2007 Annual Drinking Water Quality Report

Handy Sanitary District

PWS ID# 02-29-035

We are pleased to present to you this year's Annual Drinking Water Quality Report. This report is a snapshot of last year’s water quality. Included are details about from where your water comes, what it contains, and how it compares to standards set by regulatory agencies. Our constant goal is to provide you with a safe and dependable supply of drinking water. We want you to understand the efforts we make to continually improve the water treatment process and protect our water resources. We are committed to ensuring the quality of your water and to providing you with this information, because informed customers are our best allies.  If you have any questions about this report or concerning your water, please contact Jamie Justice at 336-859-2553. We want our valued customers to be informed about their water utility.  If you want to learn more, please attend any of our regularly scheduled meetings. They are held the second Thursday  of each month at the District office, located at 17403 S. NC Hwy 109, in Denton NC.

What EPA Wants You to Know

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 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 (800-426-4791).

Some people may be more vulnerable to contaminants in drinking water than the general population. Immuno-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 (800-426-4791). 

The sources of drinking water (both tap water and bottled water) include rivers, lakes, streams, ponds, reservoirs, springs, and wells. As water travels over the surface of the land or through the ground, it dissolves naturally-occurring minerals and, in some cases, radioactive material, and can pick up substances resulting from the presence of animals or from human activity. Contaminants that may be present in source water include microbial contaminants, such as viruses and bacteria, which may come from sewage treatment plants, septic systems, agricultural livestock operations, and wildlife; 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; pesticides and herbicides, which may come from a variety of sources such as agriculture, urban storm water runoff, and residential uses; organic chemical contaminants, including synthetic and volatile organic chemicals, which are by-products of industrial processes and petroleum production, and can also come from gas stations, urban storm water runoff, and septic systems; and radioactive contaminants, which can be naturally-occurring or be the result of oil and gas production and mining activities.

In order to ensure that tap water is safe to drink, EPA prescribes regulations which limit the amount of certain contaminants in water provided by public water systems. FDA regulations establish limits for contaminants in bottled water, which must provide the same protection for public health.

When You Turn on Your Tap, Consider the Source

Handy Sanitary District purchases the majority of its water from the Town of Denton. The water that is used by this system is surface water from the Yadkin River Basin. The raw water pumps are located on Bringle Ferry Rd, below the dam at High Rock Lake. In emergency situations, Handy Sanitary District has the ability to purchase water from Davidson Water. Davidson Water withdraws from the Yadkin River, and the plant is located on Koontz Rd. near Highway 64 West. A copy of the Water Quality Report from the Town of Denton or Davidson Water may be obtained by  contacting Handy Sanitary District. 

Source Water Assessment Program (SWAP) Results

The North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Public Water Supply (PWS) Section, Source Water Assessment Program (SWAP) conducted assessments for all drinking water sources across North Carolina.  The purpose of the assessments was to determine the susceptibility of each drinking water source (well or surface water intake) to Potential Contaminant Sources (PCSs).  The results of the assessment are available in SWAP Assessment Reports that include maps, background information and a relative susceptibility rating of Higher, Moderate or Lower.

The relative susceptibility rating of each source for Town Of Denton was determined by combining the contaminant rating (number and location of PCSs within the assessment area) and the inherent vulnerability rating (i.e., characteristics or existing conditions of the well or watershed and its delineated assessment area). The assessment findings are summarized in the table below:

Susceptibility of Sources to Potential Contaminant Sources (PCSs)

It is important to understand that a susceptibility rating of “higher” does not imply poor water quality, only the systems’ potential to become contaminated by PCS’s in the assessment area.

Water Quality Data Table of Detected Contaminants

We routinely monitor for over 150 contaminants in your drinking water according to Federal and State laws. The table below lists all the drinking water contaminants that we detected in the last round of sampling for the particular contaminant group. The presence of contaminants does not necessarily indicate that water poses a health risk. Unless otherwise noted, the data presented in this table is from testing done January 1 through December 31, 2007. The EPA or the State requires us to monitor for certain contaminants less than once per year because the concentrations of these contaminants are not expected to vary significantly from year to year. Some of the data, though representative of the water quality, is more than one year old.

Unregulated contaminants are those for which EPA has not established drinking water standards. The purpose of unregulated contaminant monitoring is to assist EPA in determining the occurrence of unregulated contaminants in drinking water and whether future regulation is warranted.

Important Drinking Water Definitions:   

Not-Applicable (N/A) – Information not applicable/not required for that particular water system or for that particular rule.

Non-Detects (ND) - Laboratory analysis indicates that the contaminant is not present at the level of detection set for the particular methodology used.

Parts per million (ppm) or Milligrams per liter (mg/L) - One part per million corresponds to one minute in two years or a single penny in $10,000.

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