Taking it to City Hall; Citizen Power

From here
Joe Holbrook has been carrying around a dirty drinking water filter, wrapped in a brown paper bag.

He's been complaining to local officials that the filter, from his son-in-law's house next door, shouldn't be so dirty and gray.

It turns out Holbrook's drinking water in Pinconning Township has bacteria in it.

He passed off the filter to Bob Hill, from the Bay County Environmental Health Division, at a public meeting earlier this month about Saginaw Bay water quality.

Samples taken by the Bay County Department of Water and Sewer outside Holbrook's home in Pinconning Township have since found bacteria in his area's drinking water.

Under water quality standards, there isn't supposed to be any bacteria in drinking water.But five separate tests, conducted from Thursday through Sunday, found single colonies of 'indicator bacteria' in a drinking water line that feeds Holbrook's home and others in the area, said Bill Schubert, water superintendent for the Bay County Department of Water and Sewer, which distributes water from the Bay City water plant.

The Pinconning Township samples didn't contain enough bacteria to cause health problems, Schubert said, or trigger a boil water advisory for residents.

The results are classified as "atypical" rather than "positive," he said.

Still, the water department takes bacteria seriously, Schubert said.

Holbrook said he's upset his pleas for help were ignored by some local officials.

"If I wouldn't have brought that filter in, how long would I have been drinking this?" Holbrook said.

He's been drinking water at his home since 1988, and doesn't feel so good after hearing that bacteria was found.

"Is that why I've got a bad cold right now and I don't feel good? I think it was the water," said Holbrook, 69.

Schubert said he doesn't know what caused the bacteria in the water line or how long it's been there.

Holbrook said his drinking water often smells like fish in the summer. He thinks Saginaw Bay beach muck, which has been found to contain traces of human waste, has something to do with his poor water quality.

On Monday, water crews were out in Holbrook's area flushing and resampling the lines where Holbrook lives, on East Whitefeather Road, and nearby Shore Road.

"We don't want anything in the water, that's truly our goal," Schubert said.

"We are continuing to sample and monitor it until we have it all clear," he said Monday afternoon.

But Schubert said people have to realize that the Bay City area's drinking water isn't pure. It's drawn from Saginaw Bay, and cleaned up as best as is economically possible.

"It's not sterilized water," he said. "It goes through a sand filter and has gone through a lot of tests, but it's not reverse osmosis."

Holbrook said he plans to keep using a $34 drinking water filter at his home, which he bought at Home Depot and replaces at least every three months.

His son and son-in-law, who live in neighboring houses, also use one.
"I don't want that stuff coming down in my glass when I turn the faucet on," Holbrook said.