| The Piqua Municipal Water System
has prepared the following report to provide information to you,
the consumer, on the quality of our drinking water. This report
is required as part of the Safe Drinking Water Act
Reauthorization of 1996 and is required to be delivered to the
consumers by July of 2008. Included within this report is
general health information, water quality test results, how to
participate in decisions concerning your drinking water, and
water system contacts.
Water quality is the number one
priority of the Piqua Water Treatment Plant. Constant testing by
the dedicated staff of certified operators and laboratory
personnel ensure the highest standards for drinking water
quality are being met at all times.
How do I
participate in decisions concerning my drinking water?
If you have any questions or would like more information on your
drinking water, visit Piqua's
web page, or contact Ronald T. Klima of the Piqua
Municipal Water System at (937) 778-2090, or by e-mail.
Public participation is
encouraged at regular meetings of the City of Piqua Commission,
which meets the first and third Mondays at 7:30 P.M. at the
Piqua Municipal Government Complex.
Source
water information.
The Piqua Municipal Water System receives its drinking water
from the following three surface water sources:
The Piqua Hydraulic System - 29.6
%
The Gravel Pit - 35.7 %
The Great Miami River - 34.7 %
About
your drinking water.
The EPA requires regular sampling to ensure drinking water
safety. The Piqua Municipal Water System conducted sampling for
bacteria, inorganic, synthetic organic, and volatile organic
contaminant sampling during 2007. Samples were collected for a
total of 87 different contaminants, most of which were not
detected in the Piqua Municipal Water System's water supply. The
Ohio EPA requires us to monitor for some contaminants less than
once per year because the concentrations of these contaminants
do not change frequently. Some of our data, though accurate, are
more than one year old.
Who
needs to take special precautions?
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/AID's or other
immune system disorders, some elderly, and infants, can be
particularly at risk from infection. 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
(1-800-426-4791).
What are
sources of contamination to drinking water?
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, and can pick up substances
resulting from the presence of animals or from human activity.
Contaminants that may be present
in source water include: (A) Microbial contaminants, such as
viruses and bacteria, which may come from sewage treatment
plants, septic systems, agricultural livestock operations and
wildlife; (B) Inorganic contaminants, such as salts and metals,
which can be naturally-occurring or result from urban storm
water runoff, industrial or domestic wastewater discharges, oil
and gas production, mining, or farming; (C) Pesticides and
herbicides, which may come from a variety of sources, such as
agriculture, urban storm water runoff, and residential uses; (D)
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 storm water runoff, and septic systems; (E) 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, EPA prescribes regulations which limit the
amount of certain contaminants in water provided by public water
systems. FDA regulations establish limits for contaminants in
bottled water which must provide the same protection for public
health.
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
Safe Drinking Water Hotline (1-800-426-4791).
Unregulated
Contaminant Monitoring Rule.
The Piqua Municipal Water System has completed the monitoring
cycle for the chemicals listed in the Unregulated Contaminant
Monitoring Rule List 1. None of the chemicals were found above
the detection limits. Results or more information can be
obtained from the Piqua Municipal Water System.
Call
before You Dig
The City of Piqua Public Water System recommends that you have
the underground utilities located before you dig. Please call
the Ohio Utilities Protection Service at 1-800-362-2764, at
least 48 hours before you dig, to have the City's underground
utilities (Water, Electric, Sanitary Sewer, and Storm Sewer)
located. The Ohio Utilities Protection Service will notify all
full member utilities (Example: D.P. & L., Vectren, SBC
Ameritech, and Time Warner Cable), call Ohio Utilities
Protection Service at 1-800-362-2764. This practice is for your
safety and to protect the utilities' buried equipment.
Turbidity
Turbidity is a measure of the cloudiness of the water and is an
indication of the effectiveness of our filtration system. The
turbidity limit set by the EPA is 0.3 NTU's in 95% of the daily
samples and shall not exceed 1 NTU at any time. As reported
above, the Piqua Municipal Water System's highest recorded
turbidity result for 2007 was 0.35 NTU and the lowest monthly
percentage of samples meeting the turbidity limit was 99.4%.
Source Water Assessment
The City of Piqua Public Water System uses surface water drawn
from the Piqua Hydraulic System, a gravel pit, and the Great
Miami River. For the purposes of source water assessments, in
Ohio all surface waters are considered to be susceptible to
contamination. By their nature, surface waters are readily
accessible and can be contaminated by chemicals and pathogens,
which may rapidly arrive at the public drinking water intake
with little warning or time to prepare. The City of Piqua
drinking water source protection area contains a number of
potential contaminant sources, which include runoff from row
crop agriculture, septic systems, housing and commercial
development in the watershed of the Hydraulic System. Potential
spills at numerous road and rail bridges crossing the Great
Miami River and its tributaries are also a threat.
The City of Piqua Public Water
System uses a multiple barrier system to treat the water to meet
drinking water quality standards, but no single treatment
technique can address all potential contaminants. Implementing
measures to protect the City's drinking water sources can
further decrease the potential for water quality impacts. More
detailed information is provided in the City of Piqua Drinking
Water Source Assessment Report, which can be viewed by calling
Ronald T. Klima, Water System Superintendent at 937-778-2090. |