Allen County IDEM comment period is now through December 17, 2018 for permitting in the Orthophosphate Pilot Project at the Fort Wayne Water Filtration Plant. https://www.in.gov/idem/files/notice_20181227_ws_11909.pdf Save Maumee Member, Daniel Bennett Ph.D. dug into this a bit, and explains, “I looked for recent orthophosphate references from Fort Wayne Utilities and saw this letter they put out earlier this month and discusses elevated lead results from this Summer.” https://www.cityoffortwayne.org/images/stories/Utilities/docs/Lead/Lead_results_letter_2018_web.pdf Fort Wayne City Utilities tested 70 local homes, and 8 of those 70 had higher than recommended levels of lead. The letter continues on describing the dangers of lead in water, what homeowners should do, and what Fort Wayne is doing about it. For The City’s own response, they write: Fort Wayne employs pH and alkalinity adjustment to control corrosion. Over the years this treatment has proven to be effective. Currently the utility is in process of evaluating addition of orthophosphate to the water to improve corrosion control. So based on the timing of the permit, Dr. Bennett is assuming that the ”Orthophosphate Pilot Project” is a direct response to these poor lead tests. The purpose of the added orthophosphate then, in this case, is to act as “corrosion inhibitor” in
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