What are Public Drinking Water Contaminants and What does it Mean for You?
All Public drinking water contains contaminants. A contaminant is anything other than water. See that discussed here. Thus your SGWASA drinking water arriving at your home has contaminants. Of course some amount of the regulated contaminants have been removed, but never all of it. And other unregulated substances have not been removed and remain in your water: PFAS is a good example. See below. Let's look at these various contaminants and discuss how they are regulated or not regulated. You can decide if there are any risks you need to think about. Remember, many contaminants do not give the water a bad smell or bad taste. So if anyone says their water smells and tastes fine, it is irrelevant to quality and safety.
Quick Summary of Regulations
Some contaminants are dangerous and are regulated and some are dangerous and not regulated. Others are not so dangerous and do not have enforceable regulations; they may make your water smell or taste bad. Then there are the unknown new chemicals that can be in your water and may or may not ever be detected or controlled. yWe give you examples of all of these below.
The Environmental Protection Agency, which sets national drinking water standards, places some known contaminants into one of two categories for either regulation or establishing guidelines: Primary regulations or Secondary Regulations. The whole "water regulation" system is based on Cost/Benefit philosophy. The cost of removing contaminants for a public drinking water system limits how much they can take out and what they take out. It is obvious that the large amount of drinking water they must treat will limit the quality of what you receive. They cannot afford to send you pure water.
The National Primary Drinking Water Regulations (NPDWR) are legally enforceable primary standards and treatment techniques that apply to public water systems. Because it is usually not possible to simply remove all of a contaminant, enforceable standards are set called "maximum contaminant levels" (MCLs) which public water companies must not exceed. Exceeding these levels is a recorded violation which triggers notices to customers, sometimes imposes a fine and requires immediate action to bring the water into compliance with the MCL regulation. State Water authorities are usually the group managing these standards. For North Carolina this is Department of Environmental Quality, Division of Water Resources.
The National Secondary Drinking Water Regulations (NSDWRs) that set non-mandatory water quality standards for 15 contaminants. EPA does not enforce these "secondary maximum contaminant levels" (SMCLs). They are established as guidelines to assist public water systems in managing their drinking water for aesthetic considerations, such as taste, color, and odor. These contaminants are not considered to present a risk to human health at the SMCL. Obviously many of you with smelly and/or bad tasting water can immediately see a problem with this last category relative to SGWASA.
Primary Contaminants Detail
See the EPA Primary Contaminant list here with MCLs and MCLGs.
After establishing the MCL for a contaminant and reviewing health effects data for the contaminant, the EPA sets a Maximum Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG). MCLG is the maximum level of a contaminant in drinking water at which no known or anticipated adverse effect on the health of persons which theoretically provides a margin of safety. MCLGs are non-enforceable public health goals. A quote on this from the EPA: "MCLGs consider only public health and not the limits of detection and treatment technology effectiveness. Therefore, the MCLGs are sometimes set at levels which water systems cannot meet -- such as zero -- because of technological limitations.When determining an MCLG, EPA considers the adverse health risk to sensitive sub-populations: Infants, Children, the elderly, and those with compromised immune systems and chronic diseases."
The way EPA determines MCLGs depends on the type of contaminant targeted for regulation. Read more about that here.
