Water Department

Dixfield Water Department 236 Main St. • PO Box 808 • Dixfield, Maine • 04224 Phone: 207-562-4654 Office Hours: 8:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Annual Drinking Water Quality Report for 2005 Dixfield Water & Sewer Departments Dixfield, Maine PWSID ME0090460
We're pleased to present to you our Annual Drinking Water Quality Report. This report, a requirement of the 1996 amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act, is designed to inform you about the quality water and services we deliver to you every day. Our constant goal is to provide you with a safe and dependable supply of drinking water. We want you to understand the efforts we make to continually improve the water treatment process and protect our water resources. We are committed to ensuring the quality of your water.
Water Source      Since 1997, the Dixfield Water Department has drawn its water from 2 gravel packed wells located 150' from Newton Brook on Canton Point Rd. We filter the water through a process called direct or conventional filtration, aeration for pH adjustment/corrosion control, treat the water from both wells with chlorine to protect against potential bacteriological contaminants and add fluoride to promote dental health. Source Water Assessment      The sources of drinking water include rivers, lakes, ponds, and wells. As water travels over the surface of the land or through the ground, it dissolves naturally occurring minerals and radioactive material and can pick up substances resulting from human or animal activity. The Maine Drinking Water Program (DWP) has evaluated all public water supplies as part of the Source Water Assessment Program (SWAP). The assessments included geology, hydrology, land uses, water testing information, and the extent of land ownership or protection by local ordinance to see how likely our drinking water source is to being contaminated by human activities in the future. Assessment results are available at public water suppliers, town offices, and the DWP. For more information about the SWAP, please contact the DWP at telephone 287-2070. If you have any questions about this report or concerning your water utility, please contact Darlene Brann at telephone number 207-562-4654 or mailing address PO Box 808, Dixfield, ME 04224. We want our valued customers to be informed about their water utility. If you want to learn more, please attend any of our regularly scheduled meetings. They are held on the second Monday in the months of January, April, July, and October. The meetings are at the Town Office located at 46 Main Street.	Water Quality     Dixfield Water and Sewer Department routinely monitors for constituents in your drinking water according to Federal and State laws. The following table shows any detection resulting from our monitoring for the period of January 1 st to December 31 st , 2005. * In 2005 , due to efforts to protect the water supply, we applied for and were granted a three-year waiver for synthetic organics (Phase II/V) testing. This is an exemption from the testing/monitoring requirements for pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and other industrial chemicals; the state of Maine Drinking Water Program grants a waiver only upon a finding that "it will not result in an unreasonable risk to health." We have learned through our monitoring and testing that some constituents have been detected. Please see the table below for results. *If no tests were required for a given contaminant in 2005, the law requires that the most recent test results be included here. No test results over 5 years old are allowed, however. Some or all of the following contaminants were tested for as regulated by law. Other elements are also tested for which do not require reporting, as they do not pose a potential health risk. Contaminants Test Results

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Definitions:

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

Maximum Contaminant Level - (MCL) is 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 - (MCLG) is 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, Exemptions, and Waivers - State or EPA permission not to meet an MCL, a treatment technique or test for a given contaminant under certain conditions.

Treatment Technique (TT) - A required process intended to reduce the level of a contaminant in drinking water (e.g. treatment technique for turbidity).

Nephelometric Turbidity 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.

N/A - not applicable

Units:

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 (µg/L) - 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) - A measure of the radioactivity in water.

Notes:

Total Coliform Bacteria: Reported as the highest monthly number of positive samples, for water systems that take < 40 samples per month.

Gross Alpha: Action level over 5 pCi/L requires testing for Radium. Action level over 15 pCi/L requires testing for Radon and Uranium.

Radon: The State of Maine currently recommends follow-up action (treatment) for Radon levels in drinking water above 20,000 pCi/L. The U.S. EPA is proposing setting lower standards for public drinking water.

Lead/Copper: Action levels are measured at consumer's tap. 90% of the tests must be equal to or below the action level.

Fluoride: Fluoride levels must be maintained between 1-2 ppm, for those water systems that fluoridate the water.

Nitrate: Nitrate in drinking water at levels above 10 ppm is a health risk for infants of less than six months of age. High nitrate levels in drinking water can cause blue baby syndrome. Nitrate levels may rise quickly for short periods of time because of rainfall or agricultural activity. If you are caring for an infant you should ask advice from your health care provider.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

All sources of drinking water are subject to potential contamination by constituents that are naturally occurring or are man made. Those constituents can be microbes, organic or inorganic chemicals, or radioactive materials. All drinking water, including bottled water, may reasonably be expected to contain at least small amounts of some contaminants. The presence of contaminants does not necessarily indicate that the water poses a health risk. Contaminants that may be present in source water include:

Microbial contaminants , such as viruses and bacteria, which may come from sewage treatment plants, septic systems, agricultural livestock operations, and wildlife. Inorganic contaminants , such as salts and metals, which can be naturally occurring or result from urban stormwater runoff, industrial or domestic wastewater discharges, oil and gas production, mining, or farming. Pesticides and herbicides , which may come from a variety of sources such as agriculture, urban stormwater runoff, and residential uses. Organic chemical contaminants , including synthetic and volatile organic chemicals, which are by-products of industrial processes and petroleum production and can also come from gas stations, urban runoff, and septic systems. More information about contaminants and potential health effects can be obtained by calling the Environmental Protection Agency's Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1-800-426-4791.

MCL's are set at very stringent levels. To understand the possible health effects described for many regulated constituents, a person would have to drink 2 liters of water every day at the MCL level for a lifetime to have a one-in-ten thousand chance of having the described health effect.

Some people may be more vulnerable to contaminants in drinking water than the general population. Immuno-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. EPA/CDC guidelines on appropriate means to lessen the risk of infection by cryptosporidium and other microbiological contaminants are available from the Safe Drinking Water Hotline (800-426-4791).

We, at Dixfield Water and Sewer Department, work around the clock to provide top quality water to every tap. We ask that all our customers help us protect our water sources, which are the heart of our community, our way of life, and our children's future. Please contact us with any questions.

 

Download pdf version of this report.

 Emergency Beeper Number
364-7911 (Numeric Phone Numbers Only)


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