A comment on the statement by our County Water System Director, that, although high levels of manganese may cause our water to look murky, it is otherwise safe to drink (The Citizen, Aug. 9):
No, no, no, Mr. Parrott, you have given us absolutely no reason to believe that the manganese makes the water either safe or unsafe to drink.
The most critical factor, of course, in potential poisoning cases is the chemical nature of a material.
We’re lucky on that score this time: according to the Merck Index, manganese and most of its ordinary compounds are fairly benign.
The second most critical factor is concentration, i.e., the weight of manganese compound dissolved in a specified volume of Lake Kedron water compared to the weight of manganese compound that duplicated experiments have shown to be toxic.
Concentrations of the huge variety of industrial pollutants that reach our families in this way can and should be carefully and continuously monitored and controlled.
People expect clean, pleasant tasting water to issue from their home taps 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. A significant body of law exists to support them in this expectation.
Why hasn’t it been implemented in Fayette County, Mr. Parrott?
Lois M. Speaker, Ph.D
Peachtree City, Ga.
