Blake Rudd, the City of Ardmore’s assistant utilities director, said city residents have no reason to be concerned about the quality of their drinking water.
“I drink this tap water, and I drink it every day,” he said Monday.
A number of city residents were concerned after they received a letter in the mail Saturday telling them the city had violated federal drinking water standards. The letter said the city’s water supply contained higher than allowable haloacetic acids (HAAs) and the city failed to effectively remove enough organic carbon from its drinking water during one of the testing periods.
During the water treatment process, contaminants are removed from the raw water to make it safe for consumption. Treatment plant employees regularly test the water to ensure its safety. If testing indicates contaminants exceed allowable levels, customers must be notified and the problem must be corrected.
HAAs are a by-product of the water treatment process and accumulate when chlorine reacts with naturally occurring organic materials. Total organic carbon in water is harmless.
Rudd said the city received a violation notice from the state Department of Environmental Quality on March 25. He said Ardmore failed a single quarterly test in July 2007 because of elevated HAAs levels. Testing also indicated the city had not removed “the average percentage of organic carbon required.”
Rudd said the tests that detected the violations were all conducted before the upgraded water plant was brought on line. He said employees are working to resolve the organic carbon issue and have already decreased the HAAs levels.
“The last sample we pulled in January was below the detection limit,” he said.
“We have an awesome water source and the plant employees are doing an excellent job.” he said.
