2016 Consumer Confidence Report - PWS ID #5100033
Evans City Borough Public Water Supply
Information for Spanish Speaking Customers
Este informe contiene información muy importante sobre la calidad de su
agua beber. Traduscalo o hable con alguien que lo entienda bien. (This
report contains very important information about your drinking water. Please translate it or speak to someone who
understands it.)
Water System Information:
We are pleased to present to you
this year’s Consumer Confidence Report for the Evans City Water & Sewer
Authority (Authority) Public Water System. This report is designed to inform you about
the quality of water and services that we deliver to you every day. Our primary goal is to provide you with a safe,
dependable, and affordable supply of drinking water.
Included in this report are
details about where your water comes from, what it contains, and how it
compares to standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP).
In accordance with the 1996 Safe
Drinking Water Act Amendment, the Authority provides this report on the quality
of our drinking water to our water customers each year. Unless otherwise noted, this report
represents data compiled during the period from January 1, 2016 to December 31,
2016. Last year we conducted many tests
for various contaminants. None of the
detected contaminants exceeded the stringent standards and limits set by the
EPA and the PADEP.
If you want to learn more, please
attend any of our regularly scheduled Water and Sewer Authority monthly public meetings,
which are held on the last Wednesday of each month at 6:00 p.m. at the Evans
City Borough Municipal Building. If you
have any questions concerning this report or your water utility, please contact
Mr. Marty Fabian, Operations Manager, at (724) 432-3428, Ext. 3.
Where does my water come from?
In February 2012 the Authority
began purchasing bulk water from Pennsylvania American Water Company (PAWC). With
the activation of the PAWC supply interconnect; the Evans City Borough Public
Water Supply became what the PADEP refers to as a consecutive water system,
meaning that we now purchase bulk water produced by PAWC for distribution to
our customers. The Evans City Borough
Water Treatment Plant was disconnected from our distribution system at that
time.
The bulk water purchased from PAWC
is produced at their Ellwood City Water Treatment Plant (WTP). The Ellwood City WTP draws source water from Slippery
Rock Creek and is capable of producing 5.2 million gallons of potable water per
day (MGD).
The PADEP and PAWC completed an
assessment for the drinking water source for the Ellwood City WTP in February
2003. The water source is considered
most vulnerable to the following activities: the accidental release of
contaminants along the major transportation corridors, bridges, and railroads;
storm water runoff from agricultural activities; storm water runoff from
residential areas; accidental release or overflow from wastewater treatment
plants, and discharge leachate from landfills.
A copy of the completed Source
Water Assessment may be obtained by calling the local office of the
Pennsylvania DEP at (724) 656-3160 or by following the link below:
http://www.elibrary.dep.state.pa.us/dsweb/Get/Document-59667/RS6370011001%20Ellwood%20City.pdf
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 microbial
contaminants are available from the Safe Drinking Water Hotline (800-426-4791).
Water Quality Data
The tables below list all of the
drinking water contaminants that we detected during the 2016 calendar year. The
presence of contaminants in the water does not necessarily indicate that the
water poses a health risk. Unless
otherwise noted, the data presented in this table is from testing completed
during the period from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2016. The EPA and/or PADEP require the Authority to
monitor for certain contaminants less than once per year because the
concentrations of these contaminants do not change frequently, therefore, some
of our data, though representative, is more than one year old. Please note that many more contaminants were
tested for, however, those that were not detected are not listed below.
A potable
water emergency interconnect with Cranberry Township public water supply system
is available when needed. This emergency
interconnect was not utilized during the 2016 calendar year. If the interconnect had been utilized, applicable
sampling results would be provided in the tables below.
DETECTED
SAMPLE RESULTS:
Chemical Contaminants Measured in
Distribution System
|
||||||||
Contaminant
|
MCL in CCR Units
|
MCLG
|
Level Detected
|
Range of Detections
|
Units
|
Sample Date
|
Violation
Y/N
|
Sources of Contamination
|
Chlorine
|
MRDL
= 4
|
MRDLG
= 4
|
0.4
|
0.3– 0.4
|
ppm
|
2016
|
N
|
Water additive used to control microbes.
