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Our Water Quality
More than 2,000 women and men of the Philadelphia Water Department work around the clock to make sure that a safe, high-quality of water is always on tap. Our commitment to providing a safe and abundant supply of water is our commitment to all of our customers, both large and small.
Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) The Safe Drinking Water Act deals with the treatment and standards that ensure our tap water is safe and uncontaminated.
This Act passed, in 1974 and recently amended in 1996, directs the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue national Primary Drinking Water Regulations for all public water systems having at least 15 service connections or regularly serving at least 25 people. The Act sets standards aimed to control substances that can pose a threat to health when present in certain quantities in drinking water.
Since the Safe Drinking Water Act was passed more than 25 years ago, Philadelphia's unblemished record for drinking water quality has consistently met or has out-performed all physical, chemical, radiological and bacterial water quality standards established by the EPA. The Philadelphia Water Department's three water treatment plants, Samuel S. Baxter, Queen Lane and Belmont, as well as our Bureau of Laboratory Services are responsible for ensuring the safety of Philadelphia's drinking water supply.
Drinking Water Quality Philadelphia's drinking water is drawn from our two rivers, the Delaware and Schuylkill. From fighting fires, to cooking, to watering lawns, the Philadelphia Water Department is responsible for delivering reliable and safe water to more than 1.6 million people in Philadelphia and Lower Bucks County. Our three modern water treatment plants -- Baxter, Belmont and Queen Lane -- have a combined, design-rated capacity to treat 540 million gallons of water per day.
Throughout the water treatment process, our plant technicians analyze the water, monitoring its quality. Supported by the very latest in advanced chemical analysis equipment, our environmental laboratories examine over 12,000 samples of water each year collected from our reservoirs at more than 65 locations across the City. Each sample undergoes an average of five (5) tests to ensure that our customers enjoy safe water, free from contamination.
Our Yearly Drinking Water Quality Reports
Water Quality Goals 2000 The highest responsibility of the Philadelphia Water Department is to ensure the safety of Philadelphia's drinking water supply. Throughout our nearly 200-year history, we have been among the nation's leaders in drinking water quality, and we continue active research and advanced treatment initiatives to build on this tradition. In 1995, we convened a national experts' workshop to evaluate our practices and to develop recommendations for further optimization.
This initiative, in turn, led to the development of the Water Quality Goals for the Year 2000, a comprehensive strategy for enhancing drinking water treatment. As further reinforced by our voluntary membership in the Partnership for Safe Water, we have already achieved improvements that put Philadelphia well ahead of the national curve.
Partnership for Safe Drinking Water Philadelphia's drinking water currently meets or is better than all physical, chemical, radiological and bacterial water quality standards established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
In fact, we already use multi-barrier water management and treatment practices far more rigorous than those required by State and federal law. Nevertheless, we are taking every reasonable step to guard against outbreaks of water contamination.
In January 1996, the Water Department signed an agreement to join the national Partnership for Safe Water, a joint program of the EPA and the drinking water industry. Following Partnership guidelines, we are evaluating each of our treatment processes to identify further improvements in practices that are already far more rigorous than required by State or federal law.
For example, we have cut the "turbidity" of the City's finished drinking water significantly. Turbidity, a measure of the cloudiness of water related to its particle content, is often used as a proxy for water purity.
In 1994, the turbidity of the water produced by the City's three drinking water plants was already well below the State and federal regulatory requirement. However, the Partnership for Safe Water program established a much more stringent goal, and, by 1996, we were meeting this goal at all three of our plants.
By 1998, we exceeded this new standard and attaining levels eight to ten times better than required by regulations. The EPA recognized all three of Philadelphia's drinking water treatment plants in 1998, as the 29th, 30th, and 31st facilities in the nation of the 300 water treatment plants involved in the program to achieve Partnership "Phase III" goals for completing self-assessment and peer review.
Pilot Plant Research In late 1997, the Department launched a research program to help meet our long-term goals for further improving water quality by establishing pilot plants at our Samuel S. Baxter and Belmont Water Treatment Plants.
