Shenandoah, VA "Daughter of the Stars"!

Annual Drinking Water Quality Report

Town of Shenandoah

INTRODUCTION

This Annual Drinking Water Quality Report for calendar year 2013 is designed to provide you with valuable information about your drinking water quality. We are committed to providing you with a safe and dependable supply of drinking water, and we want you to understand the efforts we make to protect your water supply. The quality of your drinking water meets all state and federal requirements administered by the Virginia Department of Health (VDH).

If you have questions about this report, want additional information about any aspect of your drinking water, or want to know how to participate in decisions that may affect the quality of your drinking water, please contact;

Mr. Larry Dovel, Town Manager, at 540-652-8164

You can obtain additional information by attending Town Council meetings held at 7 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month in the Town Council Chambers.

GENERAL INFORMATION

As water travels over the surface of the land or through the ground, it dissolves naturally occurring minerals and can pick up substances resulting from the presence of animals or from human activity. Substances (referred to as contaminants) in source water may come from septic systems, discharges from domestic or industrial wastewater treatment facilities, agricultural and farming activities, urban storm water runoff, residential uses, and many other types of activities. Water from surface sources is treated to make it drinkable while groundwater may or may not have any treatment.

All drinking water, including bottled drinking water, may reasonably be expected to contain at least small amounts of some contaminants. The presence of contaminants does not necessarily indicate that water poses a health risk. More information can be obtained by calling the Environmental Protection Agency's Safe Drinking Water Hotline (800-426-4791).

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 from infections. These people should seek advice about drinking water from their health care providers. EPAICDC guidelines on appropriate means to lessen the risk of infection by cryptosporidium and other microbiological contaminants are available from the Safe Drinking Water Hotline (800-426-4191).

SOURCES AND TREATMENT OF YOUR DRINKING WATER

Your drinking water is a combination of groundwater and Surface influenced groundwater obtained from three drilled wells. Water is distributed throughout the community by gravity using two storage tanks and varying sized distribution piping.

Treatment is provided for Well No. S (Twelfth Street). Well No. 5 treatment consists of cartridge filtration and chlorination. Treatment is accomplished by using series operated cartridge filtration units to remove turbidity and bacteria, and a solution chlorinator to disinfect the water prior to distribution. No treatment is provided for Well Nos. 2 (Tenth Street) and 3 [Trenton Street).

SOURCE WATER ASSESSMENTS

A source water assessment has been completed by the Virginia Department of Health (VDH). The assessment determined that the wells serving our community may be susceptible to contamination because they are located in an area that promotes migration of contaminants from certain land use activities of concern. More specific information may be obtained by contacting the water system representative referenced within this report.

QUALITY OF YOUR DRINKING WATER

Your drinking water is routinely monitored according to Federal and State Regulations for a variety of contaminants. The table on the next page shows the results of our monitoring for the period of January l, 2013 to December 31, 2013. Most of the results in the table are from testing done in 2013. However, the state allows us to monitor for some contaminants less than once per year because the concentrations of these contaminants do not change frequently. Some of our data, though accurate, is more than one year old.

DEFINITIONS

In the table and elsewhere in this report you will find many terms and abbreviations you might not be familiar with. The following definitions are provided to help you better understand these terms:

Non-detects {ND} - lab analysis indicates that the contaminant is not present

Parts per million (ppm) or Milligrams per liter (mg/l) - one part per million corresponds to one minute in two 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.

Picocuries per liter (pCi/L) - picocuries per liter is a measure of the radioactivity in water.

Nephelometric Turbinity Unit: (NTU) - nephelometric turbidity unit is a measure of the clarity of water. Turbidity in excess of 5 NTU is just noticeable to the average person.

Action Level - the concentration of a contaminant which, if exceeded, triggers treatment or other requirements which a water system must follow.

Treatment Technique (TT) - a required process intended to reduce the level of a contaminant in drinking water.

Maximum Contaminant Level or MCL - 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, or MCLG - the level of a contaminant in drinking water below which there

is no known or expected risk to health. MCLGs allow for a margin of safety.

Variances and exemptions - state or EPA permission not to meet an MCL or a frequent technique under certain conditions.

Entry Point (EP) — place where water from the source or sources after the application of any treatment is delivered to the distribution system.

WATER QUALITY RESULTS

We constantly monitor for various contaminants in the water supply to meet all regulatory requirements. The tables list only those contaminants that had some level of detection. Many other contaminants have been analyzed but were not present or were below the detection limits of the lab equipment.

Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCL‘s) are set s.t very stringent levels by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In developing the standards EPA assumes that the average adult drinks 2 liters of water each day throughout a 70-year life span. EPA generally sets MCL‘s at levels that will result in no adverse health effects for some  contaminants or a one-in-ten-thousand to one-in-a-million chance of having the described health effect for other contaminants.