By JONATHAN SNYDER
The city of Bluffton is still looking for responses to the recent changes made to the city’s water quality.
“We were having water hardness issues, that was a real problem. The hard part now is understanding, ‘Are we continuing to have this issue?’” explained Kelly White, engineer for the city of Bluffton.
Currently, the water treatment plant is maximizing its water softener efficiency. They recently built new piping to test directly underneath the softener, ensuring that they can perform accurate quality control checks for hardness levels.
Bluffton consulted representatives from Kurita Water Industries, a softener and vertical pressure manufacturer, to re-inspect the water treatment plant’s equipment. White stated that Kurita found some potential improvements and that the city learned a lot from their expertise.
In addition, White noted that the city flushed every water main they had, cleaning the pipes and removing any lingering sediment.
The city also changed both its salt and water chemical suppliers. The plant was advised that the salt quality was poor, and later discovered a variety of debris in Bluffton’s salt containers, assumed to be left behind by the city’s supplier. Cargill Salts now supplies the city, and White advised that the product is much better.
White stated that the city is looking to reach a target of 180 milligrams of hardness per liter. On average, the water currently reaches about 500 milligrams of hardness per liter.
While the number of complaints has gone down since White took the role as engineer, she is still pushing for Bluffton’s citizens to speak up if they are having issues.
“We are all drinking the same water, so it’s important not just that the water is meeting health standards, but that we also like it,” said White. “We’ve made good changes. We feel like we’re on the right path, but we don’t want to just assume that. We don’t want to just make these assumptions and then not learn anything from them.”
Bluffton residents experiencing any issues are encouraged to contact through the city’s new email account, blufftonwaterquality@blufftonindiana.gov. Within the content of the email, White asks that the following information be included: contact information, the address where the issue is occurring, a detailed description of the issue and a specific date when the issue first occurred.
jonathan@news-banner.com
