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Germantown residents go to clean water consultant for answers on contamination crisis

The 30-plus-year expert says Germantown's water issues aren't going away any time soon.

GERMANTOWN, Tenn — One week after the Germantown water crisis, residents are still left with more questions than answers. 

Some are turning to a local clean water expert.

“They're all afraid, they don't trust the information that's been given to them, and they don't know what to do,” Tom Volinchak, who has spent over 30 years in water purification and currently runs his own clean water consulting firm, said.

He said there is still legitimate cause for concern when it comes to Germantown’s water. 

“If it was such an infinitesimal amount, we wouldn't be how many days into this and they're still trying to flush it out,” he said. 

Even as Germantown crews continue flushing the contaminated water, Volinchak said Germantown’s nearly 40,000 customers have pipes of all different sizes, meaning some areas could still be contaminated. 

“Fittings, pumps, valves, T-joints and what not,” he said, giving examples. “And there’s a lot of places where that water, whatever the flush rate is in those remote areas, that water may not be moving at all.” 

And many in Germantown want to know why it took so long to get straight answers from the city.

“Were the workers negligent? Was the guy that designed the plant negligent? Was management negligent? Nobody wants to say anything because these are things that cause lawsuits.”

Volinchak hosted a Facebook live stream to help answer people’s questions about diesel contamination on Wednesday evening. He also has serious questions about how long Germantown will be dealing with this problem.

“Can you absolutely guarantee me 100% of the time wherever I open water, I'm not going to drink diesel fuel?” he asked. "And right now, they can't do that. And they won't be able to do that a week from now.”

Volinchak’s biggest piece of advice to Germantown residents is to attached a carbon filter to their tap, replace it every three months, and use that for the next several years. 

“I fully believe that a year from now, you'll still be able to find some of this contamination from time to time, if you look at the right place.”

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