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 at rklima@piquaoh.org.

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 - 25.7 % The Gravel Pit - 39.6 % 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 2008. 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.

Elevated Lead Health Effects

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 service lines and home plumbing. The City of Piqua 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 or cooking. If you are concerned about lead in your drinking water, you may wish to have your water tested. Information on lead in drinking 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.

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 2008 was 4.6 NTU and the lowest monthly percentage of samples meeting the turbidity limit was 98.8%.

Total Organic Carbon (TOC)

The value reported under “Level Found” for Total Organic Carbon (TOC) is the lowest ratio between percent of TOC actually removed to the percentage of TOC required to be removed. A value of greater than one (1) indicates that the water system is in compliance with TOC removal requirements. A value of less than one (1) indicates a violation of the TOC removal requirements.

Cryptosporidium

The City of Piqua Water Department monitored for Cryptosporidium in the source water during 2008. Cryptosporidium was detected in 4 samples of 9 collected from the raw water. It was not detected in the finished water. Cryptosporidium is a microbial pathogen found in surface water throughout the U.S. Although filtration removes cryptosporidium, the most commonly used filtration methods cannot guarantee 100% removal. Monitoring of source water indicates the presence of these organisms. Currently test methods do not enable us to determine if the organisms are dead or if they are capable of causing disease. Symptoms of infection include nausea, diarrhea, and abdominal cramps. Most healthy individuals can overcome the disease. However, immuno-compromised people are at greater risk of developing life-threatening illness. We encourage immuno-compromised individuals to consult their doctor regarding appropriate precautions to take to avoid infection. Cryptosporidium must be ingested to cause disease, and it may be spread through means other than drinking water.

Drinking Water Notice

The City of Piqua is required to monitor your drinking water for parameters on a regular basis. Results of regular monitoring are an indicator of whether or not your drinking water meets health standards. On August 26, 2008 and December 18, 2008, the City of Piqua failed to comply with the requirements for filtration and disinfection of surface water sources set forth in Ohio Administrative Code (OAC) rules 3745-81-71 through 3745-81-75 and 3745-83-02 when its drinking water turbidity level of representative samples of its filtered water exceeded 1 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU). Turbidity has no health effects. However, turbidity can interfere with disinfection and provide a medium for microbial growth. Turbidity may indicate the presence of disease-causing organisms. These organisms include bacteria, viruses and parasites that can cause symptoms such as nausea, cramps, diarrhea, and associated headaches.

What Should I Do?

There is nothing you need to do at this time. You do not need to boil your water or take other corrective actions.

What Is Being Done?

Upon being notified of these violations, the water treatment plant staff has ordered a new rate of flow controller for filter #1 and the water plant staff has begun collecting filter effluent grab samples to verify combined filter effluent turbidity levels. For more information, please contact Ronald T. Klima at (937) 778-2090 or at 201 W. Water Street, Piqua, Ohio 45356.

Please share this information with all the other people who drink this water, especially those who may not have received this notice directly (for example, people in apartments, nursing homes, schools, and businesses). You can do this by posting this notice in a public place or distributing copies by hand or mail.

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.