Weaverville Community Services District
2007 Annual Water Quality Report


We're pleased to present to you this year's Annual Water Quality Report. This report is designed to inform you about the quality of water and services we deliver to you every day. 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 sources are surface water from: East Weaver Creek, West Weaver Creek, and the Trinity River.

We’re pleased to report that our drinking water is safe and meets all federal and state requirements. If you have any questions about this report or concerning your water utility, please contact David Van Denover, General Manager at 623-5051. We want our valued customers to be informed about their water utility. If you want to learn more, please attend any of our regularly scheduled Board Meetings. They are held on the last Wednesday of every month at 5:15 P.M. in the District office, 716 Main Street.

The Weaverville CSD routinely monitors for contaminants in your drinking water according to Federal and State laws. This table shows the results of our monitoring for the period of January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2007. All drinking water, including bottled drinking water, may be reasonably expected to contain at least small amounts of some contaminants. It's important to remember that the presence of these contaminants does not necessarily pose a health risk.

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.

Source Water Assessments were performed on all three water sources in January 2003. These sources are considered most vulnerable to the following activities not associated with any detected contaminants:

East Weaver Creek: Recreational Area - surface water source, with no contaminants detected.

West Weaver Creek: Recent mining operation - Historic, with no contaminants detected.

Trinity River: Automobile - Gas stations, with no contaminants detected.

Contaminants that may be present in source water include:

  • Microbial contaminants, such as viruses and bacteria, that may come from sewage treatment plants, septic systems, agricultural livestock operations, and wildlife.
  • Inorganic contaminants, such as salts and metals, that 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, that 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.


In the tables below, you will find many terms and abbreviations you might not be familiar with. To help you better understand these terms we've provided the following definitions:

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.

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.

Public Health Goal or PHG – (mandatory language) The level of a contaminant in drinking water below which there is no known or expected risk to health. PHGs are set by the California Environmental Protection Agency.

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

Running Annual Average (RAA): The annual average of samples that are collected quarterly for analylsis.

Primary Drinking Water Standards (PDWS): MCLs for contaminants that affect health along with their monitoring and reporting requirements, and water treatment requirements.

Secondary Drinking Water Standards (SDWS): MCLs for contaminants that affect taste, odor, or appearance of the drinking water. Contaminants with SDWSs do not affect the health at the MCL levels.

 

Water Quality Data

MICROBIOLOGICAL WATER QUALITY:
Testing for bacteriological contaminants in the distribution system is required by State regulations. This testing is done regularly to verify that the water system is free from coliform bacteria. The minimum number of tests required per week is one. In our distribution system, we test the water once per week for coliform bacteria. The highest number of samples found to contain coliform bacteria during any one month was zero.

LEAD & COPPER TESTING RESULTS:
Lead & copper testing of water from individual taps in the distribution system is required by State regulations. The table below summarizes the most recent sampling for lead and copper.

Lead and Copper

Year Tested

Number of samples collected

Number of samples required

90th Percentile Result (ppb)

Action Level
(ppb)

Lead

2006

20

20

5.5

15

Copper

2006

20

20

374

1300

Chemical sampling results showing Detected contaminants
The following table gives a list of all detected chemicals in our water during the most recent sampling. Please note that not all sampling is required annually so in some cases our results are more than one year old. These values are expressed in ppm unless otherwise stated.

CONTAMINANTS DETECTED WITH A PRIMARY DRINKING WATER STANDARD

Chemical Detected

East
 Weaver

West
 Weaver

Trinity
 River

Year Tested

Level
Detected

MCL

PHG or
MCLG

Origin

Total
Trihalomethanes

28.1
RAA

26.2
RAA

17.1
RAA

2006

Ppb

80

None

By-product of Disinfection process

Haloecetic Acids
56.0
RAA

68.0
RAA

15.0
RAA

2006
Ppb
60
None
By-product of Disinfection process
Arsenic
ND
ND
ND
2005
Ppb
10
None
Erosion of natural deposits; runoff from orchards; glass and electronics production wastes

CONTAMINANTS DETECTED WITH A SECONDARY DRINKING WATER STANDARD AND OTHER MINERALS OF INTEREST

Chemical Detected

East
 Weaver

West
 Weaver

Trinity
 River

Year Tested

Level
Detected

MCL

PHG or
MCLG

Origin

Hardness
32
66
123
2005
Mg/l
None
None
Naturally occurring
Calcium
9.73
16.4
26
2005
Mg/l
None
None
Naturally occurring
Magnesium
2.5
6.6
11
2005
Mg/l
None
None
Naturally occurring
Sodium
2.55
2.79
6
2005
Mg/l
None
None
Naturally occurring
Potassium
.54
.22
1
2005
Mg/l
None
None
Naturally occurring

Alkalinity

39

68

110

2005

Mg/l

None

None

Naturally occurring

Bicarbonate

48

83

134

2005

Mg/l

None

None

Naturally occurring

Sulfate

5.9

5.4

9.16

2005

Mg/l

600

None

Naturally occurring

Chloride

.38

.7

8.65

2005

Mg/l

600

None

Naturally occurring

TDS

65

84

131

2005

Mg/l

1500

None

Naturally occurring

 

Surface Water Treatment Compliance Information:

The highest single turbidity measurement for the entire year when measured every four hours was:

 .37 NTU from the East Weaver Water Treatment Plant.
 .19 NTU from the Trinity River Water Treatment Plant.
 .12 NTU from the West Weaver Water Treatment Plant.

Turbidity is the water industry standard for measurement of cloudiness in the water. 1 NTU is the equivalent to 1 unit of turbidity. Our water system performance standards require turbidity readings that are less than .3 NTU 95% of the time. All three of our water treatment plants complied with the performance standards 100% of the time.

All 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 the 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 1-800-426-4791.

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/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 microbiological contaminants are available from the Safe Drinking Water Hotline (800-426-4791).

Please call our office if you have questions. All the employees of the Weaverville CSD are dedicated to provide top quality water to every customer. 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.