Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments require that, beginning in October 1999, all community water systems provide customers with an annual report on the quality of their drinking water. The CCR must include an explanation of where water for that water system comes from, what the system had to monitor for that they found in the water, and if any of those samples were above the level of the national regulations. Information provided by these reports can be used by communities in protection of their water sources. The CCR was sent to you by late l999 or early 2000, and is being followed by annual updates. Call your utility to have another copy sent to you.
Most utilities welcome tours of their water treatment plants.
There you can see how your water is treated and water quality monitored. Many utilities provide additional treatment such as lime softening, filtration, membrane softening and others to reduce hardness and other contaminants. Levels of bacteria, chlorine, pH, total dissolved solids, and chemical contaminants are closely monitored. Coliforms are a type of bacteria which occur widely in the environment in places such as surface water, soil, and decaying organic matter. This group of bacteria includes the fecal coliform group which grows in the intestines of warm blooded animals.