General Information About Water Sources
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 might have 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 by-products 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.
Definitions
In the following tables you will find many terms and abbreviations you might not be familiar with. To help you understand these terms, we’ve provided the following definitions and abbreviations.
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 (g/l) – 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) – A measure of radioactivity.
Nephelometric turbidity unit (NTU) – A measure of turbidity; a measure of the clarity of water.
Action Level (AL) – 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 (MCL) – The highest level of a contaminant that is allowed in drinking water. MCLs are set as close to 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 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 benefits of the use of disinfectants to control microbial contamination.
Turbidity – A measure of cloudiness of water. We monitor it because it is a good indicator of the effectiveness of our filtration system. Turbidity in excess of 5 NTU is just noticeable to the average person.
MCLs are set at very stringent levels. 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-ten thousand chance of having the described health effect.
Questions and Public Participation Opportunities
If you have any questions about this report or any other issue concerning your water utility, please contact R. Brent Locke, General Manager, at 254-562-5922. We want you to be informed about our water quality. Our office is open Monday – Friday, 8:00 AM to Noon and 1:00 PM to 5:00PM.
To learn more, please attend any of our regularly scheduled Board meetings. They are held monthly, on the third Monday at 6:00 PM in our Lake Mexia Pavilion, located at 730 FM 2681, Lake Mexia. If the third Monday is a holiday, the meetings are normally held the next business day.
Start Saving Water and Money Today
•Insulate hot water pipes. You won’t waste water waiting for it to get hot and you will save energy too.
• Prevent evaporation of water. Water lawns early in the morning or in early evening during the hotter summer months.
• Don’t waste water when brushing your teeth. Shut off the water until it is time to rinse.
• Wash only full loads of dirty clothes.
• Do not use the toilet as a trash can.
• Use a sprinkler that puts out big drops of water instead of a fine mist that evaporates.
• Sweep the driveway, sidewalk, porch, etc. with a broom instead of using the water hose.