Long term solution causes short-term discoloration problem

Bluffton and Hardeeville residents in neighborhoods including Latitude, New Riverside, Rose Hill Plantation, Hampton Lake and Sun City took to Facebook and Nextdoor this week to report brown water streaming from their faucets. Concerns ranged from questions about the safety of the water to anger over paying for discolored water and the cost of ruined laundry, with some also worrying about the impact on property values.

Despite a text alert notifying customers that The Beaufort Jasper Water and Sewer Authority (BJWSA) crews were flushing lines and making improvements to address the issue, dissatisfaction ran high, with many noting this is a recurring problem and some calling for independent ntesting of the water.

Discoloration of local tap water happens occasionally when residual manganese in the system is stirred up, but the story of the latest incident comes with a twist.

BJWSA has discovered the sudden kick up of manganese that caused customers to confront brown water for a couple of ndays was caused by a new pump at the Purrysburg plant. This new pump is part of a plant expansion project specifically intended to expand capacity, improve water nquality and minimize incidents of tap water discoloration. This initiative also includes the installation of a new water ntower at Buckwalter.

“There is a certain irony that this was related to one of our long-term solutions,” said Jeff La Rue, chief communications officer at the BJWSA.

La Rue explained that the new equipment, which can pump 10,000 gallons of water per minute or about 15 million gallons per day, began turning on and off and caused rapid changes in pressure that resulted in the sudden release of abnormally concentrated manganese into the water supply.

He said their crews were able to get the situation under control by strategically opening hydrants in key areas. La Rue said the normal level of manganese leaving the plant is normally 0.12 milligrams per liter— significantly less than the recommendation of 0.5 where discoloration begins. However, he adds that the water picks up small additional amounts as it travels through the extensive network of pipes leading into people’s homes.

La Rue emphasizes there is no health risk involved with the levels of manganese in this area’s water supply but understands that incidents like the recent one are unpleasant whether it is discolored drinking water or stained laundry which he adds is also a concern. For customers experiencing stained laundry, he suggests using Red Out or Red B Gone as a remedy.

“People don’t want to drink brown tap water that looks like iced tea. That’s gross and it erodes people’s trust in us. We are sorry people have had to deal with this inconvenience. We are dedicated to working to prevent or reduce the number of times things like this happen in our system.”

To that end, BJWSA has created a plan to address key factors.

“We have a plan that involves stabilizing pressures and flows in the system, adding capacity and storage, and flushing legacy manganese from the system.”

The residents of the Hilton Head Island
and Bluffton area will not have to wait long for additional safeguards against future inconvenience with the water supply because the newest facilities are close to being operational. La Rue provided an update, saying the Buckwalter water tank was raised a few weeks ago.

“We’re getting ready to put that into service, “ he said. “Purrysburg is mostly done. We’re planning a ribbon cutting for two to three weeks from now.”

If you see discoloration, please report it to BJWSA at bjwsa.org/182/Known-Outages.

Channing Heiss is a freelance writer and a member of the Beaufort County disAbilities Coalition.