The quality of one metro community's water may have been questionable for years after an employee failed to test and record levels of chlorine on drinking water samples.
The following public notice was sent to Clay County Public Water Supply District No. 6 customers:
"From approximately February 2009 to February 2015, chlorine residual levels were not properly reported on the routine bacteriological sampling cards and therefore, we cannot be sure of the quality of your drinking water during that time."
Lance Eberhardt, a father of four, received the public notice in his mail. Since reading the letter, he has had more questions than answers. He and his family have been using a water filter whenever they can.
"You start looking at the letter and then you find out everything that happened. You kind of think, 'Wow, could this have caused that,'" he said. "This started in February of 2009. We've had a lot of health-related issues since we moved here."
According to DNR documents obtained by 41 Action News, an environmental specialist first questioned testing techniques in 2015 during an inspection.
Upon closer review, the DNR realized Marty Coldren, the then-chief water district operator, was not testing water samples sent to the state for chlorine residual levels. Instead, Coldren admitted to "writing down free and total chlorine numbers based on his years of experience rather than testing with a pocket colorimeter."
Coldren's license was revoked and he later resigned. A new company, Alliance Water Resources, took over operations and procedures.
"It gives us a little peace of mind that the people who were in charge of making sure the water was safe, making sure the chlorine levels were safe are gone. Now it's a third party that's testing it and making sure the water quality is fine," said Eberhardt.
Alliance Water Resource told 41 Action News because the water levels were not recorded, they cannot guarantee it was safe. However, the water was a direct purchase from Kansas City so the levels should have been similar.
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