Monday, the community’s water system made a list of 26 Montana drinking water suppliers challenged by either high nitrate levels or total trihalomethanes.
Wittak wasn’t sure Flaxville’s nitrates were caused by nitrogen fertilizer on area crops.
We’ve always had high nitrates,” Wittak said.
Over years of drinking water with TTHMS levels exceeding 80 parts per billion, people can develop liver, kidney and central nervous system problems.
When it comes to TTHMS, it’s the chlorine treatment that compounds the water quality problem.
When the fertilizer is stored in piles on the ground, it’s highly concentrated and does leach into the soil.
It’s hard to determine whether nitrogen is the actual cause of nitrates in water, said John Youngberg of the Montana Farm Bureau Federation.
Closer to home, nitrates in drinking water can pose real problems for humans.
The Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch west of Billings switched to bottled water after nitrate levels were elevated at the live-in schools drinking water supply.
The ranch has drilled new wells away from its original well site and is now redirecting its plumbing to the new source, which hasn’t been cheap.