Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
A letter sent by the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality (NDDEQ) to the City of Oberon on May 10 states the city's drinking water contains high levels of manganese and outlines how the city failed to notify residents.
According to the letter, manganese in the city’s water exceeds the health advisory levels of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Manganese, an unregulated contaminant, poses health risks when consumed in high enough quantities over a period of time, and the EPA has established a lifetime health advisory level for manganese of 0.3 milligrams per liter.
According to Greg Wavra, Drinking Water Program Administrator for the Division of Municipal Facilities at the NDDEQ, a test in 2017 revealed 0.332 Mg/L of manganese in Oberon’s drinking water.
That’s enough to pose health risks for Oberon residents, said Wavra, and infants up to 6 months old are most vulnerable.
Baby formula already has manganese, he explained, and when combined with water that also has high levels of manganese, health consequences are possible.
According to the NDDEQ website, infants exposed to high levels of manganese can develop learning and behavioral problems, while adults can experience deficiencies in their memory, attention and motor skills.
The NDDEQ letter from May 10, which was sent to Oberon City Auditor Wanda Randle, explains that an initial letter was sent to the City of Oberon on January 4, 2022, notifying them of the danger posed by their drinking water, and requiring the city to “issue a drinking water advisory notice to their customers and to notify the NDDEQ when this action had been completed.”
However, that initial letter, which was also mailed to Randle, went unclaimed by the city and was returned to the NDDEQ.
In another attempt to make contact, a copy of the letter and the health advisory was emailed to Randle on February 7, 2022. This time, Randle responded and “indicated that she understood the action that is required of the City of Oberon.”
But according to the May 10 letter, no forms from Oberon have been received, and multiple reminders have been sent.
“Recent attempts to contact Ms. Randle by phone and email have gone unanswered,” the letter states.
The May 10 letter established a new deadline of May 23 for the City of Oberon to provide proof of public notification. According to the letter, “Failure to do so may prompt the Department to take further action to notify consumers of this health information, possibly in the form of a press release ... and a statement indicating that the city has neglected to notify the public, as required.”
As of Tuesday, May 18, proof of public notification still hadn’t been provided. However, LeeAnn Tillotson, an environmental scientist with the Drinking Water Program, noted that notification may have been sent via mail and simply hadn’t arrived.
Wavra added that the City of Oberon had been reliably notifying their citizens about the manganese in their drinking water since 2019, and that this is the first time they’ve failed to do so.
The May 10 letter was distributed to the elementary school in Oberon last week, perhaps indicating an attempt by city officials to give public notice.
According to faculty members at the Oberon Elementary School, the school has always encouraged the use of bottled water and made fresh water readily available, but prior to receiving the May 10 letter, students could still drink from the school’s water fountains.
Now, they said, water fountains have been covered with garbage bags to prevent further exposure, and students are being encouraged to use hand sanitizer after they’ve washed their hands with soap and tap water.
Initiating such precautions is exactly why it’s important for residents to be notified of health advisories in a timely manner, according to Wavra.
“Since we know that they have an issue with manganese, we want to make sure there’s a health advisory out there for that,” he said.
“It’s up to the people to determine what they want to do; they can put water softeners into their own homes and it will take manganese out of the water,” added Wavra. The Transcript attempted to contact Oberon City Auditor, Wanda Randle, for comment, but no response was received prior to press time.
