Buechter insists Meta’s drinking water is safe; Plemmons wants the system upgraded

By Neal A. Johnson, UD Editor
Posted 10/23/24

Meta City Clerk Deidra Buechter told aldermen at their Oct. 11 meeting that despite a required letter from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) regarding the city’s drinking …

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Buechter insists Meta’s drinking water is safe; Plemmons wants the system upgraded

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Meta City Clerk Deidra Buechter told aldermen at their Oct. 11 meeting that despite a required letter from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) regarding the city’s drinking water, there’s nothing wrong with it.

“They say that there could be lead in your drinking water, and you shouldn’t drink it until further notice,” she said. “That’s probably not true because we test for lead and copper every single year, and we are never anywhere close to the maximum contamination level. I drink the water. I’m comfortable letting my children drink the water.”

Buechter believes the warning was issued because the city cannot verify there’s no lead in some lines.

DNR sent a letter to the city that the agency required be provided to residents.

It reads, “If your service line is confirmed as being made of lead or is confirmed as Galvanized Requiring Replacement, please read the information below that explains the health effects of lead, how to reduce lead in your drinking water, and available financial opportunities should you choose to replace your service line. If your service line is classified as ‘Unknown: Possibly Lead,’ please read the health effects information provided below and follow the recommendations for reducing lead in your drinking water. In addition, please see the links below that can help you to identify your service line material using visual inspection, along with a scratch and magnet test.”

The letter adds information on the health effects of lead: “Exposure to lead in drinking water can cause serious health effects in all age groups. Infants and children can have decreases in IQ and attention span. Lead exposure can lead to new learning and behavior problems or exacerbate existing learning and behavior problems. The children of women who are exposed to lead before or during pregnancy can have an increased risk of these adverse health effects. Adults can have increased risks of heart disease, high blood pressure, kidney, or nervous system problems. Lead in drinking water, although rarely the sole cause of lead poisoning, can significantly increase a person’s total lead exposure. Infants who drink baby formulas and concentrates that are mixed with water containing lead are particularly at risk. EPA estimates that drinking water can make up 20% or more of a person’s total exposure to lead. Boiling water does not reduce lead levels.”

For those interested in reducing lead in drinking water, DNR provided the following information.

— Run your water to flush out lead. If a faucet has not been used for several hours, allow the water to run at the tap for 15 to 30 seconds or until it becomes cold and reaches a steady temperature before using it for drinking or cooking. This flushes lead-containing water from the pipes. The water you run from drinking water taps does not have to be wasted; you can use this water for cleaning purposes or watering plants. You may want to keep a container of drinking water in your refrigerator so you don’t have to run water every time you need it.

— Use cold water for cooking and preparing baby formula. Do not drink or cook with water from the hot water tap, as lead dissolves more easily in hot water. Do not use water from the hot water tap to make baby formula.

— Do not boil water to remove lead. Boiling water will not reduce the lead content.

— Look for alternative sources or treatment of water. If water testing has shown you have elevated lead in your drinking water, you may want to consider purchasing bottled water or a water filter. Read the package to be sure the filter is approved to reduce lead, with NSF/ANSI 53-2021 labeling, or contact the National Sanitation Foundation at 800-NSF-8010 (800-673-8010) for information on performance standards for water filters. If you choose to install a lead-removal filter, be sure to maintain and replace the filter device according to the manufacturer’s instructions to protect water quality.

The letter also outlines financial opportunities for service line replacement.

“If your service line is confirmed as being made of lead or designated as Galvanized Requiring Replacement and you choose to replace it, as your water provider, we are required to offer financial options for replacement. To receive information about these financial options, please contact us by using the same contact information provided on page one. We are required to pay to replace the portion of the service line that is water system-owned. However, we are not required to pay for the portion of the service line that is customer-owned.

“As your water provider, we are required to replace our portion of a lead service line when you notify us you are replacing your portion of the lead service line,” the letter continues. “Replacement of both portions of the service line should be performed at the same time to avoid additional water service disruption and disturbance of lead in service line materials. There may also be low-interest loan and grant funding assistance available to our water system customers for service line replacement using funding from the Infrastructure, Investment, and Jobs Act, better known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This funding can be used to replace both the system-owned and customer-owned portions of the service line. In order to apply for and receive this funding, we must know the number of service lines that need to be replaced. This is another reason why it is important for customers to help identify their service line materials.”

 

Mayor Ivie Helton added that the safety officer at Diamond Pet Foods, where she is employed, sent an email advising everyone to avoid drinking the water. “They’re providing bottled water, so I called Deidra and asked her some questions about them. I called the safety guy and said, ‘Whoa, please don’t create any more panic than necessary. The water is safe.’ And then I referred him back to (Chief Water Operator Trevor Plemmons). I talked to him again today. He called me and said that he had a couple of people come to him who were really concerned about it. I said, ‘Well, just tell them it’s the same water that they’ve been drinking since they’ve been in town, and that is tested on a regular basis, and we have to publish those results.’ This is stupid; just creating panic for absolutely no reason at all. He said he appreciated the clarification and that he would pass along that information to anybody who came to him about it.”

