MEDFORD, Ore. – For the last two years, the Medford Water Commission has been conducting testing on the area’s two water sources, the Rogue River and Big Butte Springs.
Essentially, they were looking to see if the water tends to leach metals from the pipe it’s sitting in, and if so, how much. Today they released the results, and they found that if they started adding sodium hydroxide to the water, it would ensure that high levels of metal like lead and copper don’t end up in the water supply.
“So, in reality, it’s even less of the chemical than salt and in really low concentrations,” Ben Klayman, Water Treatment & Quality Director. “So really we’re adding between 1 and 5 parts per million which is a small amount when you think of how much sodium is added to the water.”
The Medford Water Commission says this approach is used at water plants across the nation. They say the new improvements will take around two years to design and construct.
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