Ensuring Safe, Reliable, High-Quality Drinking Water

By Kim Adamson, General Manager for Soquel Creek Water District

One of Soquel Creek Water District’s top priorities is providing all of our customers with a safe and reliable supply of water that can be used with confidence. We test for over 130 constituents in order to ensure our water meets local, state, and federal drinking water standards.

As I may have said in a past column or community presentation I’ve given – water on this planet is used and re-used. Throughout the US and abroad, one city’s river source of drinking water is another city’s discharge of wastewater upstream. One community’s groundwater system isn’t just made of the rain that’s fallen. It includes the minerals and contaminants that are either naturally occurring underground or contaminated by man. Chemicals and pollution to our oceans, rivers, and watersheds are challenges that water agencies face and there are strict guidelines and regulations in place by the state and federal government to monitor, measure, and ensure that high quality water is produced.

This month I want to focus on water quality and recent issues that we’re working on in the Mid-County region.

Chromium 6 Treatment: The District’s innovative Chromium 6 pilot treatment facility continues to be on-track to successfully meet the new state requirements. The Chromium 6 detected in our water supply is a naturally occurring metallic element found in rocks, soils, and plants. There was no industrial spill or discharge. Scientists have estimated that up to 80% of the drinking water sources in the US could have Chromium 6.

In July 2014, California tightened the Chromium 6 standard to a maximum of 10 parts per billion (ppb). The District board set our local goal to be one-fifth of the State’s requirement (2 ppb) for our water supply and we’re aiming to meet that. The pilot treatment system is located at the San Andreas well site near Hwy 1 and San Andreas Road. The facility showcases an innovative ion exchange technology that the District evaluated after being awarded grant funding by the Water Research Foundation in 2013. It’s the first time this technology has been used in the US, and the pilot results have been extremely impressive. The current facility is temporary until the District constructs a larger, permanent facility that will be operational by October 2016.

Seawater Intrusion Monitoring: The District maintains and monthly measures groundwater levels and water quality samples from over 70 monitoring wells. Neighboring agencies such as Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency and the City of Santa Cruz also conduct monitoring.

The local agencies use this data to track the areas where seawater intrusion has occurred at the coastline. While seawater intrusion has been detected on both coastal sides of the District (Pleasure Point area and La Selva Beach), it has not been detected in any of the District’s production wells. This is a very important issue for our Mid-County region because if seawater intrusion moves more inland, it has the potential to contaminate the drinking water wells of the District and other pumpers (municipal and private).

Emerging Constituents: Some of our customers have recently shared concerns they have about emerging constituents (ECs), which are chemicals discovered in water that were not previously detected or are being detected at new levels. Examples of these are prescription drugs, personal care products, food additives and common household chemicals that enter our water supply when they go down the drain or get flushed in our homes.

Emerging constituents may be found in all sources of water — including surface water (like streams), groundwater basins, ocean water and wastewater. Federal and state authorities have not yet established an official water quality standard, approved a standard analytical method, or required routine monitoring and reporting. The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment and the US Environmental Protection Agency have primary legal responsibility for making the necessary risk assessments and recommending appropriate water quality standards for all chemicals including ECs.

The District will continue to track this on a state and federal level. More close to home, we are scheduling an informational presentation on Emerging Constituents at an upcoming Board meeting so that our board, staff, and our community can learn more about this topic.

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For more information on water quality, please visit our website at www.soquelcreekwater.org/water-quality or contact me at 831-475-8500 or kima@soquelcreekwater.org. The District strives to provide safe, reliable, high-quality drinking water to our customers and the mid-county community.