Northeast South Dakota News

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR DRINKING WATER

The City of Aberdeen Did Not Meet Treatment Requirements

 Our water system recently violated a drinking water requirement.   Although this was not an emergency, as our customers, you have a right to know what happened, what you should do, and what we did/are doing to correct this situation. 

 We routinely monitor your water for turbidity (cloudiness). This tells us whether we are effectively filtering the water supply.

Water samples for April showed that 7 percent of turbidity measurements were over 0.3 turbidity units – the standard is that no more than 5 percent of samples may exceed 0.3 turbidity units per month.  The turbidity levels are relatively low.  However, their persistence is a concern.  Normal turbidity levels at our plant are 0.15 units.

What should I do?

• You do not need to boil your water or take other actions.   We do not know of any contamination, and none of our testing has shown disease-causing organisms in the drinking water.
• People with severely compromised immune systems, infants, and some elderly may be at increased risk.  These people should seek advice about drinking water from their health care providers.  General guidelines on ways to lessen the risk of infection by microbes are available from EPA, Safe Drinking Water Hotline at (800) 426-4791, or the Department of Human Services Drinking Water Program at (971) 673-0405.

 This is not an emergency.  If it had been, you would have been notified within 24 hours.

What does this mean?

Turbidity has no health effects.  However, turbidity can interfere with disinfection and provide a medium for microbial growth.  Turbidity may indicate the presence of disease-causing organisms.  These organisms include bacteria, viruses, and parasites that can cause symptoms such as nausea, cramps, diarrhea, and associated headaches.   These symptoms are not caused only by organisms in drinking water.  If you experience any of these symptoms and they persist, you may want to seek medical advice.

What happened?  What was done?

A problem occurred with the treatment system at the water plant.  We took the following actions to correct this problem- 

• Called in consultants for technical assistance on the filtration problems. 
• Made chemical adjustments to reduce turbidity levels.
• Ensured adequate levels of disinfectant in the water.
• Maximized available well water used.

Please share this information with all the people who drink this water, especially those who may not have received this notice directly (for example, people in apartments, nursing homes, schools, and businesses). You can do this by posting this notice in a public place or distributing copies by hand or mail.

 For additional information, please contact Bob Braun at 605-626-7010 or bob.braun@aberdeen.sd.us

 This notice is being sent to you by the city of Aberdeen. State Water System ID#: 0020.  

 The City of Aberdeen Water Reclamation and Public Works Departments are reminding businesses and homeowners that sump pump water should not be discharged into the sanitary sewer system.  It is recommended that discharges be to the curb and gutter outside your home or business in a manner that will not impact your neighbors.

 Sump pump flows can have a significant impact on the sewer system.  A 1/3 horsepower sump running 15 minutes per hour for a 24-hour period can discharge approximately 10,800 gallons per day.  In the case where just 100 sump pumps were operating under these conditions, this would amount to an additional 1,080,000 gallons per day into the system. The average design flow of the wastewater facility is 4,000,000 gallons per day.

 If you have questions regarding sump pumps, please call the Public Works Office at 626-7011

 Thank you! 

Original source can be found here