we may have some elevated levels of copper, which of course could be due to the copper pipes in the house.
As for the tests themselves, some of them are a little hard to read given that you have to match colors to a printed sheet, and it was sometimes hard to determine a real match. But there is no mistaking a positive with a negative. When you have a positive, it's a little hard to get to a finer reading. So with copper and hardness, I can't quite say exactly what elevated levels, just that they appear to be elevated.
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Crazy_quilter
Citizen
Username: Crazy_quilter
Post Number: 312
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, June 8, 2006 - 9:01 am: |
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Here is my problem. I have sediment that clogs up my faucets and makes them leak. The plumber says he has never seen anything like it. He wants me to put a filter on my water before he will fix my leaking faucets (which are actually running quite a bit and driving me nuts). He first quoted me $200 for a filter but now says that was for a cold water filter and since it is the hot water where the sediment is coming out that i need a hot water filter and it will be $430! Then another $150 to fix just two of the faucets. I have a tankless hot water system installed this winter. Woolley Fuel who installed it claim they have never heard of this problem.
Questions: 1) why am i the only one with this problem?
2) Is the tankless system heating up the water so hot that the sediment precipitates out of the water?
3) what is the sediment? (it is brown and looks like sand. The plumber had it analyzed and it came back as "sediment"). The company that analyzed the water said i also need a water softener. the company is Wallin Associates who analyzed the water.
4) do i need a hot water filter for more money than a cold water filter? would the cold water filter not remove the sediment?
I am feeling quite persecuted and paranoid with this problem!
thank you for listening.
i am also posting in home fix-it. |
joel dranove
Citizen
Username: Jdranove
Post Number: 567
Registered: 1-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, June 8, 2006 - 9:19 am: |
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Heating the water should make whatever more likely to dissolve, from my dim memory as a chem major in college.
But, who knows, this is South Orange.
jd |
Crazy_quilter
Citizen
Username: Crazy_quilter
Post Number: 314
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, June 8, 2006 - 9:56 am: |
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that makes sense, jd.
Also, the plumber doesn't think it looks like anything that comes from a pipe (rust, etc). So, i am assuming it is something coming thru in the water supply. |
wnb
Citizen
Username: Wnb
Post Number: 399
Registered: 8-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, June 8, 2006 - 10:54 am: |
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Crazy,
Your plumber's recommendation doesn't seem to make sense. I don't understand why your plumber would not just place the cold water filter upstream of the water heater. Why pass unfiltered water thru the water heater first then filter it separately?
I would first off try to find a plumber who HAS seen this kind of thing or at least is willing to actually identify the source / root cause of the problem before recommending solutions.
If the problem is really "just yours" and your neighbors don't seem to have it, that strongly points TO the problem being local to your house and AWAY from it being "something coming thru in the water supply." I'd strongly suspect that perhaps the source lies downstream of where your water pipe comes off of the main. Not necesarily "in" your house but somewhere downstream of that split.
Find the water valve absolutely closest to where the pipe comes into the house. Sample that water. Does it have the sediment in it? Fill glasses from every tap in the house, label them, and set them up where they can settle and allow the sediment to drop. Do they all have the same amount of sediment, or do they look different?
This will at least rule out a source in the house. And if there is significant difference between them it will point to a possible source in the house.
Now, if you get sediment from that first valve, the one closest to where the water comes into the house, and you KNOW your neighbors do not have this problem (maybe they would be willing to give water samples to you even), then you have proven the problem lies somewhere between the water main under the street and the closest spigot in your house.
The bad news in this scenario is that further action requires some heavy digging, in your yard and probably in your wallet too. The good news is that you've positively isolated the source of the problem, or at least in what part of the pipe the sediment is being introduced.
If your neighbors also have the sediment, and are just not bothered by it, then clearly there's a problem farther upstream and it would potentially be the water company's responsibility to fix, I suppose.
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Crazy_quilter
Citizen
Username: Crazy_quilter
Post Number: 316
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, June 8, 2006 - 11:49 am: |
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yes, i was thinking of consulting another plumber. Mr. Quilter was grousing about that because he wanted to fix the faucets himself but just wasn't getting around to it, and now the cost is adding up! okay, i'll try hot and cold taps throughout the house and see what the difference is. Thanks, wnb. |
campbell29
Citizen
Username: Campbell29
Post Number: 471
Registered: 4-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, June 8, 2006 - 10:45 pm: |
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I don't know if your sediment is the same as ours, but ours manifests itself as a clearish white gunk that you can see once the water settles in a glass. If yours is the same, its definitely a neighborhood issue, as we live so close. Our water has become better smelling over the past few weeks, but I still won't drink it. |
Crazy_quilter
Citizen
Username: Crazy_quilter
Post Number: 324
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Friday, June 9, 2006 - 8:54 am: |
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we have the white film on our dishes, too, but this is sand. When we run a hot bath, the bottom of the tub has sand in it. The shower will become a tiny trickle of water and when we unscrew it, a bunch of "sediment" has collected behind the screen, blocking the water. All of our faucets leak, and the plumber thinks the sediment is the culprit. (now i'm wondering how the sediment makes the faucets leak?? -- i just want them to stop leaking, darn it!) |
joel dranove
Citizen
Username: Jdranove
Post Number: 569
Registered: 1-2006
| | Posted on Friday, June 9, 2006 - 9:09 am: |
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sediment should be filtered at the source.
it may be entering the system from broken pipes.
jd |
Shanabana
Citizen
Username: Shanabana
Post Number: 526
Registered: 10-2005
| | Posted on Friday, June 9, 2006 - 10:23 am: |
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Lucy: we had a mildewey smell coming out of one of our faucets in the bathroom. IF I ran the water long enough, I guess it washed away and I couldn't smell it anymore. That seems like a plumbing issue to me
We've never had visible sediment here, but our hard water situation was out of control. We softened here and all problems are solved.
I HIGHLY recommend gettig a water softener, but I agree we shouldn't have to deal/pay for it. Obviously the trustees already have their softeners and just don't want to deal.
wnb: what was the result of the bacteria test? |
wnb
Citizen
Username: Wnb
Post Number: 402
Registered: 8-2001
| | Posted on Friday, June 9, 2006 - 1:39 pm: |
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The bacteria test was negative.
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