Residents look for answers on water quality

Residents of Covered Bridge, a 55-plus community in Lake Placid, complained that they occasional have dark, murky water and a chronic strong smell of chlorine.

The community's homeowner association president, Joan Terrell, said on Jan. 25 she found the water in the clubhouse's commode murky and black.

"We are not just this little nucleus of people ... If we don't make a lot of noise we're not going to be heard and we're not going to get anything done," said Janice Hoogendoorn, Covered Bridge resident and organizer of the March 9 meeting.

But Aqua Utilities Florida, the water company serving Covered Bridge and two other neighboring communities, said they haven't heard of these complaints from the residents.

"We looked into it when you Highlands Today called. We haven't received complaints of high chlorine issues," said Aqua Utilities Florida President Jack Lihvarcik.

Aqua Utilities is a water company that services 13 states including Florida. In Highlands County they service Covered Bridge, Lake Josephine and Sebring Lakes.

Lihvarcik said that the company's last DEP inspection shows they are within the limits regulated by the agency.

Aqua accesses their water supply through the Florida Aquifer, which is heavy in minerals, said Lihvarcik.

Those minerals include sulfur, which is known to have an unpleasant odor. Chlorine kills the bacteria present in the water but within the regulated limits it is not enough to oxidize the smell of the sulfur. If too much chlorine is added, one odor is replaced by another.

"We have to maintain a certain chlorine residual so bacteria doesn't grow and the water is clean and safe to drink," Lihvarcik said.

Aqua said they are taking measures to correct these issues. By December of this year they plan on adding AdEdge, a sulfur filtering system, to their service areas in Florida.

During Covered Bridge's Tuesday morning meeting, some residents proposed solving their own problems by installing their own filters.

Part-time resident Carol Hill suggested that since not all residents had issues with their water quality the issue may be with their pipes.

"Even with filters the water tastes bad," said Jack Hoogendoorn.

Aqua flushes their pipes twice a year and they recommended that part-time residents do the same with their water heating system.

"We are finding when people don't flush their hot water heater discoloration could occur... If they come down for the winter months they need to flush their hot water heater because that water has been sitting there for months," Lihvarcik said.