City of Heppner

Annual Drinking Water Quality Report

May 25, 2011 for the year of 2010

The City of Heppner is pleased to provide you with this year’s Annual Water Quality Report. It is our responsibility to keep you informed about the water and services we have delivered to you over the past year. It is our goal here at the City of Heppner to provide you with a safe Drinking water system and information on the Quality of the water we all drink.

Where’s my water coming from?

Your water primarily comes from 12 miles up Willow Creek from a deep basalt well which is in the Willow Creek aquifer; we call this Well #1. Well #1 produces around 100GPM (Gallons per Minute) in the winter and around 165GPM in the summer. Well#2 is just 2miles down the creek from Well #1; it runs only in the summer months to keep up with high demand from the city and occasionally in the winter for testing purposes. Well #3 is down the creek 9 miles from Well #1. It also runs most often in the summer but is also occasionally ran in the winter for testing purposes. All water then runs into Reservoir #1 and into town it also runs up into Reservoir #2 then it gets pumped into Reservoir #3. Most of the distribution system inside the City was replaced in 2005 & 2006. It did leave us with some old piping still in service.

Where do I go or who do I call for questions?

If you have any questions or concerns you can call City Hall (541-676-9618). You are welcome to attend City Council meetings which are on the second Monday of the month at 7:00 pm in City Hall and the Utility Commission meetings on the third Thursday of the month at 8:00am also at City Hall. You may also review the City of Heppner Source Water Assessment during City Hall’s normal business hours (9:00 am to 5:00 pm).

What is in my water?

The City of Heppner routinely monitors for contaminants in your drinking water as required by both federal and state laws. As your water you drink travels it may pick substances such as microbes, inorganic and organic chemicals, and radioactive substances. The only microbes the City tests for are coliform, other microbe’s cryptosporidium and shigella have not been found in our drinking water system. Radioactive elements we test for are Radium and Uranium. Radioactive decay products we test for are Alpha and Beta. (Gamma is not tested for) ALL drinking water including BOTTLED water may be reasonably expected to contain at least small amounts of some contaminates. Please keep in mind that the presence of these contaminants does not necessarily pose a health risk.   

What else should I know?

You should also know about TOTAL COLIFORM. Coliform bacteria are usually harmless, but their presence in water can be a indication of disease-causing bacteria such as fecal coliform.  The total coliform rule requires water systems to meet a strict limit for coliform bacteria which are either present or absent. When coliform bacteria are present, special follow-up samples are done to determine if harmful bacteria are present in the water supply. If the resample are positive for coliform, the water supplier (City of Heppner) must notify the public by newspaper, television or radio. To comply with this strict regulation, we have increased the amount of chlorine in the distribution system. The City of Heppner had no Total Coliforms or E-Coli present in our drinking water during the year of 2010.

What is a MCL?

The MCLs are set at very stringent levels; basically a person would have to drink two liters of water every day at the MCL level for a life time to have a one-in-a-million chance of having health effect. The table on the next page defines several terms used. 

• ACTION LEVEL: the concentration of a contaminant which, if exceeded, triggers treatment or other requirements which a water system must follow.
• MAXIMUM CONTAMINENT LEVEL(MCL) : the “Maximum Allowed” (MCL) is the highest level of a contaminant that is allowed in drinking water. MCLs are set as close to MCLGs as feasible using the best available treatment technology.
• MAXIMUM CONTAMINANT LEVEL GOAL (MCLG) : the “Goal” is the level of a contaminant in drinking water below which there is no known or expected risk to health. MCLGs allow for margin of safety.        
• NITRATES: As a precaution we always notify physicians and health care providers in this area if there ever is a higher than normal of nitrates in the water supply.
• 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.
• MG/L:  Milligrams per Liter is a term we use for expressing the concentration of a chemical or a contaminant in our water system.  This term is often referred to as parts per million. That corresponds to one minute in two years or a single penny in $10,000.  
• Parts per billion (ppb) or Micrograms per liter (ug/l) one part per billion corresponds to one minute in 2,000 years or a single penny in $10 million.
• Picocuries per liter (pCi/l) is a measure of the radioactivity in water.
• Non-Detects (ND) laboratory analysis indicates that the contiminate is not present at the detection level.

What else do you sample for?

The City of Heppner samples for many contaminants throughout the year, not all of the contaminants we monitor are sampled for every year. The table on this next page will show what the City of Heppner monitors for.

*Ten residential sites will be sampled in 2011
*ND = Non Detection
*ppb=Parts per Billion
*pCI/L=Picuries per liter

POTENTIAL SOURCES OF CONTAMINATION

• *Disinfection Byproducts are By-products of drinking water chlorination
• *Disinfection Byproducts will be sampled in 2011

WILL PEOPLE WITH SPECIAL NEEDS BE AFFECTED?

Yes some people may be more vulnerable to contaminants in drinking water than the general population. Immunocompromised 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 from infections. These people should seek advice about drinking water from their health care providers. EPA/CDC guidelines on appropriate means to lesson the risk of infection by cryptosporidium and other microbiological contaminants are available from the Safe Drinking Water Hotline (800-426-4791)

CLOSING

Thank you for allowing The City of Heppner to continue to provide your family with safe drinking water each year. In order for us to maintain a high level of service sometimes we need to do improvements that will benefit you the consumer. Again we at the City of Heppner are always working around the clock to provide the best quality of service to every tap. We would like to ask all of you the consumers to help protect our water sources, which is the heart of this beautiful little city, our way of life, and also our children’s future.