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Water report distributed

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By Kathy Thomson

Albany water customers should have received a “2019 Annual Drinking Water Quality Report” this week showing that locally treated water meets or exceeds all federal drinking water requirements and that there were no violations during the year 2019.

“The report shows our water quality is normal,” said Albany water manager David Bales. “There were no violations.”

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 and a summary of the regular water sampling. 

All by-products are not tested every year, according to Bales, and the date listed shows the most recent test for that specific contaminant.

Readers of the report will notice that Gross Beta Emitters were last tested in 2016, Lead and Copper in 2018, and all of the other items were tested in 2019. 

The levels of all of the inorganic materials tested were well within the EPA guidelines for this year and no organic materials were found in the water supply except for disinfection by-products and naturally occurring organic carbon, which has no known health effects. 

The raw water pH averaged 7.7, which is good, according to Bales. 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.

Bales 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 since 2000.

“All of the contaminants are watered down when the lake is full but the treatment part is the same regardless of the lake levels,” said Bales. 

Lead and Copper

Bales said that he has little control over the sample level of lead or copper, because those contaminates typically enter the system by corrosion of household plumbing systems and the erosion of natural deposits.  

“Samples showed that levels of lead and copper were all good,” said Bales.

Bales added that any homeowners that still have lead plumbing should allow their water to run for a minute or two before using it for drinking or cooking if they have allowed the water to sit in the pipes for several hours or more, in order to flush out any lead or copper that has leached into the standing water.

Confusing Report

Bales said that the required water quality report is 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, but you would have to drink a lot of water for it to be a health hazard,” Bales said.

The bottom line is that the city is in compliance with everything that was sampled.

The report also shows that the system lost an estimated 13,877,00 gallons of water during 2019, less than the loss of 20,899,000 gallons of water during 2018 but more than the 10,137,000 gallons of water lost during 2017.

The current water losses are due to water leaks and water meters not properly reading all of the water usage, according to Bales. 

“I’d say that the majority of the loss this year is from bad water meters that are not measuring all of the water that goes through,” said Bales.

Anyone who did not receive a quality report can contact City Hall at 325-762-3133 for more information.

Needed Repairs 

“Lately we’ve had to spend a lot of money, and we’ll have to spend a lot more to keep the pipes full (of water),” said Bales. “One of our water pumps is in the shop, another is about to go to the shop, and we are working on another one. About six more pumps are not working.”

The cost to repair one of the pumps is about $2,000, while the price to replace a pump can range from about $5,000 up to around $15,000, Bales said.