Copar blasts and my well water turns orange

No tangs to Copar

By Christina Holden Shea

A version of this article ran as a letter to the editor in the Westerly Sun

Water from Tina's tap after the Oct 25 Copar blast

“…I love that dirty water…”.   While the lyrics from The Standells’ 1966 hit was almost played on a loop after the Boston Red Sox’ third World Series win, this song is a depressing yet infuriating reminder of what living too close to Copar Quarry in Bradford is all about.

I am a founding member of The Concerned Citizens of Bradford & Charlestown, but for a living, I work as a costumer for theater and film. Most of the time I am working a ten to twelve hour day in Providence when a major national Broadway tour comes through or an ice show.  We also just finished with the highest of holidays for costumers, Halloween.

I would like you all to picture coming home from a ten hour day and still having to sew for private clients and arrive home to find that your water is dark brown!  That’s what I found when I came home on October 25^th. 

This was also the day Copar refused to let Westerly Zoning Officer Jason Parker onto the site. For those of us who live on a higher elevation than the quarry, we usually feel a double shock when a blast occurs.  This must have been one heck of a blast. 

At eleven thirty PM my water was dark orange/brown (see photo).  I ran the water for fifteen minutes an hour to try to clear the mess but this proved useless. 

If I  wanted Tang, I would have bought Tang

You can forget taking a shower.  You can forget filling an iron in order to continue sewing.  The following morning I had to take a shower and wash my hair in water that was the color of a weak glass of Tang in order to head back to work in Providence for a two show day and evening.

My husband had to connect a hose to the tank and almost drain it.  He also took a water sample and showed it to a neighbor who said it looked as though sediment/mineral build up was jarred loose down in the well and sent into the tank in my basement.  Had we had a filtration system on our water, (as most people have in the area) it would have clogged up and shut down the water flow. 

This leads me to wonder, how big was that blast?  We have had to deal with minerals in the water to a lesser extent before the arrival of Copar.  Since Copar’s arrival, we have to change shower curtain liners every four to six weeks for they become so orange from manganese and iron deposits making them very unattractive.   Bleaching or washing them is futile since the orange stain is permanent and I would rather not put heavy cleaner runoff in my septic system while rinsing.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Orange water is a common effect of careless mining.
Appalachian streams are often polluted by acid mine drainage from old coal
mines. Communities where fracking for natural gas is occurring often
suffer cracked wells and orange water like Tina's

As for owning white clothing, we have to regard it as temporary as a color change will occur.  I remember a time when we did not need a filtration system on our water and there was a time it was so quiet in my backyard that friends from the city marveled at how lucky I was to have found this secret Eden.

Now I have to wait for the next blast and hopefully I am home to turn off the toilets and flush the system before I have to clean more mineral deposits.  I am angry about how much water was wasted. 

I complained to the quarry and was asked to fill out a damage claim.  How do I put a price tag on inconvenience and extra labor on a busy weekend? 

I have also complained to Westerly Town Manager Michelle Buck and the office of the State Fire Marshal.  Hopefully something will be done about this.  I am doubtful since we a dealing with a company that can tell zoning officials what they can and cannot do as far as inspections go.