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Oct 19, 2023

Lowell receives help with tap water, but the struggle continues

Apr 5, 2023 LOWELL — The good news is that with $200,000 help from the state,

Apr 5, 2023

LOWELL — The good news is that with $200,000 help from the state, Lowell's tap water isn't brown and smelly anymore.

The bad news is, the long haul is not over.

Lowell's system is still way too old and way too small to prevent corrosion, leaks, line breaks and unplanned water loss, low pressure, an inadequate emergency water supply, and lead exposure at various points.

"Just about everything we’ve got in the ground has been there since 1938 or 1939. Maybe one or two blocks in this town are newer than that," said Jarrod Merrow, president of the Board of Public Affairs.

That kind of age on a system means cast iron pipes and corrosion, leading to leaks in fittings and breaks in lines. It also means exposure to lead joints.

The Washington County Commissioners’ "Washington County Safe Water Project" lists some 67% of the current Lowell water lines as still being cast-iron work from 1938. So there are lead joints. Just about everything else — a third of the water lines — are 2-inch galvanized pipe from 1938. The zinc coating contains lead and cadmium. Some 90% of the water mains were installed in 1938. Again, cast iron with lead joints.

Close to half of all pipes in the system are two-inch and three-inch pipes. That's a low pressure problem, made worse by water breaks.

Lowell's only water tank holds 100,000 gallons and has been there since 1938. Its theoretical useful life expired in 1988, according to the county water project report. The tank cannot hold enough water to maintain the Environmental Protection Agency recommendation of two to two-and-a-half days of water storage in reserve. Lowell can go 1.6 days of storage. That is not enough water volume to deal with bigger line breaks, surges in demand or large fires.

In the meantime, the brown, smelly water coming from the water faucets had been flowing — along with residents’ complaints about it — at least as early as 2019. Or, "for years," according to most residents and officials who were asked how long they had the problem.

It was caused by high levels of manganese and iron combining with the chlorine added to disinfect the water. It ruined clothes and played havoc with household appliances like washing machines. As one Lowell resident put it at the time: "Nobody in town has had white underwear for quite a while." In 2020, the town's iron and manganese levels started doubling and tripling, exceeding the amount the EPA finds acceptable in drinking water.

Last fall, the H2Ohio program announced it would provide $200,000 for water filters for Lowell's system. Gov. Mike DeWine launched H2Ohio in 2019. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Ohio Department of Agriculture, Ohio EPA and the Ohio Lake Erie Commission each have a role in H2Ohio, according to state information.

The filtration system is online now and there are no detectable iron and manganese levels, Merrow said. But it's a temporary fix.

Since then, the OEPA has announced about $2 million available to Lowell through the Division of Environmental and Financial Assistance of the Ohio EPA. The DEFA grant will be for a new water plant and two new wells.

"It took about four years of back and forth with the EPA to get there," Merrow said. "They thought maybe there were other ways to fix the problems. But it turns out the least expensive way is going to be a new plant and new wells."

The exact cost is still to be determined, since bids were opened last week and a contractor will be chosen this week. Once they have a contractor, the work will take about a year, Lowell officials have been told.

"We’ve got an 18-month rental on the filtration system, and if we need more, we can purchase it by the month," Merrow said.

"But I’m already looking past that to what has to be next," he said. "We won't know until May if we get funds, but we’ve applied for more DEFA money to get a new 275,000 gallon water tank and about two city blocks’ worth of new lines."

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