German Spanish Korean Chinese Annual Water Quality Report ~ Published June 2009 June Published ~ Report Quality Water Annual In fact, our water was far better than required for most standards most for required than better far was water our fact, In met all drinking water standards for health and safety again this year. year. this again safety and health for standards water drinking all met Aqueduct Las Virgenes Municipal Water District District Water Municipal Virgenes Las California Water Quality Report for 2008 for Report Quality Water Sierra Mtn Snow Mtn Sierra Lake Oroville in northern California northern in Oroville Lake Drinking Water Quality Water Drinking The Story Behind Your Your Behind Story The LVMWD For More Information PRSRT STD Board of Directors US POSTAGE Division 1 LVMWD PAID NO HOLLYWOOD CA Customer Service Charles Caspary PERMIT #8 Phone: (818) 251-2200 President Fax: (818) 251-2109 Division 2 E-mail: [email protected] Glen Peterson Additional information about drinking water safety and Secretary standards can be found at: MWD Representative Division 3 California Department of Public Health EPA Safe Drinking Water Hotline Lee Renger Office of Drinking Water (800) 426-4791 Vice President 601 N. 7th St. www.epa.gov/safewater/standards.html Division 4 Sacramento, CA 94234-7320 (Information on how drinking water laws are www.cdph.ca.gov/certlic/drinkingwater/Pages/ established) Joseph M. Bowman default.aspx Board Member U.S. Environmental Protection Agency U.S. Centers for Disease Control Division 5 (EPA) and Prevention Jeff Smith Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water 1600 Clifton Road Treasurer 401 M Street, SW Atlanta, GA 30333 Washington, DC 20460 www.cdc.gov General Manager www.epa.gov/safewater/ (800) 311-3435 John R. Mundy Board Meetings are scheduled at 5 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month. See web site for meeting and agenda information. Las Virgenes Municipal Water District Potable Water Recycled Water Wastewater Treatment Biosolids Composting 4232 Las Virgenes Road Calabasas, CA 91302 818.251.2200 www.LVMWD.com Step 5 ~ Next our water flows into the Sacramento Dear Valued Customer: Bay – San Joaquin Delta. Originally a native marshland, As we enter a third year of reduced water supplies across much of this area was developed into farmland in the California, hardly a day passes without water being covered 1900s. This complex region contains 700 miles of riv- as a news topic. While there are no short-term solutions to ers and sloughs, and almost 550,000 acres of farmland, the challenge of stretching available supplies, as a community divided into more than 70 islands with 1,100 miles of we can respond by consciously deciding to be efficient users levees and roads. Salinity influx is a problem with tidal of water on a daily basis. Your conservation efforts are both influences; upstream reservoirs that store water and important and necessary. then release during the summer help stabilize and im- prove water quality. While the supply of available water has diminished, the quality has not. This publication is our annual report to you Step 6 ~ As the water continues south, it passes on the quality of the water we deliver to our customers. through the Skinner Fish Facility, built in 1966 - 1970. We take pride in the attention given to the quality of water Here, a giant screen helps protect fish by keeping that we serve. You may be confident your water is tested them away from the pumps that lift water into the and monitored on an ongoing basis. Over the last year, Las California Aqueduct. An average of 15 million fish Virgenes Municipal Water District (LVMWD) has added to its a year are diverted and returned to the Delta (via record of meeting stringent state and federal water quality oxygenated tank trucks). standards. In many measured categories, your water has performed at a level higher than the specified standards. Step 7 ~ Now the water begins to really In addition to the data tables in this report, I ask that you travel. At the Harvey O. Banks Pumping read the information on your water supply along with helpful Plant, built 1963 - 1969, water is lifted explanations on several topics of interest. 244 feet at the first of 6 pumping lifts. It enters the Bethany Reservoir. The importance of water in our lives is immeasurable. I invite you to stay informed on water issues through our website, Step 8 ~ Water flows through the www.LVMWD.com, our customer publication The Current San Joaquin Valley via the California Flow, which is included with each billing statement as well Aqueduct, a major State Water Proj- as being available online, and through our program of free ect (SWP) structure built from 1960 quarterly facility tours. Our customers are also welcome to - 1971. From Banks Pumping Plant attend meetings of the LVMWD Board of Directors, which to Lake Perris, the Aqueduct travels are scheduled on the second and fourth Tuesday of each 444 miles, ranging in depth from 