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What about water testing?
What tests are
available?
How safe is my
water?
What problems can
occur?
Where does
my water come from?
How does the city treat my water to make it safe?
Where can I get more information about
my water?
Q:
What about water testing?
A: Every month your
local health department receives hundreds of requests
for advice about drinking water safety. Many people want
to do the right thing and make sure that their water is
safe.
Chances are that your
water is just fine, but you can’t tell by just looking,
smelling, or tasting.
Testing is the first
and most important step for any home or business owner
concerned about water quality- Especially for those
using well water.
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Q: What tests are
available?
A: A water specialist
will be happy to come to your home or business to
conduct a basic water test and plumbing audit at no
charge.
If more advanced
testing is required many additional tests can be
obtained for a nominal charge. These include, but are
not limited to: coliform bacteria, arsenic, lead,
fluoride, nitrates, radon, and uranium.
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Q: How safe is my water?
A: Most community
water suppliers deliver high quality drinking water to
millions of Americans every day. Of the more than 55,000
Community Water Systems in the United States, only 4,769
(8.6%) reported a violation of one or more drinking
water health standards in 1996.
Nationwide, drinking
water systems have spent hundreds of billions of dollars
to build drinking water treatment and distribution
systems. An additional $22 billion per year is spent on
operating and maintaining them. In 1997, additional
monies became available to upgrade drinking water
systems and implement local source water protection
activities.
In addition, there is
a network of government agencies whose job is to ensure
that public water supplies are safe. Nonetheless,
problems with local drinking water can, and do, occur.
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Q: What problems can occur?
A: As development in
our modern society increases, there are growing numbers
of threats that could contaminate drinking water.
Suburban sprawl has encroached upon once pristine
watersheds, bringing with it all of the by-products of
our modern life style.
Actual events of
serious drinking water contamination occur infrequently,
and typically not at levels posing near-term health
concern. Nonetheless, with the threats of such events
increasing, we cannot take drinking water safety for
granted. Greater vigilance by you, your water supplier,
and your government is vital to ensure that such events
do not occur in your water supply.
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Q: Where does my water
come from?
A: Drinking water
comes from surface water and ground water. Large-scale
water supply systems tend to rely on surface water
resources, and smaller water systems tend to use ground
water. Including the approximately 23 million Americans
who use ground water as a private drinking water source,
slightly more than half of the population receives its
drinking water from ground water sources.
Surface water includes
rivers, lakes, and reservoirs. Ground water is pumped
from wells that are drilled into aquifers. Aquifers are
geologic formations that contain water. The quantity of
water in an aquifer and the water produced by a well
depend on the nature of the rock, sand, or soil in the
aquifer where the well withdraws water. Drinking water
wells may be shallow (50 feet or less) or deep (more
than 1,000 feet). Your water utility or your public
works department can tell you the source of your public
drinking water supply.
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Q: How does the city
treat my water to make it safe?
A: Water suppliers use
a variety of treatment processes to remove contaminants
from drinking water. These individual processes may be
arranged into a "treatment train" to remove undesirable
contaminants from the water. The most commonly used
processes include filtration, flocculation and
sedimentation, and disinfection. Some treatment trains
also include ion exchange and adsorption.
A typical water
treatment plant would have only the combination of
processes needed to treat the contaminants in the source
water used by the facility. If you want to know what
types of treatment are used for your water supply,
contact your local water supplier or public works
department.
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Q: Where can I get
more information about my water?
A: Information on
water quality in your area is available from several
sources, including your local public health department
and your water supplier. You can determine whom to
contact by checking your water bill or by calling your
local town hall.
State agencies also
can provide extensive information on your water supply
and its quality. Each state has a department responsible
for drinking water quality.
EPA maintains
general water resources information at its headquarters
and in its 10 regional offices. Other groups, such as
environmental organizations, also may be able to provide
information.
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