Drinking Water
Benchmarks, Standards and Guidlines Established to Protect Public Health
In addition to routine monitoring conducted by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, EPA sampled drinking water from 13 water mains under city streets in lower Manhattan on September 15. New York City receives about 1.3 billion gallons of drinking water each day from reservoirs north of the city. Samples are typically taken at water main distribution points, not at the tap. The samples were analyzed for a wide range of potential drinking water contaminants, including PCBs, metals and bacteria.
No contaminants were detected above federal Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs), drinking water standards set to protect human health.
This map shows water monitoring stations in the lower Manhattan area. Summary information common to all samples taken is provided in the table below; therefore, the map does not link to individual site data.
![map of water monitoring stations in New York](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081107044143im_/http://epa.gov/wtc/images/manhattan_water.gif)
Date | Parameter | Result |
15-SEP-2001 | Metals | All results below federal MCL |
15-SEP-2001 | Pesticides | All results below federal MCL |
15-SEP-2001 | PCBS | All results below federal MCL |
15-SEP-2001 | BNAs | All results below federal MCL |
15-SEP-2001 | VOCs/THM | All results below federal MCL |
15-SEP-2001 | HAA | All results below federal MCL |
15-SEP-2001 | Total Coliform | All results below federal MCL |
15-SEP-2001 | e. coli | All results below federal MCL |
15-SEP-2001 | Heterotrophic Plate Count (HPC) | All results below federal MCL |
15-SEP-2001 | Color | Within secondary MCL |
15-SEP-2001 | Fluoride | Within secondary MCL |
15-SEP-2001 | pH | Within secondary MCL |
15-SEP-2001 | Free Chlorine | Adequate disinfection |
15-SEP-2001 | Radionuclides | All results below federal MCL |
The information contained in this database should be considered provisional and may be subject to adjustment upon final analysis.