Water customers in Sebring found letters stuck in their doors to let them know their drinking water has high levels of two different contaminants now above EPA standards.
"And when chlorine is added to it, it creates these trihalomethanes or haloacetic acids," says Jim Bates, Water Superintendent for Sebring Village.
Bates says the contaminants are a result of the chlorine they add reacting with organics, such as dead leaves and twigs in the water supply. He also points out these levels were acceptable until 2004, when the EPA lowered the threshold. "The water quality didn't change. It's the regulations that have got tighter, and so now what was safe water back then is unsafe today," says Bates.
The EPA changed its regulations in 2004, and the village is taking steps to correct the problem, hiring an outside consultant to help with a USDA grant application to add another treatment technique to the local plant, but it won't come cheap.
"Upwards of a million plus dollars, small community 5,000 residents, we got about 2500 water customers," says Sebring Mayor John Smith.
In the meantime, the notices let customers know they have nothing to worry about, since the levels don't pose any immediate health risks, but some are still skeptical.
"Well, one lady said that they're high levels of cancer-causing chemicals in the water. I don't know. I didn't research it or anything," says Sebring resident Courtney Jackson.
As Bates points out, the World Health Organization says out of four million cancer cases, these contaminants could cause one.
"There's not enough evidence to say it will cause cancer, but also there's not enough evidence that says it won't," adds Bates.
There are no boil alerts or advisories for the people of Sebring to buy bottled water. They're being told it is safe to consume.
