2017 Water Quality Report - PWS ID 3540045

We’re very pleased to provide you with this years Water Quality Report. We want to keep you informed about the excellent water and services we have delivered to you over the past year. Our goal is and always has been, to provide to you a safe and dependable supply of drinking water. Our water sources are; Well #1, located near Muir, Well #3, located near Tower City, Well #5, located near Sheridan and Well #6, located near Clarks Valley. We use sodium hypochlorite to disinfect the water, sodium hydroxide for pH adjustment and zinc-orthophosphate for corrosion control.

We routinely monitor for constituents in your drinking water according to Federal and State laws. The data presented in this report is from the most recent sampling done according to the regulations. We are pleased to report that our drinking water meets or exceeds all federal and state requirements.

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 Environmental Protection Agency’s Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1-800-426-4791.

Infants and young children are typically more vulnerable to lead in drinking water than the general population. It is possible that levels at your home may be higher than at other homes in the community as a result of materials used in your home’s plumbing. If you are concerned about elevated lead levels in your home’s water, you may wish to have your water tested and flush your tap for 30 seconds to 2 minutes before using tap water. Additional information is available from the Safe Drinking Water hotline at (1-800-426-4791).

All sources of drinking water are subject to potential contamination by constants that are naturally occurring or man made. Those constituents can be microbial, organic or inorganic chemicals, pesticides and herbicides, or radioactive materials. The sources of drinking water (both tap & bottled) 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-occuring minerals and, in some cases, radioactive material, and can pick up substances resulting from the presents of animals or from human activity. 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.

We at the Tower City Borough Authority work around the clock to provide top quality water to every tap. 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.

If you have any questions about this report or concerning your water utility, please contact Kyle L. Mahoney, Manager at (717) 647-4483. 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 meetings. They are held on the first Monday of each month at 6:30 pm in the Authority office at 219 E. Colliery Ave. Tower City, PA

Este informe contiene informacion muy importante sobre su agua potable. Traduzcalo o hable con alguien que lo entienda bien.

DEFINITIONS

In this table 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 contaminant is not present at a detectable level.

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.

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

Maximum Contaminant Level (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 (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.

Maximum Residual Disinfectant Level (MRDL) The highest level of a disinfectant allowed in drinking water. There is convincing evidence that addition of a disinfectant is necessary for control of microbial contaminants

Maximum Residual Disinfectant Level Goal (MRDLG) The level of a drinking water disinfectant below which there is no known or expected risk to health. MRDLGs do not reflect the benifits of the use of disinfectants to control microbial contamination.

Picocuries per liter (pCi/L) A measure of radioactivity

Footnotes:

(a) only one sample required for each source

(b) none of the 10 samples collected exceeded the action level

(d) special sample taken from the 10th st. storage tank

(e) Results are from four samples taken monthly in the distribution system and not from daily well testing

(f) Four wells sampled with one over the 1.0 Dep detection level

Tower City Borough Authority

As you can see by the table, our system had no violations for exceeding MCL's. We’re proud that your drinking water meets or exceeds all Federal and State requirements. We have learned through our monitoring and testing that some constituents have been detected. The EPA has determined that your water is safe at these levels.

MCL’s are set at very stringent levels for health effects. To understand the possible health effects described for many regulated constituents, a person would have to drink 2 liters of water every day at the MCL level for a lifetime to have a one-in-a-million chance of having the described health effect.

Not listed are over 50 other contaminants that we tested for and were found to be non-detects

VIOLATIONS. Monitoring Requirements Not Met for Nitrates and Nitrites

Our water system violated sampling requirements for Nitrate and Nitrite monitoring last year. Even though these were not emergencies, as our customers, you have a right to know what happened and what we did to correct these situations.

We are required to monitor your drinking water for specific contaminants on a regular basis. Results of regular monitoring are an indicator of whether or not our drinking water meets current state and federal standards. Due to a lab compliance tracking error during 2017, we did not complete monitoring or testing for Nitrates and Nitrites at our sources and therefore cannot be sure of the quality of our drinking water during that time. However, previous samples taken at the Sources and then samples taken on 02/22/2018 did not indicate any MCL violations. These samples indicated that our water meets or exceeds all current standards.

ADDITIONAL IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR DRINKING WATER

ESTE INFORME CONTIENE INFORMACION MUY IMPORTANTE SOBRE SU AGUA DE BEBER. TRADUZCALO O HABLE CON ALGUIEN QUE LO ENTIENDA BIEN.

Monitoring Requirements Not Met for the Tower City Borough Authority

Our water system violated drinking water standards for Nitrate and Nitrite monitoring last year. Even though these were not emergencies, as our customers, you have a right to know what happened and what we did to correct these situations.

We are required to monitor your drinking water for specific contaminants on a regular basis. Results of regular monitoring are an indicator of whether or not our drinking water meets health standards. During 2017 we did not complete monitoring or testing for Nitrates and Nitrites and therefore cannot be sure of the quality of our drinking water during that time.

What should I do?

There is nothing you need to do at this time.

The table below lists the contaminant(s) we did not properly test for during the last year, how often we are supposed to sample for these contaminants and how many samples we are supposed to take, how many samples we took, when samples should have been taken, and the date on which follow-up samples were (or will be) taken.

What should I do?

There is nothing you need to do at this time.

Contaminants

Nitrate and Nitrite

Required sampling frequency

8 samples

One sample for each contaminant, annually from 4 different well sources.

Number of samples taken

When all samples should have been taken

Fourth quarter/ October through December 2017

When samples were or will be taken

February 22, 2018

What happened? What was done?

Due to error, we missed taking the 8 required samples during December of 2017. One sample for each contaminant was required from four different sources. Immediately upon notice of this failure on 02/22/2018, we collected the required samples.

All results for Nitrites were below the detection level (non-detects). Nitrate results were a non-detect, and 0.36, 0.55 and 0.62 mg/l . The current maximum contaminant level for Nitrates is 10.0 mg/l.

For more information, please contact us at

717-647-4483

Please share this information with all the other people who drink this water, especially those who may not have received this notice directly (for example, people in apartments, nursing homes, schools, and businesses). You can do this by posting this notice in a public place or distributing copies by hand or mail.

PWS ID#: 3540045 Date posted: 06/25/2018

TOWER CITY BOROUGH AUTHORITY

2017 Water Quality Report - PWS ID 3540045

DEFINITIONS

ADDITIONAL IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR DRINKING WATER