Griesmer published a statement on the Ohio EPA website that advised that under Director Craig W. Butler’s direction, the Ohio EPA is taking steps to revoke the water treatment operator license of Jim Bates, the current licensed operator, as he is not properly performing his duties in a manner that is protective of public health.
Advertisement
Schools in the community are closed for a third day after officials said some homes showed high levels of contaminants this past summer.
Classes at Sebring Local Schools were canceled on Friday, Monday and Tuesday after high levels lead were found in the area’s water. “Following the federal rules have led to internal protocols that are inconsistent with other drinking water protocols”. Bates declined to comment when reached at home.
The agency also has reason to suspect that the operator falsified reports, so it has opened an investigation and is requesting help from U.S. EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division.
Messages left for Giroux weren’t returned Monday.
The water system serves about 8,100 customers in Sebring, about 60 miles southeast of Cleveland.
Lead exposure is harmful to everyone, but it can have devastating impacts on young children by irreversibly harming brain development. Correspondence released Sunday by the Ohio EPA showed that it had been asking Bates for months when he would alert the public.
As if Flint wasn’t enough, an OH village is now having a lead crisis of it’s own. Sebring’s issue is similar, but on a vastly smaller scale.
January 25 – Sebring Solicitor Theresa Tolson issues a release stating that the village’s water plant is not in violation for lead or copper and that village officials will not issue further press releases until questions surrounding the issues are more fully understood.
The city manager said last week that seven of 20 homes where the water is routinely tested showed the high levels of the contaminants.
Village officials are being required to continue to offer testing of residential water, provide bottled water or filtration systems to homes where results are over the federal allowable level and work with the county to provide health screening for residents.
“It has become apparent that our field office was too patient in dealing with the village of Sebring’s “cat and mouse” game and should have had closer scrutiny on the water system meeting its deadlines”.
Advertisement
With a drinking water crisis playing out amid an global glare in the MI town of Flint, residents in Sebring fear they could be the next citizens to fall foul of crumbling infrastructure and inadequate maintenance.