So in regard to Primary Contaminant regulation, you have seven main concepts of concern to think about relative to the safety of your SGWASA drinking water:
(1) The amount of known, regulated contaminants they could not take out; some of these have no safe level (examples below);
(2) The fact that the MCLG concept appears a bit scary because it is a "goal" and often cannot be met;
(3) Unregulated chemicals in the water that do not yet have any primary standards set for them; (examples below);
(4) Totally unknown chemicals that could be in the water, but for which there has been no testing;
(5) There is an EPA "warning" called Health Advisories for contaminants that they do not regulate. EPA develops Health Advisories to provide information on contaminants that can cause human health effects and are known or anticipated to occur in drinking water. EPA's health advisories are non-enforceable and non-regulatory and provide technical information to states agencies and other public health officials on health effects, analytical methodologies, and treatment technologies associated with drinking water contamination. In 2009, EPA published provisional health advisories for PFOA and PFOS contaminants based on the evidence available at that time. The science has evolved since then and EPA is now replacing the 2009 provisional advisories with new, lifetime health advisories.” Health Advisories (HAs) describe concentrations of drinking water contaminants at which adverse health effects are not anticipated to occur over specific exposure durations (e.g., one-day, ten-days, several years, and a lifetime). HAs also contain a margin of safety to address database uncertainties. HAs serve as informal technical guidance to assist federal, state and local officials, as well as managers of public or community water systems in protecting public health when emergency spills or contamination situations occur. (This applies to some toxins and other contaminants in your SGWASA water--see below;
(6) There is an Action Level notice. Action Levels (AL) may be seen in the yearly reports or other databases regarding your drinking water. It is the concentration of a contaminant which, if exceeded, triggers treatment or other requirements which a water system must follow. This applies to lead in your SGWASA water (see below);
(7) Understanding water quality reports is difficult. For example in the SGWASA 2020 Consumer Confidence Report (CCR), the "Total Coliform" section has the number 2 for "test results." "Two" of something. Perhaps two colonies of these bacteria grew? Unclear. Also, the MCLG, the contaminant level goal for these bacteria is zero! We do not have zero. So hardly good education to the public. Also one finds this statement in the 2020 CCR: "Some of the data, though representative of the water quality, is more than one year old." The next report for 2021 must be produced by July 1st of this year.
Education of the public needs to improve in terms of water qualilty. It sometimes appears that it would take many of us working day and night to understand the health status of the water we are drinking. Confidence about our public drinking water is becoming a problem in America. We might add that it is often stated that the EPA is slow in setting standards for new contaminant chemicals which could be in our water.
Examples of Primary Contaminants in Your Water
1.
Below are Two examples of regulated contaminants that cannot be totally removed and hence some remain in your water:
Disinfectant Byproducts (DBPs): DBPs result from chemical reactions between organic and inorganic matter in water with chemical treatment agents during the water disinfection process. Chloramine and chlorine are usually used for disinfecting water. There are 600 to 700 of these DBP substances but EPA only regulates 11! These 11 are sort of a "proxy" for all the others. On the EPA website linked above, you may have noticed the dangerous health effects. of DBPs. SGWASA was in MCL violation for many years regarding these chemicals but has come into compliance in recent years. Some portion of those chemicals cannot be removed and these substances are said to have no safe limit. In the latest SGWASA report to customers on water quality, you will see some DBPs remain in your water. Some disinfectant byproducts have MCLGs that are set at zero, meaning there is no safe dose. Haloacetic acids are DBPs and are cytotoxic, genotoxic, mutagenic, carcinogenic, and teratogenic (toxic to cells, toxic to genes, cause mutations, cancer, and birth defects.) Trihalomethanes (THMs) are one large group of DBPs used in industry as solvents or refrigerants. THMs are also environmental pollutants, and many are considered carcinogenic. Chloroform is a trihalomethane commonly known by the public. Yes, chloroform can be in your water. A scientist specialist who came to Creedmoor and gave a lecture on DBPs on which she is an expert, made this statement: "DBPs show definitely associations of treated drinking water with bladder cancer, miscarriage, and birth defects. This was on one of the early slides in my presentation. And, it is the main reason that DBPs have been a major focus of my research for about 27 years."
Lead is another chemical with no safe dose and appears in SGWASA water occasionally. See the NC State Public Water website for several entries for Lead problems called "Exceeding Actionevels" for SGWASA. That is seen under the top right tab labeled "PBCU" summaries. PB is the chemical symbol for Lead and CU for copper. Action Level (AL) means the concentration of a contaminant which, if exceeded, triggers treatment or other requirements which a water system must follow. If present, elevated levels of lead can cause serious health problems, especially for pregnant women and young children. This Action Level is seen several times for SGWASA!
Lead in drinking water is primarily from materials and components associated with service lines and home plumbing.
