In the July newsletter our Public Works Director, Rod Hainey, wrote about water quality in Meadows Place. You can read about it below.
Public Works – In the News, Water Quality Issues
“Recently, in the News there was a notice directed at the residents of a neighboring community – Possible Water Quality issues related to taste and odor.
What does this mean? And why? Who does this effect and most importantly, how does this effect the City of Meadows Place residents?
The good news is that Meadows Place will not have any issues related to this notice, the notice has been directed to consumers that are using Surface Water sources and we are still on Ground water source.
Ground Water is pumped from the Aquifer below ground, from a depth of 800 – 1000 feet. This water is high in mineral content and in general is free of any harmful contaminates. On an annual basis the source water in Meadows Place, is tested and the results are compiled in the Consumer Confidence report (CCR). This report can be found on the City Web site and updated version is posted annually. The list of tests includes Lead, Copper, Arsenic, Fluoride, Radioactive and Volatile organic compounds, and Chlorine residual levels in the water (The CCR shows the complete list). We are happy to report that NONE of the tested contaminates exceeded the Maximum Contaminate Level set by the TCEQ (EPA). Water is Natures solvent and will dissolve a small amount of anything that it meets, so as the water moves through the ground it will pick up a little bit of everything. Drinking water, including bottled water, may reasonably be expected to contain at least small amounts of contaminants. The presence of contaminates does not necessarily indicate that water poses a health risk.
To answer the original question about Taste and Odor issues in the drinking water, we need to recognize there are two different sources of drinking water, Ground water and Surface water. In the past most all the Public Water Supply came from Ground Water. And today to address declining water tables (Throughout Fort Bend, Harris, and Montgomery County) and subsidence issues, the source is changing to Surface water. The major difference in the two sources is how the drinking water is disinfected. Ground water uses free chlorine and Surface water uses Total chlorine. When the two different sources are mixed, there is a chemical interaction that results in taste and odor issues. Most of which can be related back to the high mineral scaling of the old pipes, the new mixture will cause a de-scaling of the minerals within the drinking water system. The water is still safe to drink it will just have a high concentration of the minerals than normal.
Meadows Place has Ground Water as it’s only source and there are no plans to make any changes to our drinking water source.
We have three operational water wells, and we can meet our high summertime demand with two well with a spare.
Water is Life.
Every living creature needs it to survive.
Choose to conserve!”