BATTLE CREEK (WKZO AM/FM) — The City of Battle Creek and several surrounding townships are handing out free bottled water to families with children under 12 months old until they can figure out why there was higher than normal levels of manganese in the water.
More testing is needed but preliminary tests from two fire hydrants show elevated levels. The city is springing into action out of an overabundance of caution.
They say it’s safe for everyone else and even for most uses with babies. They just suggest you use the bottled water for anything they might ingest. They will hand out one case per family every 24-hours until they figure out what’s going on and take corrective actions.
They found levels that were three times the recommended minimums in Battle Creek and two times the level in Springfield.
The fear is that it may cause developmental problems in very young infants. Older children and adults can cope with and excrete the higher levels without causing problems.
While they did not show elevated results from Bedford, Emmett, and Pennfield townships, they are including those customers in the free water service until they know more.
They say the water coming from the water plant did not show elevated levels of Manganese either.
Free water is available for families with young infants from 8 to 5pm at City Hall during weekdays, at the Department of Public Works from 7:30 am to 6 pm on weekdays, and from the Battle Creek Police Headquarters and from six fire stations from 8am to 8pm 7 days a week.
They say it is not necessary to boil the water. In fact that may just increase the concentrations of manganese levels in the water.
They don’t know a lot about what is causing the manganese to leach into the water system, and plan residential testing to see if they can track down the source of the problem.
