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City boasts about water

‘The thing we do best here is produce quality drinking water,’ says water plant chief.

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By Ryan Gauthier, Staff Writer 2:14 AM Sunday, February 7, 2010

MIDDLETOWN — Scott Belcher quickly darts between towering blue pipes with no clear beginning or end, a constant background rumble nearly muffling the subtle southern twang in his voice.

He appears to have the blueprints of Middletown’s Water Treatment Plant embedded in his brain, ducking and weaving through the tangled maze of ducts, stairwells and doors that make up the building.

But after 18 years of working there, it can almost be expected. He has been water treatment manager for more than five years now, a position that seems almost tailor-made for his broad frame.

“In general, we know our water is as good or better than anyone in the area,” he boasts. “The thing we do best here is produce quality drinking water.”

A sterling pen sits nestled in his front shirt pocket, perfectly parallel to his city-issued ID badge. Belcher runs a tight ship.

As rigid as he may initially seem, however, Belcher has a strong undercurrent of playfulness flowing through his system.

He jokes he would have no problem eating his lunch from the floor of just about any section of the hospital-clean facility.

During a tour of his spotless plant, he pauses to point out a sagging punching bag and two weight benches that clearly show their age.

“We even have a workout facility here,” he says, smirking.

Belcher and his crew of 12 can pump out as much as 20 million gallons of water daily, a whopping 13 million more than Middletown uses in the average 24-hour period.

Of those 12 employees, only two have not yet achieved some level of licensing through the Environmental Protection Agency.

Even one of the plant’s mechanics has the same level of state certification as Belcher.

“My maintenance guy has a class-3 license,” Belcher said. “He’s basically qualified to run this place.”

Much of that is because Belcher needs to run a round-the-clock operation with those 12 employees.

There is a lot of overlap in terms of what Belcher and his employees are expected to do.

David Duritsch, public works and utilities director, said he prefers Middletown residents to not hear much about the treatment of their drinking water. He likes to think of processing water as “a good football game.”

“You know when you’re watching a game, you know it has been refereed well because you don’t really hear much from the referees,” Duritsch said. “It’s the game you remember. You shouldn’t worry about what goes into your water, you just want to turn the faucet on and have safe water be there.”

Tap water’s taste is a balance

Since 1993, workers at Middletown’s water treatment plant have scrutinized over tenths of a millionth parts fluoride, adjusting those levels with the natural ebb and flow of usage.

“Optimally, we want to maintain a level of one part fluoride to every million parts water, so we’re adjusting our pumps constantly depending on the flow in our system,” explained Scott Belcher, water treatment manager.

That attention to detail was recognized last month with a water fluoridation quality award from the Ohio Department of Health’s Bureau of Oral Health Services. The award recognizes communities that have maintained a consistent level of fluoridation in their water during the 2008 calendar year.

Softening water requires a delicate touch as well, according to Belcher. Home water softeners will often reduce water to zero hardness, but Belcher said that’s going too far.

“It has a sort of slick feeling when you take it that low,” he said. “We typically try to hit between 120 and 150 milligrams of hardness per liter. When you start to dip below 100 (mg) you’re getting a little too soft.”

Belcher said water taken directly from the ground has around 360 mg of hardness per liter.

Mariano Haensel, an environmental specialist with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, said the handful of local municipalities that draw from the Great Miami River aquifer tend to have outstanding water systems.

“If there is a place where water is good, it’s Butler County,” Haensel said.

Haensel, who lives in West Chester Twp., said area water treatment plants are so clean one could walk inside and “lick the floor on the filter gallery.”

“It’s almost shiny,” he said. “I wish my house could get that clean.”

But the question remains as to which Butler County residents are getting the best water when they flip on their faucets.

Hamilton was named the best tasting water in the nation around a year ago.

Middletown won the Ohio EPA’s outstanding water system award several years ago.

And Haensel openly refers to Oxford’s water treatment plant as “the aspen of the water systems.”

The answer is incredibly subjective, Haensel said, as taste thresholds differ tremendously between different people.

“For example, I hate cilantro,” he said. “I think it tastes like soap. But there are plenty of people who might disagree with me. Water is very similar, in that some people will be more sensitive to certain tastes while others will not.”

Even people living under the same roof can differ tremendously in taste. Haensel’s wife will happily quench her thirst with water directly from the tap, while he needs to filter it first to eliminate the smell of chlorine.

David Weihrauch manages Oxford’s water treatment plant, which he calls a “great pleasure.”

As far as taste goes, Weihrauch said that becomes increasingly tricky every fall with a new group of students at Miami University.

“A lot of newcomers don’t like the taste of our water as it contains a significant amount of alkalinity and calcium,” Weihrauch said.

“The line between good and bad is certainly a moving target,” he said. “There’s actually some science attached to correcting the taste, but as far as one person’s preference? I don’t know where you would even begin.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2871 or at rgauthier@coxohio.com.

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