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Index
Contaminants that may be present in source water
Terms and Abbreviations
Regulated
Monitoring
We are
pleased to present to you this year's Annual Quality Water Report. This
report is designed to inform you about the quality of water that we supply
to you every day. Included are details about where the water comes from,
what it contains, and how it compares to Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) and state standards. Our constant goal is to provide you with a safe
and dependable supply of drinking water. We want you to understand the
efforts we make to continually improve the water treatment process and
protect our water resources. We are committed to ensuring the quality of
your water. Our water source is from a natural glacial
formation, which is pumped from beneath the ground and delivered to you from
ground water wells. This report shows our water quality and what it means.
Your water comes from
three municipal wells. The city’s three municipal
wells, one well is a backup well and Iron Removal Plant serve the system.
The water supply is treated with fluoride to prevent tooth decay, phosphates
for corrosion control and rust control, and chlorine for water
disinfection.
Our City Board of
Commissioners meets on the third and fourth
Monday of every month at 7:30 PM in City Hall, at 19 West Main Street. If
you have any questions about this report or concerning your water utility,
please contact Dan Staunton of the Public Works Department, at
(269)-621-3022. For more information about safe drinking water, visit the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at
www.epa.gov/safewater.
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 EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Hotline
(1-800-426-4791).
Some people may be more
vulnerable to
contaminants in drinking water than the general population.
Immune-compromised persons such as persons with cancer undergoing
chemotherapy, persons who have undergone organ transplant, people with
HIV/AIDS, or other immune system disorders, some elderly, and infants can be
particularly at risk from infections. 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.
The sources of drinking
water (both
tap 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.
Your water comes from
two groundwater wells located at the Northeast corner of the City. The State
performed an assessment of our source water in 2003 to determine the
susceptibility or the relative potential of contamination. The
susceptibility rating is on a six-tiered scale from “very low” to “high”
based primarily on geologic sensitivity, water chemistry and contaminate
sources. The susceptibility of our source is High. We are making
efforts to protect our sources through the Well Head Protection Program.
A copy of the source
water assessment report and the water quality report can be obtained by
contacting Hartford City Hall at (269) 621-2477. The contact person is Dan
Staunton; Hartford City Hall, 19 West Main Street, Hartford, MI 49057.
Contaminants that may be present in source water include:
Lead,
infants and young children
are typically more vulnerable to lead in drinking water than general
population. It is possible that lead levels at your home may be higher than
at other homes in the community as a result of materials used in your home’s
plumbing. If you are concerned about elevated lead levels in your home’s
water, you may wish to have your water tested and flush your tap for 30
seconds to 2 minutes before using tap water. Additional information is
available from the Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1-800-426-4791.
Microbial Contaminants, such as viruses and
bacteria, which may come from sewage treatment plants, septic systems,
agricultural livestock operations, and wildlife.
Inorganic Contaminants, such as salts and metals,
which can be naturally occurring or result from urban stormwater runoff,
industrial or domestic wastewater discharges, oil and gas production, mining
or farming.
Pesticides and
Herbicides,
which may come from a variety of sources such as agriculture, urban
stormwater runoff, and residential uses.
Organic Chemical
Contaminants,
Including synthetic and volatile organic chemicals, which are byproducts of
industrial processes and petroleum production can also come from gas
stations, urban stormwater runoff, and septic systems.
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 that limit
the amount of certain contaminants in water provided by public water
systems. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations establish limits for
contaminants in bottled water, which must provide the same protection for
public health.
The table
below lists all the drinking water contaminants that we detected. The
detected concentration can be either below or above the safe drinking water
standard (also know as the Maximum Contamination Level). If the detected
concentration is above the safe drinking water standard, a violation has
occurred and a “YES” in bold will be indicated in the violation
column. EPA requires that water supplier to report the most recent sampling
results within a five-year period from 2001 to 2006. The state requires us
to monitor for certain contaminants less than once per year because the
concentrations of these contaminants are not expected to vary significantly
from year to year.
Terms and Abbreviations
Non-Detects
(ND) - laboratory
analysis indicates that the constituent is not present.
Parts per million
(ppm) or Milligrams per
liter (mg/l) - one part per million
corresponds to one minute in two years or a single penny in $10,000.
Parts per billion
(ppb) or Micrograms per
liter - one part per billion corresponds to one minute in 2,000 years, or a
single penny in $10,000,000.
Action Level
- the concentration of a contaminant which, if exceeded, triggers treatment
or other requirements which a water system must follow.
Maximum Contaminant Level - (mandatory language) The
“Maximum Allowed” (MCL) is the highest level of a contaminant that is
allowed in drinking water. MCLs are set as close to the MCLGs as
feasible using the best available treatment technology.
Maximum Contaminant Level Goal - (mandatory language) The
“Goal” (MCLG) is the level of a contaminant in drinking water below which
there is no known or expected risk to health. MCLGs allow for a margin
of safety.
MRDL: Maximum
Residual Disinfectant Level
MRDLG:
Maximum Residual Disinfectant Level Goal
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