By Lori Kurtzman, The Columbus Dispatch
COLUMBUS – Go ahead and drink the tap water. Columbus has canceled an advisory it issued Thursday when the drinking water at the Dublin Road Water Plant tested unacceptably high for nitrate levels.
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Samples taken at several points throughout the system Tuesday showed levels had dipped slightly below 10 parts per million, said John Ivanic, a spokesman for the city’s utilities department. The water also was cleaner upstream.
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency requires public notification when nitrate levels exceed 10 parts per million, and last week, water at the Dublin Road plant did just that — hitting 10.5 parts per million and triggering the warning.
The average level is 5 to 6 parts per million.
The advisory included parts of Downtown, the city’s West and Southwest sides, Grandview Heights, Grove City, Hilliard, Lincoln Village, Marble Cliff, Upper Arlington, Urbancrest and Valley View (see map). The Columbus Division of Water said hard rains had driven fertilizer and other contaminants into the Scioto River north of the city.
The population affected was specific: women more than 30 weeks pregnant and infants younger than 6 months. Officials cautioned both groups not to drink tap water or consume it in infant formula, juice or baby cereal.
Healthy adults and children can handle higher nitrate levels, which also occur in foods such as spinach and hot dogs. But excessive nitrate levels can be deadly for babies with still-developing systems, leading to symptoms including shortness of breath and blue coloring of the skin.