Buechter added that some probably think bottled water is safe. “Bottled water, to my knowledge, is not tested the way our water is tested,” she explained. “From what I have heard, you can literally bottle water from anywhere and sell it, and it does not go through the same testing that our water goes through. So if bottled water is contaminated, you wouldn’t know until you got sick because they don’t go through the testing that a water municipality does.”

In related water news, Buechter told the board that the system is in dire need of an upgrade or replacement.

She explained that the city has a new account manager at DNR, Kyle Morgan, who handles the State Revolving Fund (SRF) payment. Buechter noted the situation appears to have become clouded as Jonathan Benson of DA Davidson, the firm handling the financing aspect of the water project, indicated he was waiting for a response from DNR.

Kelly Sink of Meramec Regional Planning Commission (MRPC) told Buechter that she was informed the city wants a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG).

“I said, ‘No, I that has not even been mentioned,’” Buechter added. “I said, ‘Jonathan did tell me that there were other ways to go about getting money that weren’t all loans. When I talked to him, I told him I understood we could get USDA money and we could get CDBG money. And I said I told the board that, but I’ve also told Jonathan that we realize there’s a match for each of those; that’s not just free money. So it does, as a whole, lower the amount that we would have to borrow, but we would still have to have a match for those grants if we got them.”

According to Sink, Meta is one point below the required median income threshold to qualify for CDBG grants. Buechter told board members she would have to send residents an income survey and ask them to participate, which was not very well received in the past.

The clerk added that she updated Plemmons on the situation. “He said, ‘I honestly don’t care how you fix your problem,” said Buechter. “He said, ‘I don’t care if you go about it by putting in a whole new system or if we just fix the problem that we have, but I will not stay as your operator if we do not fix the two problems that we have.’”

Meta’s first problem is that the city is has trouble maintaining reasonable pressure on top of the hill. The second problem is the disinfection residuals at the end of the lines.

“So I said, ‘Okay, you talked about putting in a pressure tank at the top of the hill to keep the pressure at a reasonable amount, and then putting in a pressure-reducing valve down lower, along with a chlorine pump station,’” said Buechter, asking Plemmons what it would cost to do those two things and correct distribution problems as they arrive.

Plemmons indicated that even if the city needs an engineer, Meta is looking at an estimated top cost of about $350,000. He planned to run some numbers.

Buechter told board members to keep in mind that Strafford, near Springfield, had iron bacteria in the water, and the city wasn’t maintaining proper pressure at the wellhead. “So, the iron bacteria got in their water, and people died, and the chief water operator, the person that holds the license, is criminally liable for things like that,” she added. “So Stafford’s chief water operator will be doing prison time, and we don’t ever want to be in that situation — we don’t ever even want to come close to being in that situation.”

Buechter said she was asked to attend a virtual meeting with Kyle Morgan to discuss the financial aspect of it. However, she added that it is not the best use of her time if the board doesn’t want to pursue it.

“A $3 million project is just probably not possible,” said Helton. “It would be fantastic. I love the idea of doing a $3 million project, but we can’t deplete our budget by having a match for all of these grants or taking out a 30-year loan.”

Meta is considering options. A replacement pressure tank would cost approximately $30,000, and Buechter said the city would need a pressure-reducing valve.

“The most expensive would be expanding the pump house to house the pressure tank,” said Buechter. “That’s probably going to be our most expensive, along with doing another small house for the chlorine pump.”

“We’ve been talking about expanding the pump house from the beginning because we thought that it may have been part of our water-loss problem,” said Helton. “So, that could be two birds with one stone. Number one, we have to make sure that the water is safe for the people who are drinking it, right? And number two, whether it be Trevor or whoever is our chief water operator, we can’t put them in that kind of position where they’re going to be responsible for something.”

For now, the city plans to arrange a meeting between Plemmons and Bartlett & West to develop an engineering plan that meets the city’s needs.

• Board members agreed to enter into an engagement for accounting services with Paul Hood, who purchased Doerhoff & Associates CPAs in Jefferson City.

WATER UPDATE

• Buechter reported that 326,731 gallons of water were pumped during September, with 332,231 gallons accounted for, with 5,500 gallons used by the fire department, leaving 127,392 gallons of water lost, or 27.72%.

• A total of $6,124.97 in water sales were recorded in September, with $1,334.76 charged for trash, $240 in late fees, and $205.99 in sales tax. Total charges were $5,954.14, with a previous balance due of $2,092.15 and payments received in the amount of $6,923.19, leaving a balance due the city of $1,123.10.

FINANCIAL NEWS

• In her regular monthly financial report, Treasurer Karla Buechter noted that operating fund expenses for the month totaled $13,000.92.

Income/deposits totaled $22,593.07 for a balance on hand of $648,749.43; the money market balance was $142,423.57; and two certificates of deposit totaled $175,000, giving the city total funds on hand as of Sept. 30 of $966,173.