Tuesday, November 27, 2012 11:36 am

By MIKE WEST

Woodbury's Water System has passed a state sanitary survey with a nearly perfect score of 99 percent.

"This report shows we are supplying good, quality water," said Mayor Harold Patrick. "When you hit 99 percent you can't do much better."

The study earned high marks from Johnny K. Walker, manager of the state's Division of Water Supply's Cookeville field office.

"Your continued effort in providing water of exceptional quality to your customers is very much appreciated," Walker said in a letter of Mayor Patrick.

"I want to commend Andy Jacobs and the crew at the water plant for their great job," the mayor said.

Jacobs, certified operator at the water plant, was pleased with the results.

"We felt that we did a good job maintaining water quality for our customers and that was proved by the state," Jacobs said.

The inspection process is not an easy one, Jacobs said. State water supply workers come in and set up their equipment and do constant checks on the quality of water.

The state runs tests for four or five days and downloads lots of information they take back and test, he said.

"The last two or three inspections have been good."

Woodbury is fortunate to have spring water as the source of its water.

"You can come up to the water plant and see the bottom of Stones River. Its spring fed," he said.

Woodbury is fortunate when it comes to its water supply.

"We don't have any water that runs into the county. It all runs out," Jacobs said.

The east fork of Stones River begins with springs on Short Mountain and runs through Woodbury.  Similarly, springs on the other side of the mountain feed McMinnville's water supply.

Due to the purity of the water supply, very little has to be done to get it to state approved quality, he said