Hamburg Municipal Authority

ESTE INFORME CONTIENE INFORMACION MUY IMPORTANTE SOBRE SU AGUA POTABLE. TRADUZCALO O HABLO CON ALGUIEN QUE LO ENTIENDA BIEN. (This report contains very important information about your drinking water. Translate it, or speak with someone who understands it.)

We're pleased to present to you this year's Annual Drinking Water Quality Report. This report 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 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 are pleased to report that our drinking water meets federal and state requirements. If you have any questions about this report or concerning your water utility, please contact Lynda Albright at 610-562-7821. We want our valued customers to be informed about their water utility. If you would like to learn more, please attend any of our regularly scheduled meetings. They are held on the third Wednesday of each month at 7:00 P.M. at either of the following locations: the Hamburg Wastewater Treatment Plant located on Pine Street, the Hamburg Municipal Center at 61 North Third Street, or the Furnace Creek Filtration Plant located on Reservoir Road in Windsor Township. Please contact the Authority for meeting locations.

Our water sources are the Furnace Creek Reservoir, Wells 2, 3, and 4, located at the Furnace Creek Filtration Plant on Reservoir Road and Well 5 which is located at Upland Court, all of which are located in Windsor Township. The main water storage reservoir has a capacity of 1.75 million gallons. This contains a three day supply of water in reserve. This assures a constant supply of water during maintenance periods.

The Hamburg Municipal Authority routinely monitors for contaminants in your drinking water according to Federal and State laws. The following table shows the results of our monitoring for the period of January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2007. All drinking water, including bottled drinking water, may be reasonably expected to contain at least small amounts of some constituents. It's important to remember that the presence of these constituents does not necessarily pose a health risk.

The state allows us to monitor for some contaminants less than once per year because the concentrations of these contaminants do not change frequently. Some of our data is from prior years in accordance with the Safe Drinking Water Act. The date has been noted on the sampling results table.

Thank you for allowing us to continue providing your family with clean, quality water this year. In order to maintain a dependable water supply, we sometimes need to make improvements that will benefit all of our customers. These improvements are often reflected as rate structure adjustments. Thank you for understanding.

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 - one part per billion corresponds to one minute in 2,000 years, or a single penny in $10,000,000.

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 - The "Maximum Allowed" (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 - The "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.

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.

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

Maximum Residual Disinfectant Level (MRDL) – The highest level of a disinfectant allowed in drinking water. There is convincing evidence that addition of a disinfectant is necessary for control of microbial contaminants.

Maximum Residual Disinfectant Level Goal (MRDLG) – The level of drinking water disinfectant below which there is no known or exposed risk to health. MCLGs do not reflect the benefits of the use of disinfectants to control microbial contamination.

In addition to the contaminants listed in the chart above, the Hamburg Municipal Authority routinely tests for numerous contaminants, which were not detected. Water samples are tested monthly for bacteria, as well as quarterly for several Volatile Organic Contaminants (VOC’s) and annually for several Inorganic Contaminants not listed in the table.

Hamburg’s water supply comes from reservoirs and wells. As water travels over the land surface 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:

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 stormwater run-off, oil and gas production, mining, or farming.

Pesticides and herbicides, which may come from a variety of sources such as agriculture, stormwater run-off, or residential uses.

Organic chemical contaminants, including synthetic and volatile organic chemicals, are by-products of industrial processes and petroleum production and can also come from gas stations, stormwater run-off or septic systems.

Radioactive contaminants can be naturally occurring or be the result of oil and gas production or mining activities.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) detected five observations in 2007 for the Hamburg Municipal Authority water system. These observations were due to DEP not receiving certain testing criteria by their deadline. This did not impact your water quality in any way.

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. 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.

In order to ensure that tap water is safe to drink, EPA prescribes regulations which limit the amount of certain contaminants in water provided by public water systems. MCL’s are set at very stringent levels for health effects. 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-a-million 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).

Please call our office if you have questions. We at the Hamburg Municipal Authority 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.