Annual Drinking Water Quality Report

Boone County Water District—July 1, 2008

We’re pleased to present to you this year’s Annual Quality Water Report. This report is designed to inform you about the quality water and services we deliver 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.

We purchased our water in 2007 from the Boone Florence Water Commission (BFWC)/Greater Cincinnati Water Works (GCWW), which is treated surface water from the Ohio River. This 30 million gallon a day system should meet our future community needs past the year 2020.

If you have any questions about this report or concerning your water utility, please contact Phillip Trzop at 859-586-6155. I’m pleased to report that our drinking water is safe and meets federal and state requirements. We want our valued customers to be informed about their water quality. If you want to learn more, please attend any of our regularly scheduled meetings or visit our web site at boonewater@aol.com. Meetings are held on the second Monday of each month at the District Office located at 2475 Burlington Pike, Burlingtonat 12 0’Clock Noon.

The Boone County Water District routinely monitors for contaminants in your drinking water according to Federal and State laws. This table shows the results of our monitoring for the period of January 1st to December 31st, 2007.

UCMR
(Unregulated Contaminants Monitoring Rule)
UCMR monitoring was completed in 2007. There were no detections for any UCMR contaminants. Results are available upon request. Unregulated contaminants are those for which EPA has not established drinking water standards. The purpose of unregulated contaminant monitoring is to assist EPA in determining the occurrence of unregulated contaminants in drinking water and whether future regulation is warranted.

A SPECIAL NOTE
Thank you for allowing us to continue providing your family with clean, quality water this year. We have started work on updating our 2004 Water Distribution System Analysis and Hydraulic Master Plan. These two projects are designed to pinpoint any weakness in our water system. Our goal is to provide you, our customers, peace of mind that we will have enough water and pressure to meet the current and future demands.

Water Source Information
Drinking Water Regulations
Greater Cincinnati Water Works performs an average of 300 tests per day throughout their system to ensure safe drinking water. Source waters are tested routinely to detect contaminants before they enter treatment plants. Water quality experts then test the water after each stage of the treatment process. Finally, water samples are collected in the distribution system to monitor the quality of the water once it has left the treatment plant..

Most of GCWW’s customers receive water from the Miller Treatment Plant, which treats water from the Ohio River. As with all surface waters, Ohio EPA has classified the Ohio River as highly susceptible to contamination. This is because it is open to the environment and pollution may spread quickly with the flow of the river. To address this, GCWW has several barriers between potential pollution and your tap water. The first barrier, a source water protection program, is designed to prevent and monitor contamination in the river. GCWW works with Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO) and other utilities to monitor contamination in the river. GCWW has several options to protect the drinking water, ranging from turning off the intake and using only stored water until pollution passes, to altering a treatment process to remove the contamination. Finally, GCWW is one of only a few water treatment plants in the nation that has included granular activated carbon (GAC) into our daily treatment process. GAC has been recognized as the best available technology for removing the most common chemicals found in spills on the Ohio River.

Source Water Assessment
A source water assessment has been completed. The following is a summary of the susceptibility analysis that is part of the source water assessment. Several areas of concern are related to the extensive development of transportation infrastructure, the potential for spills, high degree of impervious cover and polluted runoff. Areas of row crops and urban and recreational grasses introduce the potential for herbicide, pesticide, and fertilizer use – possible non-point source contaminants. Bridges, railroads, ports, waste handlers or generators, and Tier II hazardous chemical users in the area introduce the potential for spills or leaks of hazardous materials. Landfills and permitted discharges are relatively high in number for a supply area. Other areas of concern include several segments of streams already assessed as having impairments, power line right-ofway with potential herbicide use, and residential septic systems located throughout the watershed. Since the intake is in an urban area, the threat of underground storage tanks leaking must also be taken into account. The entire report is available at Northern Kentucky Area Development District, 22 Spiral Drive, Florence, Ky 41042. Phone: 859-283-1885.

What contaminants could be in source water?
The sources of drinking water (both tap water and bottled water) include rivers, lakes, streams, ponds, reservoirs, springs and wells. As water travels over the surface of the land or through the ground, it dissolves naturally occurring minerals and in some cases, radioactive material, and can pick up substances resulting from the presence of animals or from human activity.

Contaminants that may be present in source water include:

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 water poses a health risk. More information about contaminants and potential health effects can be obtained by calling the Environmental Protection Agency’s Safe Drinking Water Hotline (800-426-4791).

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 stormwater runoff, and septic systems.
Radioactive contaminants, which can be naturally occurring or be the result of oil and gas production and mining activities.

To ensure that tap water is safe to drink, U.S. EPA prescribes regulations that limit the amount of certain contaminants in water provided by public water systems. Food and Drug Administration regulations establish limits for contaminants in bottled water that must provide the same protection for public health.

Health Information
Cryptosporidium (Crypto) is a microscopic organism that, when ingested, can result in diarrhea, fever and other gastrointestinal symptoms. GCWW has tested for Crypto in treated waters and has never detected it. The organism is found in GCWW source water and comes from animal wastes in the watershed. Crypto is eliminated by an effective treatment combination including sedimentation, filtration, and disinfection.

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 microbial contaminants are available from the Safe Drinking Water Hotline at (800-426-4791).

If present, elevated levels of lead can cause serious health problems, especially for pregnant women and your children. Lead in drinking water is primaily from materals and components associated with sevice lines and home plumbing. Your local public water sytem is responsible for providing high quality drinking water, but cannot control the variety of materals used in plumbing components. When your water had been sitting for several hours, you can minimize the potential for lead exposure by flushing your tap for 30 seconds to 2 minutes before using water for drinking or cooking. If you are concerned about lead in your water, you may wish to have your water tested. Information on lead in drinking water, testing methods, and steps you can take to minimize exposure is available from the Safe Drinking Water Hotline or at http://www. epa.gov/safewater/lead.

We at the Boone County Water District 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 call our office at 859-586-6155, if you have questions. Some people may be more vulnerable to contaminants in drinking water than the general population. Immuno-compromised