Cade Barker / cade@thereflector.com
A weekly routine for Battle Ground resident Rick Kaliszewski with his 300-gallon freshwater fish tank nearly turned tragic on Monday, May 19. Now Kaliszewski and his wife, Shiela Miller, question the city’s water quality and transparency with water reports.
Aquariums have been a part of Kaliszewski for 40 years, with his 300-gallon freshwater tank being a staple of the house for eight years with its prize current resident, a massive Arowana. Kaliszewski performed a routine 30 percent water change on May 19, in just no more than a minute, he saw his fish in distress as Battle Ground city water began to fill his tank.
When doing a water change, Kaliszewski brings the new water to a temperature of 68 degrees and then tests the PH level, as well as adding a top-of-the-line concentrated conditioner that removes chlorine, chloramine, detoxifies ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. One capful of Prime concentrated conditioner works for 50 gallons of water, with his tank being 300 gallons; he adds enough to cover 500 gallons on a 30 percent water change. Kaliszewski has been doing this exact water change every week for eight years without issue.
“This just started filling, and I come back in, and all the fish, these guys are Oscars, they’re laying on their sides, not moving,” he explained. “What drew my attention? These are peacock bass; they started freaking out and hitting the corners, hitting up top. And this is an Arowana, he was sitting on his head straight up and down, just lifeless, and the only one that was OK was the catfish because they can live in anything so I was like, ‘what is going on?’”
Kaliszewski emptied the Prime bottle into his fish tank, enough to treat 5,000 gallons of water.
“I had to put the entire bottle in this system and circulate it in the top and shut everything down, and finally, about 45 minutes later, they started coming back,” he said. “They were still lifeless, but at least they weren’t upside down.”
By Thursday, May 22, the fish were doing much better but still not their usual self when it came to feeding time.
After being disgusted with the area, and especially the recent water episode, Kaliszewski and Miller plan to move across the country, fish and all.
“They’re my pets,” he said. “They’re just like our dogs or our cat. I’m crazy when it comes to fish.”
Battle Ground Communications Manager Alisha Smith stated in an email that the city’s public works director and the water division supervisor confirmed there have been no changes to the city’s testing or treatment procedures since the publication of the most recent water quality report. One question that Kaliszewski and Miller have is why the most recent water quality report would be released in July 2024 for the year 2023. The next water quality report for the City of Battle Ground, which water is supplemented through an interlocal agreement with Clark Public Utilities, is slated to be released this coming July for the year 2024.
“I mean, we’re two years out, and whatever they put in there, once we find out, it’s too late,” Miller said. “You’ve already ingested that, so yeah, no transparency. What are they hiding, and why are they hiding it?”
The report for 2023 states that Battle Ground’s water supply meets compliance requirements. Each contaminant regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Washington state Department of Health (DOH) meets the requirement, by a lot. However, the environmental working group (EWG) states that Battle Ground’s water quality has 12 contaminants exceeding their own health guidelines. The EWG website states that legal limits for contaminants in tap water have not been updated in almost 20 years.
Despite Battle Ground City water being safe under the EPA and DOH regulations, Kaliszewski and Miller still question what was in the water that day and any other day as they feel the lack of frequent water quality reports heavily lacks transparency.
“These are just fish. I mean, they’re our family. Don’t get me wrong. But these are just fish,” Miller said. “What are people putting in their children’s cups? You know, we have people with cancer, we have people with bad immune systems or compromised immune systems, compromised health issues in general, and they’re ingesting this water and what is in it, and then we’re not going to find out till what, next year, two years? I mean, I don’t understand how the city leaders can allow this to take place.”
The city’s most recent water quality report can be downloaded and viewed at cityofbg.org/DocumentCenter/View/559/Water-Quality-Report—2023?bidld=.
Clark Public Utilities water quality reports can be viewed at clarkpublicutilities.com/about-cpu/public-documents/water-quality-reports.
The EWG findings for Battle Ground’s water quality can be found at ewg.org/tapwater/system.php?pws=WA5304700.
