By Eric Stock
BLOOMINGTON – Reports of unsafe drinking water in Flint, Michigan and several communities in Ohio might have you wondering about water quality here.
Bloomington city manager David Hales told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin the city’s annual water quality report shows only the slightest trace to lead. He offers a comparison to Flint.
PODCAST: Listen to Scott and Colleen’s interview with Hales on WJBC.
“In one of the water sample tests in Flint, Michigan, their sample was 13,000 parts per billion (for lead),” Hales said. “Our latest testing was 2.1 parts per billion.”
Normal’s was 1.2 parts per billion for lead in its 2015 report.
But Hales said people in older homes face the risk of lead exposure from paint or corrosion of household plumbing
“If your house was built before 1978 there’s even a higher possibility of having led paint in the home plus there can be lead in the houses and sometimes its pipes,” Hales said.
Hales recommends checking with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to make sure your home doesn’t have unsafe levels of lead, a problem that’s plaguing the water supply in Flint.
Hales said the biggest concern the city faces in the water that comes from Lake Bloomington is nitrates.
“Nitrates coming off of farmland could require us to spend millions in the future if the contaminant level goes up,” Hales said, adding the use of Lake Evergreen can reduce nitrate exposure to safe levels.
Normal gets its water from the Mahomet Aquifer.
Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].
