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M5.4 Consumer Confidence Reports (CCR) and Water Quality



The following are answers regarding my drinking water in Oakland, CA (East Bay Municipal Utility District):

  • What is the source of your drinking water?   Where does your water ORIGINATE?  (It is treated at a water treatment plant, but what watershed or aquifer is the sources of the water?)
Mokelumne River on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada 
  • What chemicals were found in your water that were higher than expected?
There were no chemicals found in our water that were higher than the federal standards.
  • What chemicals did you NOT expect to find in your water?
I did not expect to find aluminum or chlorate in our water.
  • Are there associated health risks with the chemicals found in your water?  (sources for this last question include the EPA, CDC, ATSDR and the National Library of Medicine's ToxNet program.
Yes, there are health risks with any amount of aluminum and lead. It is absurd that federal standards do not coincide with health risks.

  • Where does your water come from? The source! Track it from the source to your tap.
Mokelumne River on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada (from the East Bay Municipal Utility District) 
  • What did you discover about your water quality?
There were no chemicals above federal standards for water quality, however I was surprised that any of these chemicals were still allowed in low levels in our water. I realized that my definition of quality is different from the federal government's version. I would have assumed that quality standards meant nothing was allowed in our water that was associated with health risks.
  • Do you use a filter for your water?
Yes, I have a Brita filter.
  • What are you trying to filter out?
I guess everything, but I am not sure that it even is able to do that. 
  • Do you drink bottled water?   How does this square with what you learned when you watched the Story of Bottled Water (see next exercise)?
No, I do not drink bottled water. I only use tap water and filtered water. 

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