Dawn Mayberry has lived in High Springs for six years and never drinks the water or allows her family to bath in it.
“The water smells like bleach as soon as you turn it on,” Mayberry said.
Mayberry now bathes her daughter at her mother’s home in Newberry.
“In the past, High Springs has had issues with water contaminants,” Hoffman said.
Hoffman explained that boil water notices don’t necessarily mean the water is contaminated.
However, the problem is not limited to the boil water notices.
But, Russell Simpson, the FDEP Northeast District Ombudsman, said High Springs has certainly encountered water safety concerns in the past, specifically with disinfection byproducts (DBP), contaminants used to disinfect water.
The state sets maximum contaminant levels (MCL) for disinfection byproducts.
High Springs was in violation of all state levels set for disinfection byproducts in 2016, but improved to just one violation in 2017.
It also exceeded the state’s maximum level for Haloacetic Acid (HAA5) by 23.94 ppb in 2016, but brought the average within legal levels in 2017.