Town slightly above threshold for total THM in latest reports for one testing sight on a dead-end water main.
DELMAR – Bethlehem municipal water users received a postcard from the Town this week stating that the town exceeded the average level of total Trihalomethanes (THM) in its drinking water at one testing site collected over the past year.
“This is all about the age of the water in the pipes,” Bethlehem Commissioner of Public Works Paul Penman said. “The longer it sits, the more compounds form.”
THM is a byproduct of chlorination and can become elevated if water remains stagnant in pipes too long. This was the case on McCormack Road in Slingerlands this year.
According to the town, the testing site was at the northern end of the road which has a dead end water main, which does not allow for constant movement of water. This site was chosen for testing by the NY Department of Health as one of the four areas where a violation would most likely occur in the Bethlehem system.
“The theory is that if your worst spot is in compliance then your system is good,” Penman said.
According to a April 10 notice from the town, “The sample confirmed that the locational running average of samples collected during the last four quarters at the McCormack Road sample station were 82.63 parts per billion (ppb) for Total THMs (the Maximum Contaminant Level allowed is 80 ppb).”
This does not rise to the level of a water emergency for contamination and, in fact, the levels have dropped in subsequent testing. After testing high in May and August, the levels dropped well below 80 ppb in November and March, but the average of the four did not dip below the needed threshold.
“We had two tests that were high and took steps to bring it down, but the last two tests were not down low enough to bring down the average for the year,” Penman said.
To get the levels to drop, Town water department employees had to manually open a hydrant at the end of the line and run a hose across the street.
“McCormack Road was in compliance in the last cycle (2022), but was trending upwards,” Penman said. “We knew that an automatic flushing valve would be needed in that area.”
The long-term solution to the problem is for the town to install an automatic flushing valve at the end of the line, but that would require an additional easement from landowners in the area..
The automatic flushing valve would open two hours a day, which would flow water and lower the amount of THMs formed in the pipe, Penman said.
Up until this year, the town had to focus on another stagnant area of the system on Wemple Road for the past two years for a similar problems there as it was upgrading the water plant. In the 2021 and 2022 water report, that site was out of compliance and the town installed the same type of flushing valve and the THM levels dropped. That site is now in compliance.
During that period, the town reported the high levels of THMs on the water bills for users of the system, which fulfilled reporting requirements to residents, Penman said.
In the McCormack case, the Albany County Health Department requires the town to notify all users within 30-days. The town was notified on March 29.
Because the billing cycle of two thirds of the town’s users would not be within that period, the town sent postcards to those residents to notify them of the high levels of THMs.
For the remaining third of the users who did not receive the mailing, their bills will include the notice.
Penman said that the water main on McCormack Road is on the opposite side from the area where water would run off and an easement from a land owner would be needed to permanently set an acceptable drain for the valve.
“We have contacted the landowner and they have agreed to an easement and it has been drawn up,” Penman said. “We hope that we can execute it quickly. Once that is done, we can install the valve right away.”
Drinking water is disinfected by public water suppliers to kill bacteria and viruses that could cause serious illnesses, and chlorine is the most commonly used disinfectant in New York State.
The April 10 notice explained about the dangers of THMs.
“All public water systems that use chlorine as a disinfectant contain trihalomethanes to some degree. Some studies suggest that people who drank water containing trihalomethanes for long periods of time (e.g., 20 to 30 years) have an increased risk of certain health effects. These include an increased risk for cancer and for low birth weights, miscarriages and birth defects,” it said.
The McCormack Road testing site was high, but under the threshold for THMs in 2022 with 79.3 ppb average and ranged from 35.5-96.5 ppb over the four testing samples that year.
The town will continue to test that area until it is in compliance with the standards.
Spotlight News has made this story available to everyone because it is important public health information for the community.
