Waltham Water Department

WHY YOUR WATER TASTES GREAT – HIGH QUALITY SOURCE WATER Your water comes from the Quabbin and Wachusett Reservoirs, approximately sixty five and 35 miles west of Boston, respectively. Water from the Ware River can also add to the deliver at times. These pristine reservoirs deliver wholesale water to nearby water departments in fifty one communities. Thereservoirs blended provided about 210 million gallons an afternoon of high fine water to customers in 2016. The Quabbin and Wachusett watersheds are certainly protected with over eighty five% of the watersheds covered in woodland and wetlands. To make sure protection, the streams and reservoirs are tested often and patrolled each day by the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). Rain and snow falling at the watersheds - protected land around the reservoirs - circulate streams and then into the reservoirs. This water comes in contact with soil, rock, plant life, and different fabric as it follows its herbal path to the reservoirs. While this manner enables to easy the water, it is able to also dissolve and convey very small quantities of fabric into the reservoir. Minerals from soil and rock do not generally purpose troubles within the water. But, water can also shipping contaminants from human and animal pastime. These can consist of bacteria and pathogens - some of which could purpose contamination. The check data in this report show that these contaminants are not a problem in your reservoirs' watersheds. The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has prepared a Source Water Assessment Program report for the Quabbin and Wachusett Reservoirs. The DEP report commends DCR and MWRA on the present supply water safety plans, and states that our “watershed safety applications are very a hit and significantly lessen the real chance of infection.” MWRA follows the report suggestions to hold the pristine watershed areas. WHY YOUR WATER IS SAFE – WATER TREATMENT Clean, fresh water is what you expect while you are taking a drink of water, and that’s what the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority can provide right for your tap. Part of the reason that the water satisfactory is so exact is MWRA’s cutting-edge treatment on the John J. Carroll Water Treatment Plant in Marlborough. Since 2005, your water has been treated with ozone produced by way of natural oxygen. Ozone guarantees robust protection in opposition to microbes and viruses, improves water readability, and makes the water flavor better. In 2014, we introduced ultraviolet (UV) disinfection, similarly improving the best of water. UV light is largely a more potent form of the herbal disinfection from daylight, and guarantees that any pathogens that can be in our reservoirs are rendered harmless. In addition, fluoride is introduced to sell dental health, and the water chemistry is adjusted to lessen corrosion of home plumbing. Last, we upload mono-chloramine, a mild and long-lasting disinfectant combining chlorine and ammonia to guard the water as it travels through miles of pipelines to your own home. TESTING YOUR WATER – EVERY STEP OF THE WAY Test effects show few contaminants are discovered within the reservoir water. The few which can be observed are in very small quantities, properly below EPA's requirements. Turbidity (cloudiness of the water) is one measure of overall water fine. All water ought to be below 5 NTU (Nephelometric Turbidity Units), and water can simplest be above 1 NTU if it does not intrude with e_x001E_ective disinfection. In 2016, turbidity was constantly under each the five.Zero and 1.0 NTU standards, with the highest degree at 0.Eight NTU. Typical levels at the Wachusett Reservoir are zero.Three NTU. MWRA also tests reservoir water for pathogens which include fecal coliform, micro organism, and the parasites and . They can input the water from animal or human waste. All test consequences had been well within state and federal trying out and remedy standards. TEST RESULTS – AFTER TREATMENT EPA and nation regulations require many water best exams after treatment to check the water you're ingesting. MWRA conducts hundreds of hundreds of tests in keeping with 12 months on over 120 contaminants (a complete listing is available on www.Mwra.Com). Details approximately. 2016 take a look at effects are in the desk below. The backside line is the water quality is great. WATER SYSTEM REDUNDANCY For numerous years now, MWRA has been specializing in ensuring redundancy for every water provider region. That means supplying a 2nd way of having water to a place if some thing occurs to the number one pipeline – like a first-rate water essential ruin. Much development has been made and we have full redundancy from the water remedy plant in Marlborough to the tunnels that deliver water into the metropolitan location; however, there may be no redundancy for the ones tunnels. MWRA plans to constructnew tunnels starting in Weston – one to the north and one to the south – to deal with this issue. The actual creation might now not begin for several years, however inside the interim, numerous smaller initiatives could be finished to bolster this device until the brand new tunnels are finished. New redundant pipelines are currently underneath creation in each the northern carrier vicinity, via Reading, Stoneham and Woburn, and the southern service region, via Boston and Dedham. ON-GOING PIPELINE REHABILITATION MWRA maintains to rehabilitate and replace older pipelines all through the distribution device to improve each reliability and water excellent. MWRA has additionally provided zero-interest loans to communities for local pipeline projects since 1998. In 2016, $17.Three million became loaned to groups for 18 tasks which includes the substitute of over 17 miles of older, unlined pipes with new cement-lined ductile iron water pipes. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT LEAD IN TAP WATER MWRA water is lead free when it leaves the reservoirs. MWRA and neighborhood pipes that carry the water to your community are made typically of iron and metal and do no longer add result in the water. However, lead can get into tap water via pipes in your private home, your provider line if it's miles product of lead, lead solder utilized in plumbing, and some brass furnishings. Corrosion or carrying away of lead-primarily based substances can add cause faucet water, especially if water sits for a long time in the pipes earlier than it's far used. In 1996, MWRA commenced including sodium carbonate and carbon dioxide to adjust the water’s pH and buering potential. This trade has made the water much less corrosive, thereby reducing the leaching of lead into consuming water. Lead stages located in tests of faucet water have dropped by means of over 90 percentage seeing that this treatment change. MWRA MEETS LEAD STANDARD IN 2016 Under EPA guidelines, each year MWRA and your nearby water department have to test faucet water in a pattern of houses which can be possibly to have high tiers. These are generally houses with lead provider traces or lead solder. The EPA rule calls for that 9 out of 10, or 90%, of the sampled homes ought to have lead stages underneath the Action Level of 15 components in step with billion (ppb). All 21 sampling rounds during the last twelve years have been underneath the EPA general. Results for the 463 samples taken in September 2016 are shown inside the table. Nine out of ten homes had been under 6.9 ppb, that's beneath the Action Level of 15 ppb. Only two groups, Malden and Quincy, were above the Action Level for lead. Your network letter on page 7 will provide you with nearby results and greater statistics. WHAT IS A LEAD SERVICE LINE? WHAT IS THE CONCERN? A provider line is the pipe that connects your home to the water fundamental in the street. Some provider lines that run from older homes (normally those built before 1940) are crafted from lead. Many of these older carrier trac.

.. ...