M5.4 Blog about your Consumer Confidence Reports (CCR) and water quality

Answer the following questions:
  • What is the source of your drinking water?   Where does your water ORIGINATE?  (It is treated at a water treatment plant, but what watershed or aquifer is the sources of the water?)
The Source is Surface Water, interestingly Sacramento is known as river city because with the Sacramento community and all or parts of numerous watersheds including the Cosumnes, lower Mokelumne and Yuba rivers, as well as the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. These rivers provide the region with much of its surface water.

  • What chemicals were found in your water that were higher than expected 
    1 chemical was detected under the EPA's Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR 3) program in 2013 to 2015, for which annual utility averages exceeded a health guideline established by a federal or state public health authority; radiological contaminants detected between 2010 and 2015.
    • Chromium (hexavalent) is a carcinogen that commonly contaminates American drinking water. Chromium (hexavalent) in drinking water may be due to industrial pollution or natural occurrences in mineral deposits and groundwater. .
      STATE
      NATIONAL
      THIS UTILITY

      How your levels compare

      HEALTH GUIDELINE:
      0.02 ppb
      0.782 ppb
      1.68 ppb
      2.29 ppb
      The State and National averages were calculated using the averages of the contaminant measurements for each utility in 2010-2015. 
      ppb = parts per billion.

      Health risks of chromium (hexavalent) in excess of health guideline

      The health guideline of 0.02 ppb for chromium (hexavalent) was defined by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment as a public health goal, the level of a drinking water contaminant that does not pose a significant health risk. This health guideline protects against cancer.

      Testing summary by quarter

      NOT TESTED
      NOT DETECTED
      DETECTED
      ABOVE HEALTH GUIDELINE
      Utility
      Average
      2010-2015      		Health
      Guideline
      Exceeded
      2010-2015      		Legal
      Limit
      Exceeded
      2010-2015      		201020112012201320142015
      2.29 ppbYesNo
      • ✕
        This utility detected Radium, combined (-226 & -228), Radium-228 & Uranium.
        Radiological contaminants leach into water from certain minerals and from mining. Drinking water contamination with radioactive substances increases the risk of cancer and may harm fetal development.
  • What chemicals did you NOT expect to find in your water?
The Data from previous years (2010-2015) indicates that chromium and radiological contaminants were found and I didn't expect to find either of the pollutants in the water.
  • Are there associated health risks with the chemicals found in your water?  (sources for this last question include the EPA, CDC, ATSDR and the National Library of Medicine's ToxNet program.
Health risk associated with Chromium and Radiological contaminants= cancer
BLOG about your water quality
  • Where does your water come from? The source! Track it from the source to your tap.
Source of my water are the American and Sacramento rivers.
  • What did you discover about your water quality?

SCWA - Laguna/Vineyard compliance with legally mandated federal standards

  • From October 2014 to September 2017, SCWA - Laguna/Vineyard was in violation of health-based drinking water standards: 
    NO
  • Do you use a filter for your water?
I use bottled water for cooking and drinking water.
  • What are you trying to filter out? any harmful contaminants.

  • Do you drink bottled water?   How does this square with what you learned when you watched the Story of Bottled Water (see next exercise)? Yes, I do use bottle water because Sacramento water doesn't taste good and I've tried using a britta water filter on the tap and filter jug but the water still had an odd taste. Watching the documentary definitely is making me reconsider my usage of bottle water. I will look into reverse osmosis system for my home.

Comments

  1. snaymallickSeptember 27, 2018 at 10:57 AM

    Lead is something that is commonly found in water. I try to also filter out bottled water and any harmful contaminants. I do drink bottled water because I believe it is convenient to have bottled water. Looking into reverse osmosis is a great way to think about the way we can help the environment as well. Thanks for the knowledge Claudia!

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownOctober 11, 2018 at 10:40 AM

    Hi Claudia,

    In your post, the thing that surprised me the most was the section on national, state, and local levels of chromium in water. However, the most surprising thing was the testing of these in the local water sources. I noticed based on your quarterly testing timeline that no testing was conducted in 2010 or 2012 and when testing was conducted, it seems like some quantity of contamination was identified and was found to be above the health guideline.

    When reading my CCR, I was upset to see that my water was contaminated, but now I feel like I'm more upset that I haven't done much to advocate for safer drinking water after learning about the contamination.

    Have you thought of any steps you'd like to take as a result of the information you read on your CCR?

    ReplyDelete

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