Scotia water quality questioned

Scotia's water hard but not unhealthy, not universally popular.

Theresa Nowicki was only trying to get over a cold when she put a shallow pan of water on to boil last week to moisturize the air.

But the mineral residue left in the pan after the water boiled away bothered her afterward, so much so that she brought it to a Scotia Village Board meeting on Wednesday to ask about the water. "The whole bottom was white and around the rim there was enough to scrape with a spoon," said the retired high school chemistry teacher, who moved to Scotia about two years ago.

Other residents stock up on bottled water rather than drink the tap water, and some use filters on their taps or water softening systems. "To me, it just doesn't look like it gets filtered," said Eric Edwards, who lives in the Scotia Manor apartments and uses his own tap filter.

The retired state worker moved to Scotia about two years ago, and noticed the water almost immediately. "When I moved here I cooked pasta and the inside of the pot was gray from the residue," Edwards said.

He said he doesn't have health concerns with drinking the water, but has issues with the cloudiness of the water when running his dishwasher or doing laundry.

The problem is hard water due to limestone deposits within the Great Flats Aquifer. "It's always been that way," Mayor Kris Kastberg said.

The village's 2015 annual water quality report doesn't show any violations of state Health Department standards. The report is based on tests for numerous potential hazards or contaminants, and shows no violations. The report doesn't include testing for non-hazardous materials like limestone.

"The water is hard, but it's not bad for you," Kastberg said.

He said he did additional research last week after Nowicki approached the board, and he believes most people have learned to live with the hardness. Having the village soften the water would raise issues of additional cost and the possible human health effects of the salt that would be used as a softening agent, he said.

"Our issue is we have very hard water. If you've lived in Scotia any period of time, you're used to it, it's the way the water is," said Kastberg, who has lived in the village for 35 years.

The village draws its water -- more than 1 million gallons per day, on average -- from four wells located off Vley Road in Glenville. They tap into the Great Flats Aquifer, the same voluminous water source that is used by the city of Schenectady and other area communities.

A Schenectady County spokesman said he was unaware of complaints about hard water in any other communities, but said it wasn't a health issue.


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