Water report shows no violations

By Jillian Lucas

Albany water customers should have received a “2020 Annual Drinking Water Quality Report” this past week showing that locally treated water meets or exceeds all federal drinking water requirements.

“They were all good this go-around,” said Albany water superintendent David Bales.

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. 

“Not all by-products are tested every year,” said Bales. “Some things, like lead and copper, are only tested every three years.”

If something wasn’t tested this year, it will show on the report 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 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.  

Bales added that any homeowners that still have lead plumbing should allow their hot water to run for a minute or two before using it for drinking or cooking.

“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,” Bales explained.

Confusing Report

According to Bales, the mandatory 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.

“Overall, the numbers have changed a little bit on this year’s report,” Bales said, “but other than that, everything pretty much stayed the same.” 

Upcoming Changes

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality  will be requiring more extensive testing starting in 2021. 

“I’m not sure what all the new testing will cover or why this is a new requirement,” said Bales, “but I do know that it will begin with the 2021 annual report.”

This new requirement is statewide and will include more by-products that will have to be examined.