People in Gastonia, NC will get the chance to live out that exact scenario in the coming weeks.

Gastonia’s resident water treatment guru is questioning a state study that has added Mountain Island Lake to a list of “impaired” waterways.

The N.C. Division of Water Quality recently identified 21 lakes and streams that have undesirable pH levels. Mountain Island Lake — the main water source for Gastonia and Charlotte — was one of eight sections of the Catawba River to make the list.

State officials took 34 water samples in the lake between 2006 and 2008, and four of those showed the water was slightly acidic. Acidic water isn’t harmful to drink, though it threatens fish and other aquatic life.

But Ed Cross, Gastonia’s division manager of water treatment, said the state’s findings stand in stark contrast to what local readings have shown for more than a decade.

“I was kind of stunned by it myself,” Cross said Wednesday. “We’ve got a summary of 12 years worth of testing data, and there’s no indication of this anywhere.”

The federal Clean Water Act requires that states evaluate public waterways every two years to ensure they are safe for boating and swimming, drinking or other uses. That spurred the study from 2006 to 2008, said Susan Massengale of the Division of Water Quality.

Scientists determine whether water is acidic or basic using pH readings. Pure water is neutral, with a pH of 7. Levels above that are alkaline, while readings below it are acidic.

Of the 34 samples taken from Mountain Island Lake, four came back with a pH level slightly below 6, with the lowest at 5.7. By federal law, if 10 percent or more of the samples are outside the desired threshold, the waterway is deemed “impaired,” Massengale said.

Four out of 34 equates to 11 percent, meaning Mountain Island Lake barely made the impaired list, she said.

“So that’s when we start looking at possible sources of impairment,” said Massengale. “At this point, we’re seeing these acidic results in other mountainous areas of North Carolina.”

Acid rain and increased runoff from construction and development may have caused the higher acidity in some areas, she said. The recent, regional drought may have also been to blame.

But the findings still perplex Cross. Gastonia takes a minimum of three water samples a day from the lake, which has amounted to several thousand samples over the last 12 years, he said. All of the samples are tested by a certified laboratory with standardized, calibrated instruments, he said.

Based on those readings, the lake’s average pH level has ranged between 7.1 and 7.5 — slightly alkaline.

“I don’t know, if you hold 34 samples in your left hand and 10,000 in your right hand, whether you judge them equally,” Cross said.

Officials with Charlotte’s water treatment division could not be reached for comment Wednesday. But Cross said he plans to make sure state leaders know of the discrepancy in testing data, before the recent figures are accepted as fact.

“I can assure you we will file our data and comments,” he said.

Massengale said she can only vouch for what the state found. While the levels don’t indicate an immediate health risk, officials will continue trying to determine the cause, she said.

“All I know is we’ve got 34 data points and four of them show the pH was low,” she said. “Barely low by the standard, but low.

“We need to pay attention to that.” ( source )

So… two knowledgeable groups have conflicting data about the waterway’s pH levels. Now what? We predict that a number of meetings will take place and in the end that no one on either side will come out smelling like roses.

The waterway, on the other hand, will most likely not receive any of the attention needed to figure out WHY pH levels came up differently for the two groups.

In the end, and as usual, ultimate responsibility for monitoring the quality of the water people drink, bathe in, swim in, and use for many other purposes falls on the end users.

RALEIGH, NC – A day care worker was arrested Wednesday night and accused of leaving a 1-year-old in bleach.

Shannon Rae Duncan Carter, 27, of 4220 Hunnicutt Drive was charged by Raleigh police with a misdemeanor count of child abuse.

Carter was working at the Beacon Christian School at 3933 New Bern Ave. on April 20 when she was changing a 1-year-old girl, said Jim Sughrue, spokesman for the Raleigh Police Department.

The changing table had a bleach mixture on it, and the infant’s clothes became damp with the bleach, Sughrue said.

Police think Carter left the clothes on the child. The baby’s parents noticed that the color had seeped out of the clothes and the bleach caused a minor irritation on the baby’s arm. Carter declined to comment when reached Thursday evening.

Source: Story obtained from North Carolina Licensed Child Care Association web site on April 16, 2008

Why Did We Post This?

This tragic event should NEVER have happened. If workers at that facililty had followed the guidelines set forth by the North Carolina. . .

“As of January 1, 2006, all daycare centers in the State of North Carolina must have the ability to test the chlorine content in both their sanitizing and disinfecting solutions. Previously the law stated that they had to test only the chlorine concentration in their sanitizing solutions.” — simplyfrogg.com/water-quality

That child would not have gotten injured in the way it did if the workers had properly monitored chlorine levels in their cleaning solution(s) with a simple, inexpensive and easy-to-use test like the Chlorine Check Ultra High II test strip.

Approved by the NCLCCA for use in child care facilities in North Carolina, the Chlorine Check Ultra High II test strip quickly and accurately tells users the amount of chlorine in parts per million (ppm) their cleaning solutions contain in just over 1 minute.

Aside from helping to protect children and child care workers from accidental exposure to dangerous levels of chlorine in wash/cleaning solutions, the Chlorine Check Ultra High II test strip makes things more convenient by having the ability to check chlorine concentrations in both sanitizing AND disinfecting solutions.