The water in Decatur, Texas meets or exceeds all state and federal requirements for water quality and is safe to drink, but it did have several violations.
The turbidity, or cloudiness, levels exceeded the required standard in April of 2021. At the end of May, Decatur also failed to notify its water consumers about a violation of regulations.
Finally, Decatur failed to collect every required Coliform sample, particularly in the month of August in 2021. The city collected all the Coliform samples in September and as a result, they are no longer in violation.
Decatur’s water is derived from a bevy of factors and filtering procedures, primarily rivers, lakes, streams, ponds, reservoirs, springs and wells. The main source for Decatur’s water is surface water, primarily Lake Bridgeport.
With those sources come contaminants that need to be reduced or altogether eliminated. From viruses to bacteria and pesticides to radioactive materials, there is much to be concerned about.
Public water and bottled water are governed by different entities as the U.S. EPA regulates water provided by public water systems while the Food and Drug Administration establishes regulations for bottled water.
In a recent assessment of the Decatur water sources, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality concluded that the water is susceptible to particular contaminants and infants, some elderly, or immunocompromised are at risk.
Lead, in particular, is one serious threat to human health and can leak into water lines from service lines and home plumbing. One remedy to protect yourself against potential lead is flushing your tap for 30 seconds to two minutes before using water for drinking or cooking. If you’re concerned about your water, getting it tested is always recommended.
The water has also been tested for Cryptosporidium, which is a microscopic parasite affecting the digestive tracts of humans and animals, the past few years.
Below are the contaminants that were tested in the Decatur water supply and none of them reached the maximum threshold.
- Both Barium and Selenium come from the discharge of drilling wastes, the discharge from metal refineries and the erosion of natural deposits.
- Cyanide is a discharge from steel and metal factories. It also is a discharge from plastic and fertilizer factories.
- Fluoride is a result of erosion of natural deposits while also being a water additive that promotes strong teeth as well as a discharge from fertilizer and aluminum factories.
- Nitrate is the runoff from fertilizer use, the leaching from septic tanks and sewage, and erosion of natural deposits.
- Beta and photon emitters are the decay of natural and man-made deposits.
- Combined Radium and Uranium are derived from the erosion of natural deposits.
- Chromium is produced from the discharge from steel and pulp mills as well as the erosion of natural deposits.
- Haloacetic Acids and Total Trihalomethanes are by-products of drinking water disinfection.
- Chloramines, Bromate, TTHM (Total Trihalomethanes) and Haloacetic Acids are a by-product of drinking water chlorination.
- Copper and Lead are the corrosion of household plumbing systems, the corrosion of natural deposits and the leaching from wood preservatives.
- Turbidity, which is a measurement of the cloudiness of the water caused by suspended particles, comes from soil runoff.
- Total Coliform bacteria are used as indicators of microbial contamination of drinking water because testing for them is easy. While not disease-causing organisms themselves, they are often found in association with other microbes that are capable of causing disease.
Solutions
There are several methods to neutralize and eliminate these potential threats thanks to Basin Water Solutions.
Your first option is a Whole House Water Filtration system and water softeners, which filter out and lessen the hardness of water. Measured in grains per gallon (GPG), hardness refers to the amount of dissolved magnesium and calcium in your water. Anything above 3 GPG is considered harmful to the home plumbing, appliances, water heaters, and fixtures. Furthermore, Chloramines are common disinfectants for drinking water, especially in industrial water. Water softeners will properly balance out the minerals and you won’t have to worry about Chloramines.
Basin Water Solutions also offers Water Treatment and Commercial Water Treatment that uses the latest integrated technologies to effectively remove iron, calcium, manganese, arsenic, heavy metal, fluoride, sulfide, nitrate and many other contaminants from water sources.
Finally, Reverse Osmosis can filter your water by getting tap water across a semipermeable membrane in order to get rid of any impurities that may be in the water. Furthermore, the process gets rid of salt and other inorganic solids by removing them from the solution. Chloramine, chlorine, fluoride, pesticides, nitrates, sulfates and others are removed via Reverse Osmosis.
These methods are great options to clean and purify your water. Basin Water Solutions can install, repair, and maintain these systems with superior customer service.