When Jan Verspecht returned in November to his Fountaingrove home, which miraculously survived the Tubbs fire, he turned on the water and noticed a strange odor.
When he heard that the water in his area was contaminated with benzene, a chemical city officials believe originated from melting plastic pipes and system components, he was actually relieved.
“As soon as I heard it was only benzene, I was like ‘OK.
But Verspecht, who doesn’t have training in water quality issues, is convinced he has found a way to easily remove any traces of the compound from the city-supplied water that flows into his Fountaingrove home.
Engineers solve problems,” Verspecht, who is from Belgium and who moved to Santa Rosa in 2012 after Keysight purchased his startup company.
The solution Verspecht came up with was to install a $5,000 whole-house activated carbon water filter, which he said has removed all traces of toxic compounds.
“I can guarantee it, the water that we drink is the purest that any Santa Rosan can drink,” Verspecht told the City Council recently.
“There is hope.” City officials have been under tremendous pressure to figure out how to restore clean water to an area of 350 homesites in Fountaingrove with contaminated water mains.
Residents trying to figure out how to rebuild were not pleased and told the city that if it didn’t find a better solution, there wasn’t going to be anyone returning to the area.
After originally resisting the idea of installing filtration systems, Ben Horenstein, director of Santa Rosa Water, now says it could be just the break the city needs.