"We don't trust that the information we're getting is accurate," said Irvin-Vitela, who heads the East Isthmus Neighborhoods Planning Council. "We don't feel we're getting candid answers."

She's not alone.

Many residents have tired of waiting for the city to figure things out. They're organizing their own meetings and groups to ensure drinking water is safe.

After more than a year of dirty-looking water, contaminated wells and public relations gaffes, about one-third of city residents believe the water utility can't be trusted to inform the public about water safety.

That's according to the utility's own telephone survey released last week. The survey, which also found that 26 percent are not satisfied that the utility can supply them with safe water, is part of a massive year-end city effort to see where the troubled agency stands.

The utility has spent much of the last year trying to right itself after a bumbled initial response to manganese in the city's water. Subsequent revelations showed deeper problems, including serious management shortcomings within the utility and worrisome questions about water quality and the wells and pipes that deliver drinking water to the city's homes.

The survey results have been difficult for officials to spin, especially at the end of a year when one of Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz' priorities has been restoring faith in the city utility trusted to care for its drinking water.

In his report to the Board of Water Commissioners, Joe Grande, the utility's water quality manager, called the survey results mostly positive, but added "there is still much room for improvement particularly in the areas of providing information about water quality and keeping the public informed."

Cieslewicz, who last spring issued a 10-point plan to correct problems at the utility, said he is generally pleased with efforts to reform the utility but sees considerable room for improvement.

"This is a work in progress," Cieslewicz said. "I'm not saying we're done yet. There's more work to be done. But we've put things in place."

Flushing manganese

Of all that has been done, Cieslewicz most frequently praises the utility's efforts to resolve the problem of manganese darkening the water of many city homes.

The utility used a new and powerful flushing technique to blast the problem mineral from hundreds of miles of city water mains.

And extensive testing showed that of 2,000 water samples from Madison homes - 75 percent of which were taken in areas served by wells with elevated manganese - no samples tested consistently above the lifetime health advisory level set by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

David Denig-Chakroff, the utility's general manager, listed the manganese study as among the most important accomplishments in the past year.

"We've got more knowledge about this than any utility I know of," he said.

In addition to the study, the utility shut down the three wells pumping the highest levels of manganese.

And Thomas Schlenker, public health director for Madison and Dane County, has requested a study by the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry that will look at potential health threats to Madison residents as a result of exposure to manganese.

"We all realized that this was a very legitimate concern that people had," Schlenker said of his reasons for requesting the manganese study. "And it deserved a substantial amount of study. We realized there was a lot more that could and should be done."

Confusing responses

Despite all of this, water quality and the utility's response to concerns has left many residents unsettled.

"I'm just concerned about the water," said Dan Melton, an Isthmus resident who recently has become active in water quality issues. "I have more questions than answers."

One development added to residents' unease. In October, several months into the plan to correct problems and improve management, the utility announced it had failed to treat water from an East Side well for bacterial contaminants for 38 days.

A subsequent investigation blamed the failure on communication breakdowns within the utility, all the way to the highest levels of administration.

Melton, president of the Schenk-Atwood-Starkweather- Yahara Neighborhood Association, said Isthmus-area residents are confused about the utility's response to their questions about water quality.

On the one hand, he said, city and utility officials repeatedly cite the high quality of the city's drinking water.

At the same time, he added, residents know Well No. 3 has been shut down because of a carcinogen, carbon tetrachloride, and they've heard utility managers say that finding a clean source of water for a new well on the formerly heavily industrialized Isthmus will be difficult.

Such waffling, Melton said, only heightens distrust. People, he added, are tired of "soothing responses."

Irvin-Vitela agreed, calling the utility's answers "ambivalent."

In the absence of clear answers from the utility on many of these issues, leaders of six Isthmus-area neighborhood associations organized their own meeting in late November and invited utility and health officials to attend and answer questions.

The meeting drew more than 130 people and Melton said it showed just how concerned people remain, even though the utility has worked for months to correct problems with communications.

Melton said people in Isthmus-area neighborhoods aren't happy that the utility has indicated it may still use the contaminated Well No. 3 in emergencies.

They want more information about whether they or their families may have been or could be exposed to unsafe levels of carbon tetrachloride. And they want to be involved in the process of siting a new well, a process that the utility has not outlined in any detail.

"They're alarmed at the appearance that the water utility doesn't seem to have a plan," Melton said of residents. "They (utility officials) seem to go from day to day just dealing with situations as they come up. Some people are pretty angry about that."

New board forms

Surprisingly, the well-attended neighborhood meeting at first angered Priscilla Mather, president of the Board of Water Commissioners, which oversees and sets policy for the water utility.

In a phone call to Irvin-Vitela, Mather complained that utility officials, including general manager Denig-Chakroff, had been blindsided by health concerns raised at the meeting and that the meeting had seemed almost orchestrated to reflect badly on the utility.

But Irvin-Vitela said the continued lack of meaningful communication remains the central problem facing the utility and the meeting was proof of that.

The importance of the issue to neighborhood residents became clear when, shortly after the meeting, the groups organized a working group that will focus entirely on water, including Well No. 3.

While the board is still struggling to become more responsive and to be better watchdogs, there are some positive changes. Cieslewicz nominated former state Department of Natural Resources Secretary George Meyer to the board last week.

And eventually, the board, including Mather, reacted positively to the new involvement by Irvin-Vitela and the neighborhood organizations.

At the urging of board members Lauren Cnare and Jon Standridge, the board formed a subcommittee which will deal exclusively with the issue of communication. Both Melton and Irvin-Vitela are on the subcommittee as is Lynn Williamson, another activist on the water issue.

Denig-Chakroff said working with the neighborhood groups has now become a priority as the utility works to improve communication. He said Grande has contacted many of the groups and will be working with them on a number of issues.

And Mather, talking about her initial response to the neighborhood meeting, said she respects and understands those health concerns raised by the neighborhood associations.

"People do want health information," Mather said. "They want to know if the water is safe for their kids. It is an emotional issue, close to their hearts."