Growing up as a child I personally remember drinking the water out of a hose was some of the best water on a hot summer day.  Even water out of the faucet used to be refreshing. Now a days bottled water is the best thing smoking. The water isn’t the same and doesn’t even have the same taste as it did back then either.

Recently an investigation was conducted which lead to what was called “unacceptable  risk” to health and “reliable delivery of safe drinking water for Cleveland and 70 surrounding suburbs. They appear to be safe but the violations underscore the need for continuing infrastructure improvements that Cleveland Water has undertaken over the last 2 decades.  EPA records show violations over the last four years from equipment failure to lab record. Violations were presented in February before Cleveland Council Committee where Public Utilities Director Robert Davis and Water Commissioner Alex Margevicius describes a “successful year” with “zero Ohio EPA treatment violations” The most recent violations was a power outage which lasted 11 hours at the Baldwin Treatment Plant just this past November. This violation allowed discharge and chlorine to flow into a nearby creek.

The plant manager admitted that “e tried to call a electrician but nobody answered”. Baldwin Treatment Plant recorded residual chlorine in total violation of Ohio environmental laws and regulations. According to the EPA:

“Whenever a municipality, industry, or other entity wishes to discharge water to a surface water of the State, they must first obtain a permit form the Ohio EPA  Division of Surface Water (DSW) Which is called National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit.

The Plant Manager blamed the Thanksgiving Holiday and lack of employees for the violation that occurred. Davis goes on to say that “Our drinking water is not unsafe”, but warned” “we have a seriously aging infrastructure, perhaps a dangerously aging infrastructure. Just seriously makes me think twice about even cooking food with faucet water let alone drinking it.