AMHERST — A salamander that entered an inlet to the Atkins Water Treatment Plant and got stuck is being blamed for causing inadequately treated water to possibly be pumped to homes and businesses in early May.
The state’s Department of Environmental Protection mandated that users be notified about the May 2 incident because the town violated a drinking water standard, even though Town Manager Paul Bockelman said it is unlikely any of the affected water made its way off-site.
“We don’t think it left Atkins,” Bockelman said.
According to a notice sent to users May 22, the problem originated when a salamander affected the water treatment process. That process includes filtration, contact time with chlorine disinfection that kill microorganisms and is completed with additional disinfection.
Salamanders are prevalent in the Cushman section of Amherst where the treatment plant is located. Two tunnels on Henry Street were built in the late 1980s to help the amphibians cross the street each spring, and a stone sculpture on the Cushman Common also depicts a salamander.
The salamander that entered the treatment plant at around 1 a.m. caused the water being pumped to have inadequate contact time with the chlorine.
The notice states that between 5 and 7:30 a.m., 800 gallons per minute of insufficiently-chlorinated water went through the treatment system.
“This meant that Amherst failed to provide adequate chlorine contact time to achieve 4-log inactivation for giardia and viruses,” the notice reads.
Bockelman said an alarm was supposed to sound and alert operators that the chlorine was no longer functioning as it should. But this didn’t happen.
That alarm has since been repaired. “The alarm that didn’t alarm was fixed,” Bockelman said.
At approximately 12:30 p.m. on May 2, the Atkins plant resumed normal operations after the salamander was removed.
“We will review this incident and make additional corrections to controls and alarms, as needed,” the notice states. “Bacteria samples collected the day following the incident didn’t contain any coliform bacteria.”
Though the advisory suggests people don’t have to take any action, and that a more immediate notice would have been sent in an emergency situation, it does note that inadequately treated water can contain disease-causing organisms, such as bacteria, viruses, and parasites, and can cause symptoms such as nausea, cramps, diarrhea and headaches.
People with severely compromised immune systems, infants and some elderly could also be at increased risk.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.