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.