FARGO - Customers of the city's water utility are getting postcards in the mail letting them know faulty equipment that allowed elevated bromate levels in the water in December has been fixed, the city said Tuesday, April 24, in a news release.
It also revealed that bromate levels were elevated for nine days from Dec. 7 to 15.
The city had already warned customers in January that drinking water sampled on Dec. 11 exceeded the 0.010 milligrams of bromate per liter allowed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The city's sample was 0.088 milligrams per liter.
Long-term exposure to high doses of bromate carries a risk of cancer, especially of the kidney, the city said then.
Fargo supplies water to its residents as well as residents of West Fargo and the Cass County Rural Water District.
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The city said Tuesday that in mid-December, its water treatment plant was using water from the Sheyenne River and a mechanical failure in the monitoring equipment caused the plant to show an incorrect low ozone reading.
Ozone, used to disinfect drinking water, reacts with naturally-occurring bromide in the water to form bromate. Bromide levels are higher in the Sheyenne River than the Red River, which the plant also uses.
Since then, the city said it's switched to Red River water and monitored bromate levels at the water plant, finding them to be within levels allowed by the EPA.
"A limit is set for the level of bromate in drinking water because of a concern that some people exposed to high levels over many years may have an increased risk of cancer," Dr. John Baird, health officer with Fargo Cass Public Health, said in the release. "I see no health risk to our community from the short time that bromate levels were over the established limit."
