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2006 Annual Drinking Water
Quality Report for theTown of Smithfield
This Annual Drinking Water Quality Report for
calendar year 2006 is designed to inform you about your
drinking water quality. Our goal is to provide you with
a safe and dependable supply of drinking water, and we
want you to understand the efforts we make to protect
your water supply. The quality of your drinking water
must meet state and federal requirements administered by
the Virginia Department of Health (VDH).
If
you have any questions about this report, want
information about any aspect of your drinking water or
want to know how to participate in decisions that may
affect the quality of your drinking water, please
contact: Mr. Peter M. Stephenson, Town Manager at
757-365-4200.
The times and location of regularly scheduled Town
Council meetings are the 1st Tuesday of each
month at 7:30 p.m. at The Smithfield Center located at
220 North Church Street, Smithfield, Virginia.
This
annual “Consumer Confidence Report”, required by the
Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), explains where your
water comes from, what testing shows about it, and other
things you should know about your drinking water. We
are committed to ensuring the quality of your water.
Our constant goal is to provide you and your family with
a safe and dependable supply of drinking water.
Mr.
Jeff Smith and Mr. Brian Freeman serve as the Licensed
Waterworks Operators for the Town of Smithfield, and Mr.
Russell Batten is the Superintendent of Public
Utilities.
Comments from the Town Manager
Please be reminded that the Town of Smithfield entered
into a Consent Order with the Virginia Department of
Health in 2004 for an agreed upon plan of action to
reduce the naturally occurring levels of fluoride found
in our public water system’s deep wells. The town
contracted with the engineering firm of Buchart Horn,
Inc. of Baltimore, Maryland to find an appropriate
fluoride removal solution. Upon the completion of their
Preliminary Engineering Report, Buchart Horn, Inc.
recommended that the town construct a Reverse Osmosis
membrane technology Water Treatment Plant.
The
VDH has concurred with our engineer’s recommendations
and the town proceeded to drill a new production well in
2005.A complete design submittal of the new water
treatment plant specifications and site plan has been
provided to VDH. Once we receive approval from VDH, the
construction documents will be finalized and the project
will be ready to go to bid in about 2 months.
Once
a construction contract is awarded it is estimated it
will be another 12 to 18 months before the new treatment
plant is fully operational. In the meantime, the town
will continue sending our customers and consumers under
separate cover a fluoride level violation notice each
quarter when required. The VDH requires that fluoride
samples be taken tri-annually unless there are system
violations. We had no violations in 2006 however; we
will continue to take quarterly fluoride samples so that
we can monitor the systems.
Other system improvements that will be required include
a new water storage tank to be located along the Battery
Park Road corridor. Additional “looping” projects are
under construction and planned to improve water pressure
and fire flow throughout the system. As a result the
town’s utility rate structure was amended in 2005 and
the town has issued a general obligation bond in order
to pay for these required improvements.
In
November 2005, the town began the process of upgrading
our water withdrawal permit from the Virginia Department
of Environmental Quality. We just received a technical
response from DEQ requesting additional information.
Buchart Horn is in the process of providing DEQ with
this information. Lastly, the town will soon be adopting
formal water conservation policies that will be required
under the new permit.
General Information:
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. Substances
(referred to as contaminants) in source water may come
from septic systems, discharges from domestic or
industrial wastewater treatment facilities, agricultural
and farming activities, urban storm water runoff,
residential uses, and many other types of activities.
Water from surface sources is treated to make it
drinkable while groundwater may or may not have any
treatment.
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.
Contaminants that may be present in source water
include:
·
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 storm water 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 storm water 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 storm water 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 which limit the amount
of certain contaminants in water provided by public
water systems. Food and Drug Administration regulations
establish limits for contaminants in bottled water which
must provide the same protection for public health.
All drinking water, including bottled drinking
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 can be obtained
by calling the Environmental Protection Agency’s Safe
Drinking Water Hotline (800-426-4791).
Some people may be more vulnerable to contaminants
in drinking water than the general population.
Immunocompromised 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).
Source(s) and Treatment of Your Drinking Water:
The source of your drinking water is groundwater
from drilled wells located in the Town. The water
currently does not receive any treatment.
VDH conducted a Source Water Assessment of the
Town of Smithfield Waterworks in 2002. The wells were
determined to be of high susceptibility to contamination
using the criteria developed by the state in its
approved Source Water Assessment Program. The
assessment report consist of maps showing the Source
Water Assessment area, an inventory of known Land Use
Activities and Potential Conduits to Groundwater,
utilized at Land Use Activity sites in Zone 1 and
documentation of any known contamination within the last
five years, Susceptibility Explanation Chart, and
Definitions of Key Terms. The report is available by
contacting your waterworks system owner/operator at the
phone number or address included in this report.
Definitions:
Contaminants in your drinking water are routinely
monitored according to Federal and State regulations.
