Albany water meets all quality standards
Albany water customers should receive a “2024 Annual Drinking Water Quality Report” in the next few days showing that locally treated water meets or exceeds all federal drinking water requirements.
“All the numbers looked good,” Albany water superintendent Michael Graham said. “There were no violations, which there really haven’t been in several years, except a very minor reporting problem in 2022. We haven’t had any actual treatment violations in a very long time, so our water quality continues to be very good.”
The report for 2022 listed one violation when an equipment failure prevented testing for chlorine dioxide and chlorite for a single day.
Graham did address an issue which comes up occasionally when the disinfectant is switched from “total chlorine,” which contains ammonia, to “free chloride” to address problems the Shackelford Rural Water Supply experiences in some of their lines.
“We switch to all chlorine sometimes to clean the line at the farthest extent of the rural system,” Graham said.
“There is no change in the quality of the treated water, but there is a different odor to free chlorine that is noticeable to some of our local customers.”
Graham said that there are usually a few calls when city customers detect the stronger chlorine smell.
Report Summary
The Environmental Protection Agency and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality require that all community public water suppliers deliver to their customers annual drinking water quality reports, telling consumers what contaminants have been detected in their drinking water, how these detection levels compare to drinking water standards, and where their water comes from.
Drinking water quality varies from place to place, depending on the condition of the source water from which it is drawn and the treatment it receives.
The local detailed report provides consumers with information about all aspects of Albany’s water treatment, as well as a summary of the regular water sampling.
“Most of the by-products are tested either every quarter or annually,” said Graham. “Some things, like lead and copper, are only tested every three years.”
The city contracts with an outside company for some of the testing, and it will vary what by-products they may check each time, according to Graham.
If something wasn’t tested this year, the report will list the last year it was tested.
The levels of all of the inorganic materials tested were well within the EPA guidelines for this year.
The report indicated that disinfectants used were well below state maximums for the year.
The raw water pH averaged 7.6, which is good, according to Graham. He said that when the pH is close to 7.5 there is less scaling and corrosion to pipes and equipment, but when it is higher, there is less leaching of lead and copper from pipes.
The maximum pH allowed is 8.0.
Graham added that local water quality, as in any system, always depends on the quality of the water from the source.
Albany currently obtains water from Hubbard Creek Reservoir and has not used any water from Lake McCarty in well over two decades.
Graham added that any homeowners who still have lead plumbing should allow their hot water to run for a minute or two before using it for drinking or cooking.
The city shouldn’t have any lead service lines at all, but there may be some older homes that still have lead lines on the homeowners’ side, according to Graham.
“It’s always a good idea to run hot water through any lead plumbing for a short time just to help flush out the pipes from any lead or copper that has leached into the standing water,” Graham explained.
Confusing Report
According to Graham, the mandatory water quality report can be confusing for most people.
“We’re required to tell customers that small amounts of some contaminants may increase health risks for people with certain conditions, and if you really start reading the report, it can look pretty scary, just like all those warnings on medications,” Graham said. “You would have to drink a lot of water for it to be a health hazard though.”
The bottom line is that the city is in compliance with everything that was sampled.
Anyone who does not receive a quality report can contact City Hall at 325-762-3133 for more information.
The annual water report is always available at City Hall for the public to view.
