Letter about county water pH levels not a cause for concern

0.10. A tiny tenth, but a huge headache for Portage County Water Resources Director Dan Blakely.

On Sept. 8, he received a letter from the Ohio EPA notifying him that the pH level of tested water from the county’s Shalersville and Brimfield water plants had exceeded allowable limits for 17 days in January and 11 days in February.

What Blakely and his then-recently hired water superintendent didn’t realize was that in August, the Ohio EPA had lowered the upper limit of its acceptable pH threshold from 8.6 to 7.7.

Blakely knew that the colder the temperature, the higher pH levels tend to be, but he hadn’t been concerned. Multiple water tests had confirmed Portage County’s water in the neutral 7.0 to 7.7 pH range for months by the time the letter arrived.

The samples he’d sent to the state were collected in the depth of winter: another week, or even a day, may have yielded acceptable levels. As it was, the county simply continued its usual monthly testing routine.

By the time the letter arrived, the offending data was more than six months old. The Ohio EPA ordered Blakely to send its template letter filled in with Portage County’s relevant data to thousands of customers.

“It’s very frustrating when you have to send a letter when you know the letter is going to do nothing but cause concern and consternation and there is no actual health impact,” he said.

Water below pH 7.0 is considered too acidic and can scour water mains and service lines, Blakely explained. In a worst-case scenario, as happened in Flint, Michigan, toxic substances (including but not limited to lead) can leach into the drinking water, with disastrous consequences.

Water above the neutral 7.7 pH mark is considered too alkaline. Taste and odor can be affected, and disinfecting the water can be more difficult, but the story ends there, he said.

Noting that the pH levels of popular bottled water brands range from 4.5 to 9.5, depending who is doing the testing, Blakely suggested that small fluctuations within that range pose no health impacts for people or animals.

“I don’t think there’s any problem at 7.8,” Blakely said. “There’s no health impact in any way, shape or form at 7.8. It poses no human or health risk or any risk to our infrastructure, but now that we’re aware of it, we’ll keep it below 7.7.”

Blakely said he’d fielded a handful of calls.

“Once they discovered this was largely an administrative and sampling error, they’ve been put at ease,” he said.

The management of Redwood Apartment Neighborhoods in Brimfield assured its tenants that no emergency existed and that they need take “no immediate action.” However, “as a precautionary measure, we recommend using water filtration pitchers for drinking water,” Redwood’s letter stated.

“If it makes them feel better, go right ahead,” Blakely said. “But I don’t know that a water filtration pitcher will do anything to change the pH level of your water.”

The EPA has also directed Portage County to test its water four times a year instead of twice. That, Blakely said, is being done.