7 to month at 5 p.m. at our Headquarters Building, 4232 Las 33 feet. Virgenes Road in Calabasas. Check the website for meeting schedule updates and agenda information. Step 9 ~ At the Tehachapi Moun- The journey water makes to our homes, schools and tains, the water faces a major obsta- businesses is complex, with many challenges. By reading this cle. At the A.D. Edmonston Pumping report, we hope you feel better informed about the many Plant, built 1965-1971, giant pumps steps we take to ensure you receive high quality drinking lift the water 1,926 feet (the highest water. If you have questions about any aspect of your water single lift pumping plant in the world) service, please call Customer Service at 818.251.2200. to enter 8.5 miles of tunnels and si- phons that cross the mountain range. Capable of pumping 1 acre-foot of water in about 2 minutes, the water flows into the Antelope Valley where John. R. Mundy the Aqueduct divides. General Manager Health Advisory for Persons with A Message about Drinking Water from the EPA Weakened Immune Systems water, including bottled water, may reasonably be expected to contain at least small amounts of people may be more vulnerable to con- Drinking Some some contaminants. The presence of contaminants does not necessarily indicate that the water poses a health taminants in drinking water than the general risk. You can learn more about contaminants and potential health effects by calling the U.S. Environmental population. Immune-compromised persons such Protection Agency’s Safe Drinking Water Hotline at (800) 426-4791 or www.epa.gov/safewater/. as those with cancer undergoing chemotherapy, persons who have undergone organ transplants, people The sources of drinking water (both tap water and bottled water) include rivers, lakes, streams, ponds, with HIV/AIDS or other immune system disorders; some elder- reservoirs, springs, and wells. As water travels over the surface of the land or through the ground, it ly, or infants can be particularly at risk from infections. These dissolves naturally-occurring minerals and, in some cases, radioactive material, and can pick up substances people should seek advice about drinking water from their resulting from the presence of animals or from human activity. health care providers. In order to ensure that tap water is safe to drink, U.S. EPA and the California Department of Public Some constituents are known to especially affect people with Health (formerly Department of Health Services) prescribe regulations that limit the amounts of certain weakened immune systems. This is the case with a microscopic contaminants in water provided by public water systems. Food and Drug Administration regulations establish parasite called, “Cryptosporidium” which can cause a life- limits for contaminants in bottled water that must provide the same protection for public health. threatening infection. Cryptosporidium is found in surface water (which comes from rivers, snowmelt, and streams as Contaminants that may be present in water before some treatment include: opposed to ground water from wells) and some occasionally pass into the treated water supply. Although Cryptosporidium y Inorganic contaminants, such as salts and stormwater runoff, and residential uses may be spread via drinking water, it is more commonly spread metals, that can be naturally occurring y Organic chemical contaminants, including through poor hygiene or contaminated foods. or come from urban stormwater runoff, synthetic and volatile organic chemicals that In 2008, there was no evidence of Cryptosporidium in water industrial or domestic wastewater discharges, are by-products of industrial processes and leaving Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s oil and gas production, mining or farming petroleum production, and can also come (MWD) Jensen Water Treatment Plant, which disinfects water y Microbial contaminants, such as viruses, from gas stations, urban stormwater runoff, supplied to LVMWD or at LVMWD’s Westlake Filtration Plant. bacteria and protozoa that may come from agricultural application, and septic systems Guidelines from EPA and the U.S. Centers for Disease sewage treatment plants, septic systems, y Radioactive contaminants, which can be Control and Prevention to reduce the risk of infection by agricultural livestock operations and wildlife Cryptosporidium and other microbial contaminants are naturally occurring or be the result of oil and available by calling EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Hotline at (800) y Pesticides and herbicides that may come from gas production and mining activities. 426-4791 or visiting www.epa.gov/safewater/. a variety of sources such as agriculture, urban Your Role in Protecting Water Supplies Over the past two years, news agencies have published stories regarding the detection Research has not yet been able to discern what effects, if any, there may be on human of trace levels of pharmaceuticals in water supplies across the nation.