Starting last August, Washington Action for Safe Water has been paying monthly visits to the Mercer Island City Hall.

Our goal is to educate the City Council about the lead, arsenic and silicofluoride that Seattle adds to Mercer Island water.

Neither the City Council nor the public ever had a chance to vote on whether they wanted dilute toxic waste added to their water.

We are proposing that Mercer Island demand that Seattle provide water free of any additives other than a little chlorine to kill microbes and a little alkalizer to raise the pH of our acidic snowmelt water to a more neutral, slightly alkaline level.

Seattle probably has numerous pipelines coming down from the Tolt and Cedar watersheds, and it should be no problem to bring silicofluoride free water down in at least one of them.

Seattle ought to install a new pipeline if necessary to deliver “just water” to Mercer Island.

In the meantime, Seattle ought to indemnify and hold Mercer Island harmless against the possibility of a lawsuit by residents of Mercer Island against the city.

We invite Islanders to meet with us at 6 p.m. before the next City Council meeting in the City Hall lobby on Nov. 21 to learn more.

James Robert Deal

Washington Action for Safe Water