MYERSTOWN WATER AUTHORITY
Public Water Supply ID Number
7380025
Annual Drinking Water Quality Report -- June,
2010
|
The
Myerstown Water Authority is pleased to present to you this year's Annual
Drinking Water Quality Report. This report is designed to inform you about the
quality drinking water and services we deliver to you every day. Our constant
goal is to provide you with a safe and dependable supply of drinking water. We
want you to understand the efforts we make to continually improve the water
treatment process and protect our water resources. We are committed to ensuring
the quality of your water. Our water is drawn from three (3) drilled deep wells
located in the Stracks Dam Well field located northwest of the Borough of
Myerstown in Jackson Township.
We are pleased to report that our
drinking water meets all federal and state requirements.
If you have
any questions about this report or concerning your water utility, please
contact John S. Brown, III of the Myerstown Water Authority at (717) 866-9301.
We want our valued customers to be informed about their water utility. If you
want to learn more, please attend any of our regularly scheduled meetings. They
are held on the second Thursday of each month at 7:30 P.M. at the Myerstown
Water Authority Water Treatment Facility located at 601 Stracks Dam Road,
Myerstown, PA 17067.
The Myerstown Water Authority routinely monitors
for constituents in your drinking water according to Federal and State laws.
The following table shows the results of our monitoring for the period of
January 1 to December 31, 2009 All drinking water, including bottled drinking
water, may be reasonably expected to contain at least small amounts of some
constituents. It's important to remember that the presence of these
constituents does not necessarily pose a health risk.
In the following
table you will find many terms and abbreviations you might not be familiar
with. To help you better understand these terms we've provided the following
definitions:
Non-Detects (ND) - laboratory analysis indicates that the
contaminant is not present at a detectable level.
Parts per million
(ppm) or Milligrams per liter (mg/l) - one part per million corresponds to one
minute in two years or a single penny in $10,000.
Parts per billion
(ppb) or Micrograms per liter - one part per billion corresponds to one minute
in 2,000 years, or a single penny in $10,000,000.
Picocuries per liter
(pCi/L) - a measure of the radioactivity in water.
Nephelometric
Turbidity Unit (NTU) - a measure of the clarity of water. Turbidity in excess
of 5 NTU is just noticeable to the average person.
Action Level - the
concentration of a contaminant which, if exceeded, triggers treatment or other
requirements which a water system must follow.
Maximum Contaminant
Level (MCL) - the highest level of a contaminant that is allowed in drinking
water. MCLs are set as close to the MCLGs as feasible using the best available
treatment technology.
Maximum Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG) - the level
of a contaminant in drinking water below which there is no known or expected
risk to health. MCLGs allow for a margin of safety.
Maximum Residual
Disinfectant Level (MRDL) - the highest level of a disinfectant allowed in
drinking water. There is convincing evidence that addition of a disinfectant is
necessary for control of microbial contaminants.
Maximum Residual
Disinfectant Level Goal (MRDLG) - the level of a drinking water disinfectant
below which there is no known or expected risk to health. MRDLGs do not reflect
the benefits of the use of disinfectants to control microbial
contaminants.
Treatment Technique (TT) - a required process intended to
reduce the level of a contaminant in drinking water.
|
| TEST RESULTS |
| Microbiological
Contaminants |
| Contaminant (Unit of measurement) |
Violation Y/N |
Level
Detected |
Range |
MCLG |
MCL |
Likely Source of Contamination |
| 1. Turbidity (ntu) |
N
|
0.046 |
(a) |
n/a |
TT |
Soil runoff |
| Inorganic
Contaminants |
| Contaminant (Unit of measurement) |
Violation Y/N |
Level
Detected |
Range |
MCLG |
MCL
|
Likely Source of Contamination |
| 2. Copper (ppm) |
N
|
0.478
|
0.055-0.751
(b) |
1.3 |
AL=1.3 |
Corosion of household plumbing systems
Erosion of natural deposits, leaching from wood
preservatives
|
| 3. Lead (ppb) |
N
|
0 |
0-4.5
(b)
|
0 |
AL=15 |
Corosion of household plumbing systems;
Erosion of natural deposits |
4. Nitrate
(as nitrogen)
(ppm) |
N
|
4.2 |
3.8-4.2 |
10 |
10 |
Run off from fertilizer use;
Leaching from septic tanks;
Sewage;
Erosion of natural
deposits |
| Disinfection
Byproducts, Byproduct Precursors & Disinfectant Residuals |
| Contaminant (Unit of measurement) |
Violation Y/N |
Level
Detected |
Range |
MCLG |
MCL |
Likely Source of Contamination |
| 5. Haloacetic Acids (HAA) (ppb) |
N |
6.8 |
6.3-6.8 |
n/a |
60 |
Byproduct of drinking water disinfection |
| 6. TTHMs [Total Trihalomethanes] (ppb) |
N |
15.3 |
10.9-15.3 |
n/a |
80 |
Byproduct of drinking water disinfection |
| 7. Chlorine (ppm) |
N
|
1.21 |
0.80-1.21 |
MRDLG =
4 |
MRDL =
4 |
Water additive used to control microbes |
| Footnotes: |
| (a) |
The lowest monthly percentage of samples
meeting the turbidity limits specified in 141.73. "In 2009, 100% of samples met
the turbidity limits." |
| (b) |
1 of 20 samples analyzed was above the
action level of .0015 for lead and 0 of 20 samples analyzed were above the
action level of 1.3 for copper. |
|
|
|
|
Nitrate in
drinking water at levels above 10 ppm is a health risk for infants of less than
six months of age. High nitrate levels in drinking water can cause blue baby
syndrome. Nitrate levels may rise quickly for short periods of time because of
rainfall or agricultural activity. If you are caring for an infant you should
ask advice from your health care provider.
