ROCKINGHAM — Residents have been complaining for days on social media regarding the current condition of municipal water.
Many have described the water — both at their homes and in fountain drinks at local restaurants — as tasting like dirt, mold or “pond water.”
On Wednesday, the city of Rockingham issued a statement on social media addressing the situation and placing the blame on statewide drought conditions.
According to the post, the city — like other municipal and county treatment facilities — uses surface water supply sources, like Roberdel Lake and City Pond, for raw water.
“Drought conditions of the current magnitude will (affect) normal water treatment process(es) as water quality in raw water surface supply declines due to low water flows, increased seasonal temperatures, and required treatment of organic material naturally occurring in raw water supplies that otherwise would not be a factor with normal water flows,” reads the post. “These changes in water treatment processes due to these factors during drought conditions can and does (affect) taste at times.”
The city says its water treatment plant is continuously staffed “with competent, certified operators who maintain water treatment processes 24 hours a day.”
“At no time has Rockingham City water failed to produce and distribute safe drinking water in accordance with all Federal and State standards,” the post reads.
The city added that, in addition to providing its own water, it buys water from the county to “meet peak demands for quantity purposes.
According to the city, the water treatment plants of both Rockingham and Richmond County meet or exceed safe drinking water standards.
“Hopefully, our community and state will soon receive much needed rain to alleviate the drought conditions and allow water treatment operations to return to normal.”