The treatment technique regulation for lead (referred to as the Lead and Copper Rule) requires water systems to control the corrosivity of the water. The regulation also requires systems to collect tap samples from sites served by the system that are more likely to have plumbing materials containing lead. If more than 10 percent of tap water samples exceed the lead action level of 15 parts per billion, then water systems are required to take additional actions including:
-
Taking further steps optimize their corrosion control treatment (for water systems serving 50,000 people that have not fully optimized their corrosion control) .
-
Educating the public about lead in drinking water and actions consumers can take to reduce their exposure to lead.
-
Replacing the portions of lead service lines (lines that connect distribution mains to customers) under the water system’s control.
EPA issued the Lead and Copper Rule in 1991 and revised the regulation in 2000, 2007 and 2021. States may set more stringent drinking water regulations than EPA.
Below are Two categories of Unregulated Chemicals in Your Water
PFAS chemicals (Per-and Polyfluoro- alkyl Substances.)
These are the industrial chemical which most of us have in our body and which are being studied for regulation. There are thousands of different types and they never break down naturally, so PFAS contamination can only grow with time. An EPA quote: “Studies indicate that exposure to PFOA and PFOS over certain levels may result in adverse health effects, including developmental effects to fetuses during pregnancy or to breastfed infants (e.g., low birth weight, accelerated puberty, skeletal variations), cancer (e.g., testicular, kidney), liver effects (e.g., tissue damage), immune effects (e.g., antibody production and immunity), thyroid effects and other effects (e.g., cholesterol changes). There is limited information identifying health effects from inhalation or dermal exposures to PFOA or PFOS in humans and animals. To learn more about the underlying studies for the health advisories,see the EPA PFAS Health Advisory discssion here.
Some of these chemicals are listed as found in your SGWASA water. See that here. See a further discussion of these chemicals here. Another great reference focusing on NC PFOAs is here. In 2009, EPA published provisional health advisories for PFOA and PFOS based on the evidence available at that time. The science has evolved since then and EPA is now replacing the 2009 provisional advisories with new, lifetime health advisories. Despite increased awareness and proposed regulations, PFAAs are repeatedly detected at elevated levels in treated drinking water. That previous link will also suggest home filters for removing these toxic substances. The EPA set ew guidelines -unenforceable health advisories - in June 2022 and SGWASA is still above those. Lots of work to be done for safe water.
See what the North Carolina Government is thinking about PFAS chemicals.
(We have created a new separate page on PFAS. See it in the main menu on top of page. It is a critical contaminant which with time, is being seen as more dangerous than we thought previously.)
Cyanotoxins -- Cylindrospermopsin, Microcystin and Anatoxin- a.
These are unregulated chemicals that are also found in your water. AND AT HIGH LEVELS (see below). The Safe Drinking Water Law Amendments of 1996 and the amendments by Section 2021 of America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 (AWIA) provide for establishing a program to monitor for priority unregulated contaminants in drinking water every five years. This provides data on the distribution of certain suspect contaminants. This program requires monitoring all large public water systems serving greater than 10,000 people to test their water for certain contaminants that have been deemed possible health problems. So all water systems of that size were required to test for 30 contaminants (28 chemicals and two viruses) between 2018 and 2020. SGWASA tested for those substances and found three of them in its water. You can see those listed in the SGWASA annual 2020 Consumer Confidence Report which is required by Federal law.
Cylindrospermopsin is a cyanotoxin produced by a variety of freshwater cyanobacteria. It is toxic to liver and kidney tissue and is thought to inhibit protein synthesis and to covalently modify DNA and/or RNA. Microcystin is also produced by cyanobacteria and are hepatotoxic, i.e., able to cause serious damage to the liver. Microcystin-containing 'blooms' are a problem worldwide, including China, Brazil, Australia, South Africa the United States and much of Europe. The microcystin concentration of river and pond water was positively associated with the incidence of colorectal cancer. Anatoxin-a is also known as Very Fast Death Factor with acute neurotoxicity. Symptoms of anatoxin-a toxicity include loss of coordination, muscular fasciculations, convulsions and death by respiratory paralysis. Due to its high toxicity and potential presence in drinking water, anatoxin-a poses a threat to animals, including humans. Previous statements from Wikipedia. Here is an EPA quote: “When people are exposed to cyanotoxins, adverse health effects may range from a mild skin rash to serious illness or in rare circumstances, death. Acute illnesses caused by short-term exposure to cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins during recreational activities include hay fever-like symptoms, skin rashes, respiratory and gastrointestinal distress. Exposure to drinking water contaminated with elevated concentrations of microcystin and cylindrospermopsin could cause liver and kidney damage. The table below summarizes the health effects caused by the most common toxin-producing cyanobacteria. For Anatoxin-a studies show tingling, burning, numbness, drowsiness, incoherent speech, salivation, respiratory paralysis leading to death (experimental animals).”
