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Public Notice issued January 2010 Frequently Asked Questions 3. Why is this being delivered so late? 4. Why am I receiving this with my utility bill? 5. Since there was not health risk, why are you making this notification? 6. How can you be sure there is/was no health risk? 7. Why have I not received a notice?
Yes. Our testing has not shown any disease-causing organisms to be present in the drinking water. There is no need to take any action. There is no need to boil your water. Our testing has not shown any disease-causing organisms to be present in the drinking water, or that the disinfection process was reduced to ineffective levels. Why is this being delivered so late? We were not notified by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) until Dec. 28th that they were determining these incidents as treatment violations. IDNR did not approve the language and content of our Notification until Jan. 5th. Once we received final approval we began distributing Notification letters. Why am I receiving this with my utility bill? Since there was, as stated and approved by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, “minimal health risk to consumers” the notifications were mailed with the normal billing cycle to save costs, rather than send notices in a special mass mailing. If there is/was no health risk why are you making this notification? According to our treatment permit, a treatment technique was out of compliance. For administrative/book-keeping purposes this must be documented. As consumers, you are entitled to this information and documentation. How can you be sure there is/was no health risk? Turbidity is just one parameter that is used to monitor drinking water quality. All other analytical results remained within the Safe Drinking Water Act standards. There are multiple layers of treatment protection ranging from filtration, disinfection with chlorine, UV irradiation, and Chlorine Contact Time that enhance the level of treatment efficiency. Most importantly, we are confident no health risk existed because city staff acted quickly to isolate and capture the high turbidity water before it entered into the phase of treatment that would allow it to enter the distribution system. Why have I not received a notice? In an effort to keep our costs low, the notices are being issued with the regular water billing cycle. If you received your bill before January 8, 2010 the notice will be in your next water bill. If you do not receive a water bill you may click HERE to view the full notice. Turbidity is a measure of cloudiness in water. Turbidity has no adverse health effects. However, turbidity can interfere with disinfection and provide a medium for microbial growth. Our testing has not shown any disease-causing organisms to be present in the drinking water, or that the disinfection process was reduced to ineffective levels. As part of a capacity improvement study, the level of polymer (an agent that assists in the filtration process) was reduced on both December 6th and 8th. The reduction in polymer hindered our treatment process more than expected and is now back to pre-testing levels. |
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January 2010
Public Notice
