The Rock Springs Municipal Utility is pleased to represent this year’s Annual Quality Report.  This report is designed to inform you about the quality of water and services we deliver to our customers every day.  Our commitment and our goals are to provide you a safe and dependable supply of drinking water.  Our continuous efforts are focused on optimizing the water treatment process, ensuring quality water and protecting our water resources.  Our water source is surface water from the Green River.

Our drinking water is safe and meets federal and state requirements.  If you should  have any questions regarding this report or concerns regarding your water utility, please contact Ken Weskamp, Water Superintendent, Rock Springs Municipal Utility at 352-1405 or your customer billing department at 352-1527.  We want our customers to be informed about their utility.  If you want to learn more, please attend any of the regular City Council meetings, which are held on the first and third Tuesdays of each month or the Joint Powers Water Board meetings, which are held on the third Wednesday of each month.  All meetings are advertised for times and location.

The water treatment plant in Green River and the Rock Springs Municipal Utility service department routinely monitors for constituents in the drinking water according to Federal and State laws.  The following table shows the results of the monitoring for the period of January 1 to December 31, 2006.  All drinking water, including bottled water, may be reasonably expected to contain at least small amounts of some constituents.

It is important to remember that the presence of these constituents does not necessarily pose a health risk.

In the following table, you will find many terms abbreviations which may not be familiar to you.  The following definitions are given to better assist you in reading this table:

Parts per billion (ppb) or Micrograms per liter – one part per billion corresponds to one minute in 2,000 years, or a single penny in $10,000,000.

Nephelometric Turbidity Unit (NTU) – nephelometric turbidity unit is a measure of the clarity of water.  Turbidity in excess of 5 NTU is just noticeable to the average person.

Variances & Exemptions (V&E) – State or EPA permission not to meet an MCL or a treatment technique under certain conditions.

Action Level – the concentration of a contaminant which, if exceeded, triggers treatment or requirements which a water system must follow.

Treatment Technique (TT) – a treatment technique is a required process intended to reduce the level of a contaminant in drinking water.

Billion Fibers per Liter (BFL) – billion fibers per liter is a measure of the presence of asbestos fibers that are longer than 10 micrometers.

Maximum Contaminant Level – the “Maximum Allowed” (MCL) is the highest level of a contaminant that is allowed in drinking water.  MCLs are set as close to the MCLGs as feasible using the best available treatment technology.

Maximum Contaminant Level Goal – the “Goal” (MCLG) is the level of a contaminant in drinking water below which there is no known or expected risk to health.  MCLGs allow for a margin of safety.

Test Results

The Rock Springs Municipal Utility along with the Joint Powers Water Board tests for 76 bacteria/chemical contaminants in the water system; of these the only ones that are detectable are as follows:

 Turbidity is reported as the highest single measurement and the lowest monthly percentage of samples meeting the turbidity limits specified for the filtration technology being used.

The EPA has expanded the waiver for inorganic chemicals to once every nine years.  Therefore, we will monitor again in the year 2010.  The exception to this waiver is cyanide.

Some of the data in the tables are more than one year old, since certain chemical contaminants are monitored less than once a year.  Our sampling frequency complies with EPA drinking water regulations.

The Joint Powers Water Board reported that the system had no violations. 

We’re proud that your drinking water meets or exceeds all Federal and State requirements.  We have learned through our monitoring and testing that some constituents have been detected.  The EPA has determined that your water is safe at these levels.

The sources of drinking water include rivers, lakes, streams, ponds, reservoirs, springs and wells.  As water travels over the surface of the land or through the ground, it can dissolve naturally occurring minerals and in some cases, radioactive materials.  The water can also pick up substances such as:

(1) Microbial contaminants, such as viruses and bacteria, which may come from sewage treatment plants, septic systems, agricultural operations and  wildlife.

(2) Inorganic contaminants, such as salts and metals, which can be naturally-occurring or result from urban storm water runoff, industrial or domestic wastewater discharges, oil and gas production, mining or farming.

(3) Pesticides and herbicides, which may come from agriculture, urban  storm water run off and residential uses.

(4) Organic chemical contaminants, which can come from industrial processes, gas stations, urban storm water runoff and septic systems.

(5) Radioactive contaminants, which can be naturally-occurring or the result of oil and gas production and mining activities.

In order to ensure that tap water is safe to drink, the EPA establishes regulations which limit the amount of certain contaminants in water provided by public water systems.  The Food and Drug Administration establishes limits for contaminants in bottled water.

All drinking water, including bottled water, may reasonably be expected to contain at least small amounts of some contaminants.  The presence of contaminants does not necessarily indicate that the water poses a health risk.             

More information about contaminants and potential health effects can be obtained by calling the Environmental Protection Agency’s Safe Drinking Water Hotline is 1-800-426-4791.

MCL’s are set at very stringent levels.  To understand the possible health effects described for many regulated constituents, a person would have to drink 2 liters of water every day at the MCL level for a lifetime to have a one-in-a-million chance of having the described health effects.

Some people may be more vulnerable to contaminants in drinking water than the general population.  Immune-compromised persons such as persons with cancer undergoing chemotherapy, persons who have undergone organ transplants, people with HIV/AIDS or other immune system disorders, some elderly, and infants can be particularly at risk from infections.  These people should seek advice about drinking water from their health care providers.  EPA/CDC guidelines on appropriate means to lessen the risk of infection by cryptosporidium and other microbiological contaminants are available from the Safe Drinking Water Hotline (1-800-426-4791).

The employees at the Rock Springs Municipal Utility and the Joint Powers Water Board work around the clock to provide and maintain a safe and dependable water supply.  We ask that all our customers help us protect our water sources, which are the heart of our community, our way of life and our children’s future.