South Vienna warned by Ohio EPA for drinking water violations
Apr. 22—Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Director Anne Vogel warned South Vienna Mayor Toni Keller about the village's multiple clean water and reporting violations in a letter dated Wednesday.
According to the letter obtained by the Springfield News-Sun, the village's public water system contains more arsenic than allowed by Ohio law. Officials did not properly monitor contaminant levels of total coliform — a bacteria that indicates pathogens may be in the water system — at least once, and did not monitor other contaminant levels multiple times. Vogel also said in the letter that South Vienna has not informed water consumers of lead levels in a timely manner, among other reporting and safety violations.
Arsenic is a naturally occurring element that can be found in drinking water, according to the Ohio EPA. Levels exceeding 10 micrograms per liter are considered harmful and violate Ohio law. Long-term arsenic exposure of any amount increases a person's risk for multiple cancers.
Haloacetic acids and trihalomethanes are byproducts of the water treatment process, according to the Ohio EPA. Trihalomethanes are allowed to be present at .08 milligrams pet liter and haloacetic acids can be present at .060 milligrams per liter. Higher levels of these byproducts are considered harmful and could increase a person's risk of cancer and reproductive and developmental disorders.
According to the letter, the public water system failed multiple times to submit monthly operating reports to the EPA and did not fulfill content requirements for water quality reports from 2018-2021.
Vogel said the village resolved some violations, including a failure to inform citizens of lead tap monitoring results within two business days in 2020.
Attempts to reach Keller and other village officials Friday were unsuccessful.
The letter detailed a compliance and operational review meeting between the EPA and Keller in June 2022 to discuss arsenic levels in water. Vogel said during that meeting, "It was noted that [Keller] was evaluating funding opportunities to construct a new treatment facility to correct the arsenic problem."
According to the letter, the EPA notified the village on Dec. 30 that it had found in an inspection that weep-hole type yard hydrants that can contaminate water supply were installed on the water system, and that no work was scheduled to fix 75,000 and 150,000 water storage tanks with "multiple issues."
In January, the village responded to the EPA saying it will either abandon noncompliant yard hydrants or replace at least two per year. It said the hydrants are not currently in use. It also detailed a repair plan for the large tanks, saying the larger tank will be completed later this year and the smaller one within three to five years.
The letter ordered South Vienna to bring two hydrants into compliance per year, proven with written documentation and/or photographs, and issue a public notice that it failed to submit documentation of its failure to monitor coliform levels in July 2019 and arsenic levels from Oct. 1, 2018, to Dec. 31, 2018, and April 1, 2019, to June 30, 2019.
Vogel also ordered rehabilitation of the storage tanks, submission of water analysis data from 2020 and a plan to reduce arsenic levels in the water.
If South Vienna does not comply with the EPA's orders, it could face legal proceedings.
South Vienna's public water system serves 393 customers and is sourced from groundwater, according to the letter.
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South Vienna's Unresolved Violations — Key Ohio EPA Findings:
2018: Failure to monitor for arsenic from Oct. 1, 2018, to Dec. 31, 2018
Failure to include health effects language for arsenic a table of detected contaminants and complete information on the village's disinfection byproduct violation in report
2019: Did not monitor arsenic levels from April 1 to June 30, 2019
Did not provide public notice of failure to monitor coliform levels in July 2019, and of failure to monitor arsenic levels from April 1 to June 30, 2019
2020: Did not include table of detected contaminants in report
Did not submit metrics data
2021: Did not include a table of detected contaminants in report
Two storage tanks were found to be in bad condition
2022: Weep-hole type yard hydrants found installed on water system