|
HAA5
|
60
|
-
|
22.1*
|
15.5 – 27.7
|
ppb
|
2016
|
N
|
By-products of drinking water chlorination
|
TTHM
|
80
|
-
|
34.4*
|
18.2 – 50.0
|
ppb
|
2016
|
N
|
|
* 2016 Running Annual Average (RAA) for
Haloacidic Acids (HAA5) and Total Trihalomethanes (TTHM)
Lead and Copper – As Measured in
Distribution System
|
|||||||
Contaminant
|
Action Level (AL)
|
MCLG
|
90th
Percentile Value
|
Units
|
# of Sites Above AL of
Total Sites
|
Violation
Y/N
|
Sources of
Contamination
|
Lead
|
15
|
0
|
0
|
ppb
|
0 out of 5
|
N
|
Corrosion of household plumbing
|
Copper
|
1.3
|
1.3
|
0.31
|
ppm
|
0 out of 5
|
N
|
|
Lead
and Copper samples were taken and analyzed in 2016
Microbial – As Measured in
Distribution System
|
|||||
Contaminant
|
MCL
|
MCLG
|
Highest # or % of
Positive Samples
|
Violation
Y/N
|
Sources of
Contamination
|
Total Coliform
Bacteria
|
No more than 1 positive monthly sample
|
0
|
0
|
N
|
Naturally present in the environment
|
Units Descriptions
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
ppm
|
parts
per million (ppm) is equivalent to milligrams per liter (mg/L) which is
equivalent to one penny in $10,000 worth of pennies
|
ppb
|
parts
per billion (ppb) is equivalent to micrograms per liter (µg/L) which is
equivalent to one penny in $10,000,000 worth of pennies
|
NTU
|
Nephelometric
Turbidity Units (a measure of water clarity)
|
NA
|
Not applicable
|
Important Drinking
Water Definitions
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
MCLG
|
Maximum
Contaminant Level Goal: 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.
|
MCL
|
Maximum
Contaminant Level: 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.
|
TT
|
Treatment
Technique: A required process intended
to reduce the level of a contaminant in drinking water.
|
AL
|
Action
Level: The concentration of a
contaminant which, if exceeded, triggers treatment or other requirements
which a water system must follow.
|
MRDLG
|
Maximum
residual disinfection level goal: 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.
|
MRDL
|
Maximum
residual disinfectant level: 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.
|
MinRDL
|
Minimum
residual disinfectant level: The
minimum level of a disinfectant required to be present at the point of
connection to the PAW supply system.
|
Some Information on Lead in Drinking Water
If present, elevated levels of lead can
cause serious health problems, especially for pregnant women and young
children. Lead in drinking water is
primarily from materials and components associated with services lines and home
plumbing. Evans City Borough is
responsible for providing high quality drinking water, but cannot control the
variety of materials used in plumbing components. When your water has been sitting for several
hours, you can minimize the potential for lead exposure by flushing your tap
for 30 seconds to 2 minutes before using water for drinking and cooking. If you are concerned about lead in your
water, you may wish to have your water tested.
If you are concerned about lead in your water, testing methods and steps
you can take to minimize exposure is available from the Safe Drinking Water
Hotline or at http://www.epa.gov/safewater/lead.
Is my water safe?
We
are pleased to report that the water delivered to your home or business
complied with all state and federal drinking water requirements.
Do I need to
take special precautions?
No
special precautions for the general population are necessary at this time based
on the results of the 2016 sampling program.
Monitoring/Reporting - Violations
and Notifications
We
are required to monitor your drinking water for specific contaminants on a
regular basis. Results of regular
monitoring are an indicator of whether or not our drinking water meets health
standards.
Why are there contaminants in my drinking water?
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 water poses a health risk. More information about contaminants and
potential health effects can be obtained by calling the Environmental
Protection Agency's (EPA) Safe Drinking Water Hotline (800-426-4791).
The sources of drinking water
(both tap water and bottled water) include rivers, lakes, streams, ponds,
reservoirs, springs, and wells. As water
travels over the surface of the land or through the ground, it dissolves
naturally occurring minerals, and in some cases, radioactive material. It can also pick up substances resulting from
the presence of animals or from human activity such as:
·
microbial
contaminants, such as viruses and bacteria, that may come from sewage treatment
plants, septic systems, agricultural livestock operations, and wildlife
·
inorganic
contaminants, such as salts and metals, which can be naturally occurring or
result from urban stormwater runoff, industrial, or domestic wastewater
discharges, oil and gas production, mining, or farming
·
pesticides and
herbicides, which may come from a variety of sources such as agriculture, urban
stormwater runoff, and residential uses
·
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, urban stormwater runoff, and septic systems
·
radioactive
contaminants, which can be naturally occurring or be the result of oil and gas
production and mining activities
In order to ensure that tap
water is safe to drink, the EPA and the PADEP prescribe regulations that limit
the amount of certain contaminants in water provided by public water
systems. Additionally, the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) regulations establish limits for contaminants in bottled water
which must provide the same protection for public health.
Conclusion
We hope this report provides you
with valuable information to understand the continual efforts we are making to provide
a quality water supply to our customers.
In the future, it may be necessary to make additional improvements to
our water system to ensure customers are provided with a safe, dependable water
supply. The costs of these improvements
may need to be reflected in future rate structures.
The
Evans City Water and Sewer Authority is working around the clock to provide top
quality water to each and every tap. We
ask that all customers help us to protect and conserve our water resources,
which are vital to our present community and the future of our children.
