By Anne Thom

Senior citizens in Stacy development are having a difficult time drinking water because it smells and tastes bad. But a solution may be on the way.

At the Jan. 9 Stacy council meeting, Rodney Hestekin of Haven Properties talked about the unpleasant issues with the city water. The smell of chlorine is overpowering to the senior residents of the development and the taste leaves much to be desired, he said.

City Maintenance Supervisor Tom Archibald spoke to Hawkins Chemical representative John Clemens and he and Clemens were at the Jan. 23 council meeting.

Clemens gave a short talk on the biology and chemical make up of city water, then discussed what he felt might be the reasons for the condition, and what could be done about. He had also corresponded with City Engineer Chuck Schwartz prior to this meeting. Clemens recommended an increase in the chlorine feed and in the flushing of the city water lines. As the city has worked to upgrade the infrastructure of water delivery, Clemens believed there were areas in the lines that flushing had not reached causing minerals to settle.

These deposits were now being disturbed because of the increased efficiency in maintaining the water supply system, causing the issues with smell and taste as long stagnant deposits are disturbed. "Flow is critical," Clemens said. "If it sits stagnant in a pipe, it causes a problem." He believes routine and proper flushing along with an increase in the amount of chlorine fed into the system would resolve the problem.

"Bumping it up a bit," he said, would be a "quick fix."

Hawkins had not tested the city water and Clemens cited the city water report as his source that the water is safe regardless of the smell or taste.

When told that the lines at the mobile home park are flushed every three years, and that the park stands at the end of the line, he said the taste and smell issue would be more acrid at the end of the line. Haven Properties also stands at the end of a city line. Archibald will begin flushing the lines monthly now to try to get the water moving toward the senior development. The mobile home park however, is private property and the city cannot compel the owner to schedule this maintenance more routinely if there is no issue with the water safety.