Consumer Confidence Reports

This was quite the adventure attempting to find my CCR. I even emailed the EPA....then I simply asked my fiance to take a peek and he found the report within 5 minutes. I guess it helps having someone around that has spent the past sixteen years in information security! The good news with finding information this way was I got to include Nathan on my search and discuss with him the implications and risks of having a contaminated water source.

I live in Southeast Sacramento, Rancho Cordova, California. Water is delivered to me in the Cordova System and it is a blend of groundwater, pumped from the Sacramento Valley Groundwater Basin, and surface water treated at Golden State Water Company's Coloma Water Treatment Plant. Groundwater is pumped from the nearby basin through wells. The surface water is delivered from the American River via the Folsom South Canal from Lake Natoma.

According to the report, "Golden State Water strictly adheres to federal and state drinking water quality guidelines required by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)," and "they routinely test the water quality for more than 230 regulated and unregulated elements in the water distribution system." I am happy to report that according to the data, there are no detectable levels of any inorganic constituents except nitrate. The level of nitrates found is also well below the maximum contaminant level. The report also states the major source of nitrates is from runoff and leaching from fertilizer use. No volatile organic constituents or radioactive constituents were found either.

Alarmingly, I did find out that lead and copper are present in my water source. They are below the "safe level," however this is very concerning to me. As Dr. Sattler says, "These substances should never be in the human body, at any level." The report suggests that if water has been sitting for several hours, you can reduce your risk of lead exposure by flushing your tap for 30 seconds to two minutes before drinking or cooking. A bit ironic given the state of the drought, eh?

There is some evidence of chloroform bacteria. These are naturally occurring in the environment. I had a microbiology professor tell me once that all water has bacteria in it and that the reason people get diarrhea when they travel is because they are not used to the bacteria in the water. They are essentially used to their bacteria from their water source. I am not overly concerned about this given the above and I do use a filter for my drinking water.

This brings up the interesting topic of bottled water. As discussed in previous posts, I used to drink bottled water all the time. Some of it was out of convenience. Some of it was out of habit and doing what others were doing.  After watching the Story of bottled water and reading my water quality report, I will stick with filtered water and my BPA free plastic reusable water bottle. Now, if I can just get my fiance on board :)