Ohio village issued 2nd state EPA violation for lead problems

By Kim Palmer CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Ohio environmental officials gave a northeast Ohio village another violation for failure to submit two weekly water reports and not communicating test results to homeowners after elevated levels of lead were found in some of the drinking water in January. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency's Tuesday notice is the latest complaint levied by the state against Sebring, 60 miles (97 km) southeast of Cleveland, after the agency found village officials failed to properly warn residents about water chemistry that caused corrosion in piping leading to 28 homes and one school building in January. An Ohio EPA spokeswoman said if Sebring does not fix the problem, the state agency could fine the village or involve the Ohio Attorney General on the criminal side. However, the spokeswoman does not expect either to occur. Sebring's manager, Richard Giroux, said the village believes it was meeting all the state EPA's deadlines and the discrepancy may have arisen from the initial use of an incorrect address by state officials. The Ohio EPA spokeswoman said miscommunication was not the issue. The Ohio EPA first reported elevated lead levels to Sebring officials on Dec. 3. The notice in Ohio follows the controversy over dangerously high lead levels in the water of Flint, Michigan, which has led to calls for the resignation of Michigan Governor Rick Snyder. Schools in the Sebring district were closed for three days in January after two samples from Sebring's McKinley Junior/Senior High School tested with lead levels above federal standards. Sebring officials must submit weekly pH and alkalinity monitoring results reports, offer free water quality testing to all residents upon request and provide bottled water or filtration systems to homes where results are over the federal allowable level. “When EPA staff followed up this weekend to conduct cautionary testing on a few homes that tested above the federal allowable level, it became evident that the village had not notified these residents of their recent test results as quickly and thoroughly as they should have,” Ohio EPA Director Craig Butler said. Water testing results submitted Tuesday found that 664 of 698 samples have tested below the federal allowable level and test results confirm that the village’s water plant is lead free. A report by the EPA said that follow-up tests confirm the water coming into the homes is under federal allowable limits and that running water for several minutes successfully eliminates any detectable lead in the water. (Reporting by Kim Palmer, editing by Ben Klayman and Nick Zieminski)