By Marvin G. Cortner
Editor

The Kissimmee-based public utility, which took over Harmony’s water treatment and distribution system in 2003 from the local community development district, is currently under a Florida Department of Environmental Protection consent order to bring the water in the community into compliance with state and federal standards. The water contains higher than allowed levels of byproducts resulting from the disinfection process that, if consumed over a long period, could result in an increased risk for cancer, according to authority documents.

“In 2006, when I moved into Harmony, I found a box of water filters in the closet from Toho Water and a letter that said your water is basically unsafe to drink without the filters,” Harmony resident Ray Walls said at Wednesday’s Toho Water Authority’s board of supervisors meeting. “The filters have stopped coming but I am still getting letters saying the water is unsafe to drink.”

Walls said the utility has undertaken several fixes since he moved in but that the water has complied with state and federal standards for only a short period since then. He also said the utility is unwilling to invest in treatment plant modifications to provide a permanent fix.

At Wednesday’s board meeting, Brian Wheeler, the utility’s executive director, reported that consultant CH2M Hill on April 4 recommended several changes to the treatment process at the plant as a fix for the high levels of trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids.

The state on Thursday approved that change as a pilot program and the modification will be implemented early this coming week, authority spokeswoman Mary Guidone said Friday morning.

The proposed changes to the plant are considered to be minor modifications that involve relocating one of the injectors for a chemical used to disinfect the water, allowing better mixing. The modification, utility officials have said, could be accomplished within 24 to 48 hours.

According to Wheeler, an earlier fix involved using different chlorine-based chemicals for the treatment process to reduce the byproducts, and that the change worked for about 15 months before spiking again in the second quarter of 2010. More recently – in the middle of February – the level of harmful byproducts spiked yet again, and stayed there, Wheeler said.

Walls said the residents of Harmony have been “more than patient” but that their “patience is rapidly running out.”

“Our residents have asked that water filters to be provided again, and let’s find a final solution,” he said.

Resident Steven Berube said the previous fixes didn’t work and that the utility doesn’t have a “plan B” in place if the fix recommended by CH2M Hill doesn’t work.

“The water contains cancer-causing agents,” Berube said, adding that residents are tired of providing their own treatment systems or spending additional money on bottled water. “There’s an under-swell going on in Harmony; we’re not going to back off.”

Berube also complained that the water “looks yellow or green” and that it doesn’t taste or smell very good.

Board of supervisors chairman Bruce Van Meter said that if the recommended change doesn’t fix the problem, the board would look for another solution.

“A permanent fix – that could be very expensive,” Van Meter said. “The cost for the fix either has to go into the rate structure for Harmony or into a special assessment.”

As a stop-gap measure, the utility agreed to again provide carbon filters to the community. The filters, good for about 90 days with normal household use and limited to one per household, will be available at the welcome center in Harmony. There are about 1,200 residents in Harmony.

“We’ll put 50 filters out first and if they go away, we’ll bring in more,” Wheeler said. “If we get this fix done and the level of byproducts goes down, we won’t continue providing the filters.”

Wheeler added that filters would not resolve the taste-smell issue, a result of sulfides in the water.

The Harmony water quality issue came up at Monday’s Osceola County Commission meeting and Commissioner Fred Hawkins Jr., who represents Harmony, urged the utility to again provide the filters until the problem is resolved.

County Commissioner Michael Harford, the commission’s representative to the utility board of supervisors, Wednesday said the county doesn’t have a problem urging the state to expedite Toho Water Authority’s application to alter its treatment plant.

“We don’t have a problem drafting something to help move the process along,” Harford said. “This is a strong concern of the Commission; the filters give you some breathing room.”

In a letter to residents in November, the utility stated the water quality was “not an immediate health risk” and that people who drink water containing haloacetic acids in excess of the standards over many years may have an increased risk of getting cancer.

“It has been estimated by the EPA that harmful effects may be noticed if a person consumes two liters of water with TTHMs (total trihalomethanes) in excess of the standard on a daily basis for 70 years,” the report stated.

The water produced by the Harmony treatment plant was in compliance for several years after Toho Water Authority acquired the system but then fell out of compliance when the state lowered the level of contaminants allowed. That non-compliance led to the consent order and the authority was put under a schedule to fix the problem.

A new treatment method began at the end of 2008 and the water system operated in compliance through 2009 and the first part of 2010, but then fell out of compliance in the second quarter of 2010.

Toho Water Authority uses wells in the Harmony area as its water supply. The wells tap into the Floridan aquifer.

Established in October 2003 by a special act of the Florida Legislature, Toho Water Authority is the largest provider of water, wastewater and reclaimed water services in Osceola County. The authority currently serves 73,000 water, 71,000 wastewater and 10,000 reclaimed water customers in Kissimmee, Poinciana and unincorporated areas.

The Authority owns and operates 20 water plants and 10 wastewater plants.