Minutes - 20060613 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Commissioner Halkiotis thanked her and said that a lot of these concerns were similar to the ones of the Rogers Road community. Commissioner Carey said that when this issue was first brought to their attention, the Health Department went over and beyond the call of duty to assist citizens with their concerns. Rosemary Summers said staff is working with homeowners with residents that have higher levels to see if there is a treatment process to improve the situation. Chair Jacobs said that on behalf of the Board they appreciate how well the Health Department worked with the community. Barry Hicks commended the Health Department for what they did, but the homes in the Mill Creek area are older homes. He said that they are still having problems and his water runs orange after it rains and he has a filter. He said that they have bad water in this area. He said that the Health Department looked at this as a health problem, but they have more problems because of the tap water runoff. He said that they need to find out where the top water runoff is coming from. He has surveyed people in his community and has found that everybody has to have a filter system. He said that this is only the beginning of this problem. He said that the quality of water there is totally unacceptable and not drinkable. Chair Jacobs said that the next item on the agenda was to address some of these issues. b. Proposed Community Water Study Parameters The Board considered parameters for future community water studies. Rosemary Summers said that in their packet they have draft water study parameters. She said that the approach they tried to use was, as the Health Department, they would put public health first in terms of assessing any kind of disease factor or an environmental condition that may cause a health concern. She made reference to page 3 of the abstract, Policy 1.2, Wastewater and Well Water Studies, which outlines several bullet paints. She read the bullet points. Their proposal is that communities need to meet the first bullet, which is "surveillance data or other confirmed and documented medical or scientific reports that indicate potentially environmentally caused or transmitted disease prevalence at abnormal levels in that community." Communities would also need to meet three of the remaining bullets to be considered for a community study. She feels that the Health Department could handle less than or equal to $250 for any particular special study. Anything greater than that will depend on the given budget year. Beyond $2,500 she would seek Board approval for the study. The cost figures da not include County staff, which is the mast expensive part of the study costs. Rosemary Summers made reference to pages 5-6, which is the Governor's Grove subdivision study. They are not recommending a full suite of water samples, but only bacteriological and inorganic water samples. This would give a snapshot of wells in the perimeter. The second study methodology is for the community, which they are defining as 82 homes. She said that they do not see any indication of high bacterial issues in that area, but there is significant residue and other complaints in this neighborhood. They do not believe that this is a health concern. Commissioner Gordan suggested that the Board approve one of the studies for the subdivision. With respect to the policy, she would like the Board of Health to clarify the reasons for the retrospective and prospective parts of the policy. She wants to approve the study immediately. Commissioner Carey agreed that they need to mane ahead with methodology #1 for Governor's Grove. Commissioner Halkiotis asked when all of these water problems started and Rosemary Summers said that they first heard about it when they were doing the Mill Creek Road study.