In our first year of research using the pilot plants, we have focused on strategies for optimizing our current operations. Through the pilot-scale studies for example, we have evaluated the impact of changes in the amount of and application points for chlorine used in the treatment process, helping our plant managers to achieve near-term water taste and quality improvements.
In subsequent stages of the research, we will be testing Philadelphia's source water using alternative, highly advanced water treatment technologies such as ozonation, which will help us to assess treatment options for the next century. Through such advanced research, we can prepare to cost-effectively meet anticipated future regulatory mandates, and ensure that we are positioned to continue providing high quality drinking water for our customers.
Meeting the Lead Standards Philadelphia's water quality continues to meet all state and federal standards. The Philadelphia Water Department successfully passed its most current round of water quality testing for lead at customers' Taps. Here are the results of the most recent testing completed, as well as those previously reported:
* According to Lead and Copper Rule, the Philadelphia Water Department was required to test in 100 high risk homes in 1992-1997 and in 50 high risk homes in 1998-2005. PWD also tested for lead in more homes than required under the Lead and Copper Rule. Philadelphia's 3,000-mile water distribution system does not contain lead products and the treated drinking water supply is virtually lead-free.
However, Philadelphia is an old city. Homes built around the turn-of-the-century had some lead pipes for plumbing and lead service lines were commonly installed until 1950. These pipes can still dissolve lead into drinking water. In addition, plumbing in homes built prior to 1987 probably have copper pipes joined with lead-based solders.
Homes with lead services lines and homes with internal water supply plumbing containing lead-based solders are at most risk for lead leaching into the drinking water.
The Philadelphia Water Department has standardized corrosion control practices at our water treatment plants, zinc orthophosphate is now added at all three plants. This minimizes the amount of lead that will dissolve from home plumbing systems.
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Learn About Lead It is important to minimize the intake of lead from dust inhalation, food, and water. Children are particularly susceptible to the health effects of lead poisoning. Lead is most commonly found in dust, paint and contaminated soil. To a lesser extent, lead can also occur in tap water.
Components of plumbing may have lead in them. You may be surprised to learn that brass fixtures, valves and faucets contain lead. Many homes still have leaded solder that was once used to join copper pipe together. Some homes in Philadelphia still have lead service lines and, when disturbed, these lines can contribute to lead in tap water.
The Philadelphia Water Department's primary role in helping you minimize your intake of lead is to reduce the effects of tap water on materials that contain lead. Water is corrosive and encourages the dissolving of lead from these materials.
The Philadelphia Water Department has a permit with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for operating under optimized corrosion control. Under this permit we maintain the pH of water between 6.8 and 7.8. We also maintain the amount of the corrosion inhibitor, zinc orthophosphate, at greater than 0.12 mg/L (0.12 ppm) as phosphorus. These conditions minimize lead leaching from plumbing materials.
Currently, every three years the Philadelphia Water Department tests for tap water lead at more than 50 representative taps of vulnerable homes in the city. We do this according to the requirement of the EPA's Lead and Copper Rule. The testing results are used to determine if our corrosion control treatment technique is working, so that water has minimum potential for lead to leach from plumbing materials. So far, our test results show that our treatment techniques keep lead levels to a minimum.
However, this could change in any year because Philadelphia is required to meet other regulations for tap water quality. Sometimes these water quality changes can affect the corrosion potential of the water. If such a change were to occur, the Philadelphia Water Department would notify its customers of the change while it works to return to minimum corrosion conditions again.
Water utilities all over the country are in the same position as Philadelphia, trying to balance all of the regulatory requirements and changes at one time so that their customers receive the best quality water possible. We are committed to reducing the corrosive effects of plumbing and lead levels in water, and our treatment processes to date are successfully reducing lead levels in drinking water at your tap.
Learn How to Check Your Water Service Line for Lead, or call us at (215) 685-6300 and ask for free copies of "Lead-Free Kids, Lead-Free Homes". |
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