Winchester Utilities

2007 Water Quality Report

Is my drinking water safe?

Yes, our treated water meets all of EPA’s health standards. We have conducted numerous tests for over 80 contaminants that could be in drinking water. As you’ll see in the chart on the back, we detected only 11 of these contaminants. We found all of these contaminants to be at safe levels.

What is the source of my water?

Your water comes from the Elk River on Tim's Ford Lake located on State Highway 130, about 3 miles from Winchester. Our goal is to protect our water from contaminants and we are working with the State of Tennessee to determine the vulnerability of our water supply to contamination. The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation has prepared a Source Water Assessment Program (SWAP) Report for the water supplies serving this water system. The SWAP Report assesses the susceptibilility of public water supplies to potential contamination. Water sources have been rated as reasonably susceptible (high), moderately susceptible (moderate), or slightly susceptible (low) based on geologic factors and human activities in the vicinity of the water source. The Winchester Water System sources are rated as reasonably susceptible to potential contamination.

An explanation of Tennessee’s Source Water Assessment Program, the Source Water Assessment summaries, susceptibility scorings, and the overall TDEC report to EPA can be viewed online at www.state.tn.us/environment/dws/dwassess.shtml or you may contact the Winchester Water System or TDEC toll free at (888) 891-8332 to obtain copies of specific assessments.

Why are there contaminants in my water?

Drinking water, including bottled water, may reasonably be expected to contain at least small amounts of some contaminants. Community water systems are required to disclose the detection of contaminants; however, bottled water companies are not required to comply with this same regulation. 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 at (800) 426-4791.

Note in Spanish: Este informe contiene información muy importante. Tradúscalo o hable con alguien que lo entienda bien.

How can I get involved?

The Board of Public Utilities meets on the second Monday of each month at the Winchester Utilities main office building at 219 2nd Avenue N.W. in Winchester. Please feel free to participate in these meetings.

Is our water system meeting other rules that govern our operations?

The State and EPA require us to test and report on our water on a regular basis to ensure its safety. We have met all of these requirements. We want you to know that we pay attention to all the rules.

Other Information:

Due to all water containing dissolved contaminants, occasionally your water may exhibit slight discoloration. We strive to maintain the standards to prevent this. We at the Winchester Water System work around the clock to provide top quality water to every tap. We ask that all our customers help us protect our water sources, which are the heart of our community, our way of life, and our children’s future. We are also working with all our customers to identify and install backflow prevention on all connections to our system that have potential hazards to our customers.

Do I need 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 under-gone organ transplants, 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 not only their drinking water, but food preparation, personal hygiene, and precautions in handling infants and pets from their health care providers. EPA/CDC guidelines on appropriate means to lessen the risk of infection by Cryptosporidium and other microbiological contaminants are available from the Safe Drinking Water Hotline at (800) 426-4791.

For more information about your drinking water, please call V. Howard Walls at Winchester Utilities at (931) 967-1732.

W a t e r Q u a l i t y D a t a

What does this chart mean?

· Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCL): are set at very stringent levels. To understand the possible health effects described for many regulated constituents, a person would have to drink 2 liters of water every day at the MCL level for a lifetime to have a one-in-a-million chance of having the described health effect.

· Maximum Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG): The level of a contaminant in drinking water below which there is no known or expected risk to health. MCLG’s allow for a safe margin of safety.

· Maximum Residual Disinfectant Level Goal (MRDLG): The level of a drinking water disinfectant below which there is no known or expected risk to health.  MRDLG’s do not reflect the benefits of the use of disinfectants to control microbial contaminants.

· Parts per million (ppm) or Milligrams per liter: Explained as a relation to time and money as 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: Explained as a relation to time and money as one part per billion corresponds to one minute in 2,000 years, or a single penny in $10,000,000.

· Action Level (AL): The concentration of a contaminant which, when exceeded, triggers treatment or other requirements which a water system must follow.

· Nephelometric Turbidity Unit (NTU): Nephelometric Turbidity Unit is a measure of the clarity of water. Turbidity in excess of 5 NTU is just noticeable to the average person.

· Treatment Technique (TT): A required process intended to reduce the level of a contaminant in drinking water.

· Turbidity: 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.

· Non-Detects (ND): Laboratory analysis indicates that the contaminant is not present.

Unless otherwise noted, the data presented in this table is from sampling performed during the 2007 calendar year.

Contaminant	Violation Yes/No	Level Found	Range of Detections	Date of Sample	Unit Measurement	MCLG	MCL	Likely Source of Contamination
Total Coliform Bacteria	No	0		2007		0	presence of coliform bacteria in 5% of monthly samples	Naturally present in the environment
TOC^1 (Total Organic Carbon)	No	TT		2007		N/A	TT	Naturally occurring in the environment
Turbidity^2	No	0.064 Avg.	0.053-0.093 Avg.	2007	NTU	N/A	TT	Soil runoff
Copper^3	No	90^th%= 0.12		2005	ppm	1.3	AL=1.3	Corrosion of household plumbing systems; erosion of natural deposits; leaching from wood preservatives
Lead^3	No	90^th%= 1.5		2005	ppb	0	AL=15	Corrosion of household plumbing systems, erosion of natural deposits
Chlorine	No	ND		2007	ppm	MRDLG 4	MRDL=4	Disinfectant to control microbes
Sodium	No	2.6		2007	ppm	N/A	N/A	Erosion of natural deposits; used in water treatment
THAA (Total Haloacetic Acids)	No	21 Avg.	7-23	2007	ppb	0 Annual Avg.	60	By-product of drinking water chlorination
TTHM (Total Trihalomethanes	No	27 Avg.	13-46	2007	ppb	0	80	By-product of drinking water chlorination
Chlorite	No	0.272 Avg.	0.19-0.407	2007	ppm	0.8	1	By-product of chlorine dioxide use
Chlorine Dioxide	No	41.5 Avg.	12-89	2007	ppb	800	800	Disinfectant to control microbes

Health Effects

¹TOC the Winchester Water System met the treatment technique for TOC for 2007.

²One hundred percent (100%) of our samples were below the turbidity limit.

During our most recent state survey in February 2007, we received a turbidity violation, our chart recorders that record the turbidity failed to record the turbidity, this is a violation even though the operators on each shift were taking samples ever 2 hours, the state requires that you have continuous recording or measurements every 15 minutes, we have purchased a computer back up for our chart recorders to ensure that we stay in compliance.

³ During the most recent round of Lead and Copper testing, 1 out of 30 households sampled contained concentrations exceeding the action level for lead, 0 out of 30 households sampled contained concentrations exceeding the action level for copper. Your water is safe to drink.