See table below for cyanotoxin levels in SGWASA water. They are the Health Advisory Levels for children and adults. Health Advisories provide technical information to state agencies. Health Advisories (HAs) describe concentrations of drinking water contaminants at which adverse health effects are not anticipated to occur over specific exposure durations (e.g., one-day, ten-days, several years, and a lifetime.
Here is a quote from the County of Los Angeles Public Health Environmental Health Toxicology & Environmental Assessment Branch: “Unfortunately, it's impossible to test for all potential contaminants in drinking water. There are, for example, thousands of chemicals used in industry that wind up at least in small quantities in the water supply, and it simply isn't feasible to check levels for each of them.”
Your SGWASA water also contains cryptosporidium and asbestos. See those listed in the 2020 Consumer Confidence Report.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Unfortunately it is very difficult to get a quick list of contaminants in your SGWASA water; we often had to work hard to dig out the above information. We all need to challenge this problem of low information. And our discussion here has not yet even gotten to Secondary Contaminants!
Some independent organizations try to inform you about water quality. Some were given above. For example if you look on this website you will see a list of contaminants that have been found in SGWASA water. Some of those you see there are disinfectant byproducts and PFAS contaminants discussed above. And others we have not even discussed here. They make the point that although Maximum Contaminant Level national standards may have been met by your water and sewer company, that is no guarantee of excellent quality drinking water. You no doubt have wondered about this idea before. Many in south Granville add a water purifying filter to their home. We will talk about this below. Some SGWASA customers report
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Secondary Contaminants Detail
As noted above, EPA has established National Secondary Drinking Water Regulations (NSDWRs) that set non-mandatory water quality standards for 15 contaminants. EPA does not enforce these "secondary maximum contaminant levels" (SMCLs). They are established as guidelines to assist public water systems in managing their drinking water for aesthetic considerations, such as taste, color, and odor.
Three problems can result from these contaminants:
-
Aesthetic effects — undesirable tastes or odors;
-
Cosmetic effects — effects which do not damage the body but are still undesirable
-
Technical effects — damage to water equipment or reduced effectiveness of treatment for other contaminants
The EPA states that “These contaminants are not considered to present a risk to human health at the SMCL.” That quote of course implies they are a risk in amounts above the maximum contaminant level.
Public water systems only need to test for them on a voluntary basis. So why are there secondary maximum levels? Their answer is:
“If these contaminants are present in your water at levels above these standards, the contaminants may cause the water to appear cloudy or colored, or to taste or smell bad. This may cause a great number of people to stop using water from their public water system. Secondary standards are set to give public water systems some guidance on removing these chemicals to levels that are below what most people will find to be noticeable.”
Thus, you can have bad tasting, smelly water and the EPA is telling water/sewer companies when their customers might be noticing the bad tasting/smelly water and the water/sewer company can decide if it wants to do anything about it.
Read some details on the EPA website and see the list of contaminants in the Secondary Drinking Water Standards.
So the situation, in plain language, is that you can be stuck with buying bottled water to avoid your lousy SGWASA water. Something seems wrong with that arrangement. Capitalism at its finest? Have we reached the point in US when we need an entirely new arrangement for delivering decent public drinking water?
What about a home filter? We shall discuss that below
(To be continued: common problems of SGWASA in this area of secondary contaminants and what are they doing about it)
