We’re committed to providing you quality water and detailed information about that water. We look at 80 possible contaminates and compare WEB Water to the standards set by the EPA.

Water Source

WEB Water comes from surface water sources which include rivers, lakes, streams, ponds, reservoirs, springs, and wells.

Potential Contaminants in Source Water

As water travels over the surface of the land or through the ground, it dissolves naturally-occurring minerals, and can pick up substances resulting from the presence of animals or from human activity. 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. 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. The following contaminants may be present in any source water:

• 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, and 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.

More information about contaminants and potential health effects can be obtained by calling the Environmental Protection Agency’s Safe Drinking Water Hotline (800-426-4791).

Detected Regulated Contaminants

The presence of these contaminants in the water does not necessarily indicate that the water poses a health risk. 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. Some of the data, though representative of the water quality, is more than one year old.

Terms and abbreviations used in this table:

• Maximum Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG): 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.
• Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL): 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.
• Action Level (AL): the concentration of a contaminant which, when exceeded, triggers treatment or other requirements which a water system must follow. For Lead and Copper, 90% of the samples must be below the AL.
• Treatment Technique (TT): A required process intended to reduce the level of a contaminant in drinking water. For turbidity, 95% of samples must be less than 0.3 NTU
• Running Annual Average (RAA): Compliance is calculated using the running annual average of samples from designated monitoring locations.

Units:

• MFL: million fibers per liter
• pCi/l: picocuries per liter(a measure of radioactivity)
• ppt: parts per trillion, or nanograms per liter
• mrem/year: millirems per year(a measure of radiation absorbed by the body)
• ppm: parts per million, or milligrams per liter(mg/l)
• ppq: parts per quadrillion, or picograms per liter
• NTU: Nephelometric Turbidity Units
• ppb: parts per billion, or micrograms per liter(ug/l)
• pspm: positive samples per month

Please direct questions regarding this information to Mr Clayton Larson with the WEB Water Development Association public water system at (605)229-4749.