Howard Water Conditions

[emptynest]

I understand that there has been a petition circulating around Howard concerning the poor water conditions we have had within the last few weeks.  A number of signatures were supposedly on this petition and it was supposed to be presented/discussed at the City Council meeting this evening. Any comments or thoughts?

[MarineMom]

A guy come to the door the other morning with the petition there were quite a few signatures on it already.
The water here is very bad tasting we had to put a filter on to make it palatable. Does anybody know what makes it taste that way?

[DanCookson]

I think much of the problem is due to the ever changing government "standards" that are constantly changing.  It causes the water department personel to have to add and subtract different chemicals to the water on an ever changing basis. 

In simple terms, it is like taking your grandma's pancake recipe that has kicked ass for like 50 years and having to add or take away different ingredients and try to make it taste the same!!  Oh yea, and you don't get a practice batch......You have to make enough to feed the whole town.

[Janet Harrington]

Steve Ford is the person that has been going around getting signatures about the water.  I signed as did Cathy Johnson and Jim Harrington.  My mother signed it.  Jim and I have a filter on our cold water at the kitchen sink.  The filter was only a couple of months old when the water turned bad.  The filter would not even take care of the taste and the smell.  Jim brought water from Moline in water coolers for us to drink and use for cooking.  I couldn't even boil the smell and taste out.  More taste than smell.  No good answer why.  I have heard several reasons.  "The lake turned over."  That happens in August and September when it gets really hot and we don't have much rain.  "Phil and Tim, (city workers), screwed up the chemicals while Kevin, the water superintendent, was on vacation."  Yeah, right.  Tim was the city man at Severy and I am sure is schooled in water.  Don't really know a reason.  I just know it was terrible.  Probably the worst I had ever tasted since I have lived in Howard since 1982.

[Janet Harrington]

That is a good analogy, Snakehater.  (How did you like that word, analogy?  Kind of like anal.  ha ha)

[DanCookson]

Well, at least we got Steve looking out for the community.....


FCS

[NATCH]

I am pretty sure that is fish pee you are all tasting! 

[DanCookson]

 

100th post!!

[Teresa]

Ok folks.. From the information that I can gather is this..
**And this comes straight from the City information from one of the council members**

It is caused from a larger quanity of Maganese ( NOT  magnesium )  in the water than is usually there.
This is  from the lake being low and the water temperatures being high.
The taste is due to the deteriorating vegetation that is coming loose and stirring around in thelake.. Because of the high content of Maganese the city has to change and adjust the way the chemicals have to be added and subtracted. It has to be treated differently  than normal because of this.
Another thing...As they add the carbon to it .. It can actually change the water color to the light cardboard brown color that you see once and awhile.. But  it isn't dirty.
This is a problem, not only for Howard's water, but for many many community's right now in Kansas.
We use a surface water source system..our lake..So we have to deal with  what  Mother Nature hands us.
Which is...No rain... hot and dry  temperature changes.. the plants and water life that is on our water source.

There are community's that have better systems than we have and are having more problems than we have right now and are trying desperately to fix them or make them better... with not much luck.
They are the city's that us surface water as the source of their city water source.

Some of the great big city's ( Like Wichita) that  have underground water sources ( which are in  equis beds... they don't have any problems with temperature changes, and everything can pretty much be set on a computerized level and will run the same every day, through all seasons..

Now.. for my 2 cents .....

For one thing..
The lake is starting to turn over....
But just because it is not August or September, doesn't mean it won't turn early.
We have had almost zero rain and most all the ponds and lakes have floating moss that have come from the bottoms.

Once again.. Mother nature does not have a calendar. All you have to do is look at all the ponds and rivers and lakes and see that they are starting to turn..
Our lake has turned every year, and we have dealt with it. So that really isn't the problem here.

I am in agreement that the water is bad, and I drink bottled water, that I buy from Cookson's in the big 5 gallon jugs. I just pour it into my huge Gott cooler and use that.
I have a filter that I use for cooking water and it seems to work okay for me in that area...

I have not seen the petition, so I can not comment on what the content is .
All I have heard are rumors.. and I wouldn't give you a plug  nickel for supposedly the best "rumor" that Howard Kansas has ever spewed out. Never heard one that had an ounce of truth in it. So until I see the petition, I can not comment on that part.
But what is going to be accomplished by having this petition?
I have not seen it, so I don't know.

They are trying to do everything possible to fix the problem. 
If there was a solution to the weather changes and the lake changes and content..then I believe that more than this town would be grateful.
At lease we can take a bath in it withouth gagging.
There are a few towns that can not even stand to bathe in the water because of the smell.

It could always be worse folks...
And as with everything.................................................................
It WILL get better....

[Mom70x7]

The water is better now.     (not good, just better -  )

At least our clothes don't stink when we wash them. That was bad! 

And you're right, boiling didn't get rid of the stench.

So what does the petition say? What action is being recommended by the petition?