2022 Annual Drinking Water Quality Report

Annual Drinking Water Quality Report

Lilly Borough Water Authority

January 1st thru December 31st, 2022

PWS ID# 4110046

Este informe contiene informacion muy importante sobre su agua de beber.  Traduzcalo o hable con alguien que lo entienda bien.  (This report contains very important information about your drinking water.  Translate it or speak with someone who understands it.)

     We are pleased to provide you with this year’s Annual Drinking Water Quality Report for Lilly Borough Water Authority.  We want to keep you informed about the excellent water and services we have delivered to you over the past year.  Our goal is and always has been to provide you with a safe and dependable supply of drinking water.

     If you have any questions about this report or concerning your water utility, please contact William Claar at the Lilly Borough Municipal Garage at (814) 886-7247.  We want our valued customers to be informed about their water utility.  If you want to learn more, please attend any of our regularly scheduled meetings.  They are held on the first Wednesday of the month at 6:00 P.M., at the Lilly Borough Municipal Building at 421 Main Street, Lilly, PA.

     The sources of drinking water (both tap water and bottled water) include rivers, lakes, streams, ponds reservoirs, springs, and wells.  As water travels over the surface of the land or through the ground, it dissolves naturally occurring minerals and, in some cases, radioactive material, and can pick up substances resulting from the presence of animals or from human activity.

Contaminants that may be present in source water include:

Microbial contaminants, such as viruses and bacteria, may come from sewage treatment plants, septic systems, agricultural livestock operations, and wildlife.

Inorganic contaminants, such as salts and metals, can be naturally occurring or result from urban storm water runoff, industrial or domestic wastewater discharges, oil and gas production, mining or farming.

Pesticides and herbicides, which may come from a variety of sources such as agriculture, urban storm water runoff, and residential uses.

Organic chemical contaminants, including synthetic and volatile organic chemicals, are byproducts of industrial processes and petroleum production, and can also, come from gas stations, urban storm water runoff, and septic systems.

Radioactive contaminants, which can be naturally occurring or be the result of oil and gas production and mining activities.

In order to ensure that tap water is safe to drink, EPA prescribes regulations which limit the number of certain contaminants in water provided by public water systems.  Food and Drug Administration regulations establish limits for contaminants in bottled water which must provide the same protection for the public health.

More information about contaminants and potential health effects can be obtained by calling the Environmental Protection Agency’s Safe Drinking Water Hotline at (1-800-426-4791).

     Lilly Borough routinely monitors constituents in your drinking water according to Federal and State laws.  The following table shows the results of our monitoring for the period of January 1st to December 31st, 2022.

.  All drinking water, including bottled drinking water may be reasonably expected to contain at least small amounts of some constituents.  It is important to remember that the presence of these constituents does not necessarily pose a health risk.

     In this table you will find many terms and abbreviations you might not be familiar with.  To help you better understand these terms, we have provided the following definitions.

Parts per million (ppm) or Milligrams per liter (mg/l) –one part per million corresponds to one minute in ten years or a single penny in $10,000.

Parts per billion (ppb) or Micrograms per liter – one part per billion corresponds to one minute in 2,000 years, or a single penny in 10,000,000.

Action Level – (mandatory language) the concentration of a contaminant which, if exceeded, triggers treatment or other requirements which a water system must follow.

Treatment Technique (TT) – (mandatory language) a treatment technique is a required process intended to reduce the level of a contaminant in drinking water.

Maximum Contaminant Level – (mandatory language) “The Maximum Allowed” (MCL) is the highest level of a contaminant that is allowed in drinking water.  MCLs are set as close to the MCLGs as feasible using the best available treatment technology.

Maximum Contaminant Level Goal – (mandatory language) The “Goal” (MCLG) is the level of a contaminant in drinking water below which there is not known or expected risk to health.  MCLGs allow for a margin of safety.

Picocuries per liter (pCi/L) – picocouries per liter is a measure of radioactivity.

DETECTED SAMPLE RESULTS                  TEST RESULTS FOR 2020

CONTAMINATDETECTEDMCLMCLGSOURCEVIOLATION
BARIUM0.2(ppm)2
CHROMIUM100
COPPER0.04(ppm)AL=1.31.3see belowNo
LEAD1.0(ppb)AL=150see belowNo
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      

MICROBIOLOGICAL CONTAMINANTS (NON-DETECTED SAMPLES) SAMPLES 2022

Total Coliform Bacteria    0.0 detected————- presence of coliform bacteria in 5% of the monthly samples.  They are naturally present in the environment.

**Barium-Runoff from fertilizer use. Discharge from metal refineries, runoff from waste batteries and paint.

**Chromium-Discharge from steel and pulp mills, erosion of natural deposits.

**Copper– Corrosion of household plumbing systems, erosion of natural deposits, leaching from wood preservations.

**Lead- Corrosion of household plumbing systems, erosion of natural deposits.

    Infants and young children are typically more vulnerable to lead in drinking water than the general population.  It is possible that lead levels at your home may be higher than at other homes in the community as a result of material used in your home’s plumbing.  If you are concerned about elevated lead levels in your home’s water, you may wish to have your water tested and flush your tap for 30 seconds to 2 minutes before using tap water.  Additional information is available from the Safe Drinking Water Hotline (1-800-426-4791).

     MCLs are set at very stringent levels for health effects.   To understand the possible health effects described for many regulated constituents, a person would have to drink 2 liters of water every day at the MCL level for a lifetime to have a one-in-a-million chance of having the described health effect.

     Total Coliform: The Coliform Rule requires water systems to meet a stricter limit for coliform bacteria.  Coliform bacteria are usually harmless, but their presence in water can be an indication of disease-causing bacteria.  When found, special follow-up tests are done to determine if harmful bacteria are present in the water supply.  If the limit is exceeded, the water supplier must notify the public by newspaper, television, or radio.

     Lead:  Lead in drinking water is rarely the sole cause of lead poisoning, but it can add to a person’s total lead exposure.  All potential sources of lead in the household should be identified and removed, replaced, or reduced.

     Some people may be more vulnerable to contaminants in drinking water than the general population.  Immune-compromised persons such as persons with cancer undergoing chemotherapy, persons who have undergone organ transplants, people with HIV/AIDS or other immune system disorders,  some elderly and infants can be particularly at risk for infections. These people should seek advice about drinking water from their health care providers.  EPA/CDC guidelines on appropriate means to lessen the risk of infection by cryptosporidium and other microbiological contaminants are available from the Safe Drinking Hotline (1-800-426-4791).

     Lilly Borough water supply consists of two (2) drilled wells in the Mauch Chunk Aquifer.  The water is pumped from the wells to a 500,000 gallon (finished) water storage tank.  The water is treated by a gas chlorination system with control equipment.  The water authority is currently required to make certain tests to check the quality of the water.

     These tests have shown that the system is in compliance as required by Federal and State requirements.

If you have any questions, please call Lilly Borough Water Authority at (814) 886-7247 or (814) 886-7227.