WEDGEFIELD, Fla. — Dozens of residents in Wedgefield came together Monday night to discuss their concerns about a proposed plan to disinfect city water with a different chemical.
Water quality issues have plagued Wedgefield and residents say they are fed up with the product that comes out of their taps.
Resident Robert Cirucci has lived with his wife in Wedgefield for 13 years and it’s gotten so bad that they will only drink bottled water.
“We would never put the water here up to our lips for anything,” he said.
Engineers hired by Pluris, which currently runs the water treatment plant that serves Wedgefield, have proposed using chlorine dioxide to help clean the water.
Jan Verwater, president of TwinOxide, a company that makes chlorine dioxide, said he has been running a pilot study that has had promising results.
“The health risks will actually improve (with the chemical),” he said. “It will not produce any of the byproducts known with chlorine.”
Resident Karen Syed did not come out of the meeting with much reassurance.
“How do I bathe?” she asked. “How do I brush my teeth? How do I do all this stuff when I can’t be sure that the water is actually safe enough to keep me alive?”
An engineer hired by Pluris said that chlorine dioxide has been in use since 1944 and has been used at 1,000 other locations.
Residents told Channel 9 they had hoped to hear from Pluris at Monday night's meeting. However, there were no representatives from the company at the meeting.
Cox Media Group
