Water officials

should find out Tuesday why the water in south Peachtree City has recently

had a sweet smell that some users have likened to maple syrup, others

to antifreeze.

One resident,

Patty Culjak, complained that officials at the Fayette County Water System

and in the county government have showed a lack of concern about what

she considers a potentially serious problem, but Water System Director

Tony Parrott said the system is doing all it can to find out the source

of the odor and correct it.

"I have

no idea at this point how my baby's been affected by it," Culjak

said Thursday.

Culjak, who

is expecting, said she first noticed the odor about ten days ago but "didn't

pay too much mind at first. I thought it was me."

But as time

went on and the smell persisted, she decided to phone the water system.

Apparently

others went through the same thought process, because the system was deluged

with about 50 phone calls this past Monday, all from the south Fayette

area, mostly Peachtree City, said Parrott.

Culjak said

when she described the odor to her husband, who is in Seattle on homeland

defense business, "his immediate thought was glycol."

The chemical

is used in deicing airplanes, and the Culjaks developed the theory that

runoff from deicing operations at Hartsfield Airport during the recent

snowstorm found its way into the Flint River, which supplies much of Fayette's

drinking water.

Culjak said

water system officials rebuffed her efforts to get them to test the water

to find out what the problem was, prompting her husband to file a complaint

Tuesday with the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

Parrott admitted

he doesn't agree with the glycol theory, but said the system responded

quickly to get the water tested after receiving the complaints.

Since Clayton

County gets a larger proportion of its drinking water from the Flint than

Fayette does, and its intake is closer to the airport than Fayette's,

Parrott said he would have thought if the problem were glycol from the

airport, Clayton would have more complaints. But that system has had only

one complaint, he said.

Also, he said,

a chemical like glycol would float on top of the water and be visibly

apparent in the system's raw-water holding pond, but that's not the case.

The problem

could well be caused by the chlorine in the water combining with trace

elements, Parrott suggested, adding that the best way to deal with those

problems is to flush fire hydrants, something the system has done in this

case. There are numerous possible reasons for the odor, he added. "I

wish I knew the answer," he said.

But he phoned

the state Environmental Protection Division, he said, and asked the agency

to test Fayette's water for bacterial contamination as well as chemical,

specifically glycol. The water system is not equipped to run such tests

locally, he added.

A state EPD

official contacted by The Citizen confirmed that the agency became involved

at the water system's request, not as a result of the complaint filed

with the federal EPA.

Results of

the state tests won't be available until Tuesday. Meanwhile, at EPD's

suggestion, Fayette has been feeding carbon into the system to remove

any chemical contaminants that may be in the water, and the South Fayette

Treatment Plant, which takes water from the Flint River, has been shut

down.

Culjak said

she is frustrated that EPD and the water system aren't issuing a county-wide

warning not to drink the water.

She said her

children's excrement has started to exhibit strange colors, and Rick Fehr,

county environmental health director, warned her not to use the water

until the problem has been resolved.

But Jim Banks

of EPD's Drinking Water Program said, "The water, I think, is safe."

But he said anyone who is concerned has to make a personal decision about

whether to drink it.

Back

to News Home Page | Back

to the top of the page