Water quality (2016 City of Davis Water Quality Report)
Where does your water come from?
My drinking water’s provider is the City of Davis (City), and prior to June 2016 the
source of my drinking water was ground water. During 2016, the City pumped water from 14
municipal wells, and these wells drew water from aquifers beneath the City at
depths ranging from 210 to 1,760 feet below ground surface. The groundwater was filtered naturally by sands and clays as it passed through geologic formations. However, starting in June 2016 the City began to integrate surface water from the
Sacramento River with an allotment of 10.2 million gallons
per day. The City will continue to use surface water as the primary source and
supplement with groundwater when demand is over 10.2 million gallons per day.
What did you discover about your water quality?
I discovered that our over all water quality is good. However, the 2016 Water Quality Report did show that the concentration of Chromium Six (also known as Hexavalent Chromium) was over the maximum contaminant level (MCL) in twelve of the City’s groundwater wells. Chromium Six is associated with occupational asthma, eye irritation and damage, perforated eardrums, respiratory irritation, kidney damage, liver damage, pulmonary congestion and edema, upper abdominal pain, nose irritation and damage, respiratory cancer, skin irritation, and erosion and discoloration of the teeth. The
City was given a directive by the Board to correct this problem by the end of
2019.
*In 2017 the MCL was found invalid by the Sacramento Superior Court, due to
the fact that the California State Department of Public Health did not properly analyze the economic
feasibly of complying with the ten parts per billion (ppb) standard. (See Final Ruling on Writ Petition - CA Manufacturers and Technology Assn, et al. v. CDPH, et al. (SA2014116360))
Do you use a filter
for your water?
Currently we do not use a filter for our water.
What are you trying
to filter out?
Since we do not use a filter, there is not anything
specific that we are working to filter out of our water.
Do you drink
bottled water? How does this square with what you learned when you watched
the Story of Bottled Water?
I try to drink as little bottled water as possible. When I am at home I drink water that comes from the tap. When I am away from home, I fill
up my big reusable “Kleen Kanteen” with the water available. On par with the
video Story of Bottled Water, I think
that bottled water is a gimmick to make people spend money on an item that we
already have access to. I am happy to find out that I am not wrong to trust that tap
water is better regulated.
References:
· City of Davis. Water Division. Retrieved from: http://cityofdavis.org/city-hall/public-works/water
Hello Angie! It was very interesting to read about other the water quality in the city of Davis because I lived their for two years. I am glad to here that the overall water quality is good but also shocked to see that their are some allergic reactions that some people may get from water.
ReplyDeleteIt makes sense to me that Davis would start using surface water from the Sacramento River and reserve ground water for more dyer needs. I think that saving our aquifers as much as possible is a smart choice. I also believe that bottle water is a gimmick. I actually think that it's funny when I see celebrities on tv with their Fiji water bottles acting as if they are so smart and cool because it's "Fiji water." Chromium-6 was also a higher than expected chemical in my water too, and is apparently very easy to get into our water supply because it comes naturally from the environment like rocks and soil. The EPA needs to do more to the total amount of chromium-6 in drinking water.
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