Infants and young children are typically more
vulnerable to lead in drinking water than the general population. It is
possible that lead levels at your home may be higher than at other homes in the
community as a result of materials used in your home's plumbing. If you are
concerned about elevated lead levels in your home's water, you may wish to have
your water tested and flush your tap for 30 seconds to 2 minutes before using
your tap water. Additional information is available from the Environmental
Protection Agency's (EPA's) Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1-800-426-4791.
What does this mean?
As you
can see by the table, our system had no violations. We're proud that your
drinking water meets or exceeds all Federal and State requirements. We have
learned through our monitoring and testing that some constituents have been
detected.
All sources of drinking water are subject to
potential contamination by constituents that are naturally occurring or man
made. Those constituents can be microbes, organic or inorganic chemicals, or
radioactive materials. All drinking water, including bottled water, may
reasonably be expected to contain at least small amounts of some contaminants.
The presence of contaminants does not necessarily indicate that the water poses
a health risk. In order to assure that tap water is safe to drink, the EPA
prescribes regulations which hunt the amount of certain contaminants in water
provided by public water systems. Food & Drug Administration regulations
establish limits for contaminants in bottled water which must provide the same
protection for public health. More information about contaminants and potential
health effects can be obtained by calling the EPA's Safe Drinking Water Hotline
at 1-800-426-4791.
Sources of drinking water (both tap and bottled water) include rivers, lakes,
streams, ponds, reservoirs, springs and wells. As water travels over the land
surface or through the ground, it dissolves naturally occurring minerals (and
in some cases radioactive material) and can pick up substances resulting from
the presence of animals or human activity. Contaminants that may be present in
source water include:
| 1. |
Microbial contaminants, such as viruses and
bacteria, which may come from sewage treatment plants, septic systems,
agricultural livestock operations and wildlife. |
| 2. |
Inorganic contaminants, such as salts and metals,
which can be naturally occurring or result from storm water run-off, industrial
or domestic wastewater discharges, oil and gas production, mining or
farming. |
| 3. |
Herbicides and pesticides which may come from a
variety of sources such as agriculture, storm water run-off or residential
uses. |
| 4. |
Organic
chemical contaminants, including synthetic and volatile organic chemicals,
which are by-products of industrial processes and petroleum production and can
also come from gas stations, storm water run-off or septic systems. |
| 5. |
Radioactive contaminants which can be naturally
occurring or can be the result of oil and gas production or mining activities.
|
MCL's are set at
very stringent levels for health effects. To understand the possible health
effects described for many regulated constituents, a person would have to drink
2 liters of water every day at the MCL level for a lifetime to have a
one-in-a-million chance of having the described health effect.
In
our continuing efforts to maintain a safe and dependable water supply it may be
necessary to make improvements in your water system. The costs of these
improvements may be reflected in the rate structure. Periodic rate adjustments
may be necessary in order to address these improvements.
Some
people may be more vulnerable to contaminants in drinking water than the
general population. Immuno-compromised persons such as persons with cancer
undergoing chemotherapy, persons who have undergone organ transplants, people
with HIV/AIDS or other immune system disorders, some elderly, and infants can
be particularly at risk from infections. These people should seek advice about
drinking water from their health care providers. EPA/CDC guidelines on
appropriate means to lessen the risk of infection by cryptosporidium and other
microbiological contaminants are available from the Safe Drinking Water Hotline
(1-800-426-4791).
In 2002 the Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Protection completed a Source Water Assessment for the Myerstown
Water Authority to evaluate potential threats to the raw water sources used by
the Authority. A copy of the Source Water Assessment Report is available for
review from the Authority or the Department of Environmental Protection's South
Central Regional Office, Records Management Unit (717-705-4732). A summary
report of the assessment is available on the PADEP website at
www.dep.state.pa.us (directLINK
"source water").
It is
recommended that you have your hot water heater flushed on an annual
basis.
Please call our office if you have questions.
(717)
866-9301
We at the Myerstown Water Authority work around the clock to
provide top quality water to every tap. We ask that all our customers help us
protect our water sources, which are the heart of our community, our way of
life and our children's future. |
Este
informe contiene información muy importante sobre su agua beber.
Tradúzcalo o hable con alguien que lo entienda bien.
|
|
[top of
page] [back to Water
Authority Page]
|
