From the outset, let me go

on record as one who drinks Fayette County water confidently. I say that

despite, or perhaps because, of some research I did for a story about

residents' claims that there seems to be a disproportionate concentration

of leukemia and other cancers in the county.

Actually, I decided it was

a non-story. I know a little about how the National Institutes of Health

and the Centers for Disease Control compile statistics. They require a

huge number of cases to declare that there are abnormally high clusters

of a particular pathology, and those numbers just weren't here.

I've read the recent reports

on water analysis here, and again, the CDC numbers are reassuring. Ethylene

glycol, for which the FDA sets a limit of seven parts per million (ppm)

in drinking water, has been undetected at all 46 test sites around the

county. Propylene glycol doesn't get dangerous until it's in the range

of 70-100 ppm, and the highest level that showed up in the tests here

last month was 17 ppm.

Sure, huge quantities of ethylene

glycol can damage human organs and nervous systems, and cause birth defects

in animals, but propylene glycol is used as a food additive. Neither has

been related in any way to cancer.

Still, I went to the City Hall

hearing called by our state representative Kathy Cox last week more out

of curiosity than anything else. You can read the details elsewhere in

today's Citizen.

As I expected, it was good

theater. Kathy acted as moderator, and seemed a paragon of reason among

a number of public officials who came off appearing inept or careless,

at best. No matter what the question, the response of the handful of officials

in the room ranged from shrugging off accountability with one exception,

state EPD's Bert Langley: "We blew it" to spreading blame all

the way to the pilots requesting de-icing on Jan. 3.

So the issue here has less

to do with water than with poor judgment, carelessness, and unpreparedness

on the part of those we entrust with our most basic well-being. Accidents

like a massive amount of de-icing fluid getting into a drinking water

source will happen. The timely reaction of government is really the only

safeguard citizens have.

Moving from the water in my

refrigerator backwards to its source, step by step, let's trace the safeguards:

I use a clear plastic picture with an activated charcoal filter in it.

That's not going to block either glycol, but we just think filtered water

tastes better. (This despite the fact that I am admittedly both smelling-

and tasting-challenged.)

The next safeguard is the water

treatment plant where I have witnessed the extensive testing that water

goes through before it reaches the pipes under our sink. Daily testing,

people buy from the supermarket shelves are required to undergo only yearly.

(As I looked around the hearing

room Friday afternoon, I couldn't help thinking that many of the parents

in it would set a hot dog down in front of their kids that evening for

supper, or stop by McFatfood's on the way home for a greaseburger and

Coke.)

No one from the county water

department was at the meeting. Its director "is not good with the

public," said a county commissioner later. I've interviewed people

in that department and they've educated me on how the system works. Surely

someone there is articulate enough to say "yes" or "no"

to questions posed by the citizens who pay their salary.

Our county commissioners, three

of whom were in the room, said they were there merely to observe, and

declined to participate on the panel of officials who were facing their

constituency. Kathy would comment only that she "regretted the county's

decision not to participate."

Talking later with Commissioner

Peter Pfeifer, I learned that miscommunication was the culprit: Commissioner

A.G. VanLandingham told Kathy he'd be there with some information and

she took that to mean he had accepted her invitation to participate. Once

at City Hall, he and Commissioner Linda Wells sat in the audience. Citizen

Patty Culjak, most vocal of the civilian whistleblowers, skewered A.G.

with a couple of his own remarks, which he denied making.

It's a county system, and responsibility

for it does not rest on Peachtree City officials, but when the City Hall

began receiving complaints, the city ordered tests. They indicated that

the amount of either glycol was well below 1 ppm, hence a non-threat.

OK, the next line of defense:

the state's Environmental Protection Dept. At least Langley, its emergency

response manager, admitted having dropped the ball by not having a means

to receive emergency messages over the weekend. Kathy said later that

she was thinking about establishing a "water hotline" so people

could call an issue in directly and speak to someone at the state level.

The airport itself is going

to review de-icing procedures before fluids are released into the Flint

River, according to general manager Ben DeCosta. I'm not sure what it

would take to involve the federal EPA, but I guess that's the line of

defense farthest from my kitchen sink.

One thing does worry me, however,

and was never once mentioned:

In this new post-Sept. 11 world,

with public officials everywhere being warned to watch for terrorist activities

in the most unlikely and unsuspected places, there is absolutely no excuse

for failure to communicate a possible hazard, if not to the public, at

least to those who have the power to make decisions based on good judgment.

If someone were to introduce

something biologically or chemically lethal into our water system, and

a citizen suspected that something had happened, are we to accept that

it might be a week before anyone takes action or even issues a warning?

Peter said it pretty well,

although on the telephone and not at the hearing: "If it had been

something deadly, it would have been here and gone before anyone dropped

dead. If nothing else, this incident has moved that situation to be addressed.

We will have a water department spokesperson if something like this comes

up again.

"A water system [is] a

critical system that people have to be able to trust," Peter said.