The table page 6 shows the results of our monitoring for
calendar year 2006. In the table and elsewhere in this
report you will find many terms and abbreviations you
might not be familiar with. The following definitions
are provided to help you better understand these terms:
Non-detects (ND)
– lab analysis indicates that the contaminant 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.
Picocuries per liter (pCi/L)
– picocuries per liter is a measure of the radioactivity
in water.
Nephelometric Turbidity Unit (NTU)
– nephelometric turbidity unit is a measure of the
clarity, or cloudiness, of water. Turbidity in excess
of 5 NTU is just noticeable to the average person.
Turbidity is monitored because it is a good indicator of
the effectiveness of our filtration system.
Action Level
– the concentration of a contaminant which, if exceeded,
triggers treatment or other requirements which a water
system must follow.
Treatment Technique (TT)
– a required process intended to reduce the level of a
contaminant in drinking water.
Maximum Contaminant Level, or 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.
Maximum contaminant Level Goal, or 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.
Some
people who drink water containing fluoride in excess of
the MCL for many years could get bone disease, including
pain and tenderness of the bones. Children may get
mottled teeth. Fluoride in children’s drinking water at
levels of approximately 1 ppm reduces the number of
dental cavities. However, some children exposed to
levels of fluoride greater than about 2.0 ppm may
develop dental fluorosis.
Dental fluorosis in its moderate and severe forms is a
brown staining and/or pitting of the permanent teeth.
Because dental fluorosis occurs only when developing
teeth (before they erupt from the gums) are exposed to
elevated fluoride levels, households without children
are not expected to be affected by this level of
fluoride. Families with children under the age of nine
are encouraged to seek other sources of drinking water
for their children to avoid the possibility of staining
and pitting.
We constantly monitor for various contaminants in
the water supply to meet all regulatory requirements.
The table lists only those contaminants that had some
level of detection. Many other contaminants have been
analyzed but were not present or were below the
detection limits of the lab equipment.
Most of the results in the table are from testing
done in 2006. However, the state allows us to monitor
for some contaminants less than once per year because
the concentrations of these contaminants do not change
frequently.
In developing standards, the EPA assumes that the
average adult drinks 2 liters of water each day
throughout a 70 year life span. MCL’s are set at very
stringent levels by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency. In developing the standards EPA generally sets
MCLs at levels that will result in no adverse health
effects for some contaminants or a one-in-ten-thousand
to one-in-a-million chance of having the described
health effect for other contaminants.
Violation Information:
This system did not
receive violations or positive bacteria results for
2006.
Public Notice to Consumers of the
Town of Smithfield Waterworks
April 11, 2007
Dear User,
This is an alert about
your drinking water and a cosmetic dental problem that
might affect children under nine years to age. At low
levels, fluoride can help prevent cavities, but children
drinking water containing more than 2 milligrams per
liter (mg/l) of fluoride may develop cosmetic
discoloration of their permanent teeth (dental fluorosis).
The drinking water provided by your community water
system, the Town of Smithfield, has a fluoride
concentration of 3.8 milligrams per liter
(mg/l).
Dental fluorosis, in its
moderate or severe forms, may result in a brown staining
and/or pitting of the permanent teeth. This problem
occurs only in development teeth before they erupt from
the gums. Children under nine should be provided with
alternative sources of drinking water or water that has
been treated to remove the fluoride to avoid the
possibility of staining and pitting of their permanent
teeth. You may also want to contact your dentist about
proper use by young children of fluoride-containing
products. Older children and adults may safely drink
the water.
Drinking water containing
more than 4 mg/l of fluoride (the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency's drinking water standard) can
increase your risk of developing bone disease. Your
drinking water does not contain more than 4 mg/l of
fluoride, but we're required to notify you when we
discover that the fluoride levels in your drinking water
exceed 2 mg/l because of this cosmetic dental problem.
For more information,
please call Mr. Peter Stephenson of the
Town of Smithfield at (757) 365 - 4200. Some
home water treatment units are also available to remove
fluoride from drinking water. To learn more about
available home water treatment units, you may call the
NSF International at 1-877-NSF-HELP.
Water Conservation
Water conservation is an important matter now that our
population is continuing to increase. Water is a
precious commodity and with the increasing demand for
water, citizens and public officials are concerned
whether there will be a safe, reliable, and available
supply of drinking water in the future. Fifty-five of
Virginia’s 95 counties draw half or more of their public
water supplies from ground water. Of Virginia’s 2,500
public water supply systems, 2,300 use ground water.
The Town of Smithfield is one of the communities that
draw strictly from groundwater sources (deep wells) and
continues to request its residents to use the available
water wisely and conserve where possible.
This
Drinking Water Quality Report was prepared by:
Mr.
Peter M. Stephenson, Town Manager
Town
of Smithfield, P.O. Box 246, Smithfield, Virginia 23431
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