Sunapee Water System 2nd Quarter TTHM Violation
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR DRINKING WATER
Sunapee’s Drinking Water Contains High Levels of Disinfection By-Products
NOTICE OF STANDARD MAXIMUM CONTAMINANT LEVEL (MCL) VIOLATION
The Sunapee water system recently violated drinking water standards. Although this is not an emergency, as our customers, you have a right to know what happened, what you should do and what we are doing to correct this situation.
We are required to monitor your drinking water for specific contaminants on a regular basis. The locational running annual average (LRAA) is determined by averaging all the samples collected at a particular monitoring location during the previous four calendar quarters. The LRAA standard for Total Trihalomethanes (TTHM) is 0.080 mg/L. The Testing results for the 2nd quarter of 2019 showed that our system had exceeded the maximum contaminant level for TTHM when calculating the LRAA.
The LRAA of TTHM exceeded the MCL of 0.080 mg/L at our system’s sampling location.
The LRAA was ___0.094 mg/L_______
What does this mean?
This is not an emergency. If it had been, you would have been notified immediately. However, some people who drink water containing trihalomethanes in excess of the MCL over many years may experience problems with their liver, kidney or central nervous system and may have an increased risk of getting cancer.
What should I do?
It is not necessary to use alternate water; however, if you have specific health concerns, please contact your health care professional. General health related questions may be directed to Dave Gordon of the NHDES Environmental Health Program at (603) 271-4608.
Steps We Are Taking: The Sunapee Water & Sewer Commission has entered into a contract with their consultant to design an ultraviolet disinfection process for the Sunapee Slow Sand Filter Plant and integrate the use of chloramines into the existing plant configuration if feasible. The Commission is still collaborating with NH DES and their consultant in hopes of resolving this problem as quickly as possible.
We had anticipated resolving the problem within the first six months but have been unsuccessful in resolving it with the methods that were tried. We are however anticipating the problem will be resolved within the next year. For more information, please contact David Bailey, Superintendent of The Sunapee Water and Sewer Department at 603-763-2115 or P.O. Box 347, Sunapee, NH 03782
Please share this information with all the other people who drink this water, especially those who may not have received this notice directly (for example, people in apartments, nursing homes, schools and businesses). You can do this by posting this notice in a public place or distributing copies by hand or mail.
PWS ID: 2271010 Date Distributed: July 26, 2019