Important Information about Your Drinking Water
/Turbidity Treatment Requirements Not Met: January 18, 2021
Lummi Island Scenic Estates Community Club (LISECC) ID #43290 - Whatcom County
Our water system recently violated a drinking water standard. Although this situation does not require that you should take immediate action, as our customers, you have a right to know what happened, what you should do, and what we are doing to correct the situation.
We routinely monitor your water for turbidity (cloudiness). This tells us whether we are effectively filtering the water supply. A water sample taken January 18, 2021 showed levels of 1.46 turbidity units. This was above the standard of 1.0 units. Because of these high levels of turbidity, there is an increased chance that the water may contain disease-causing organisms.
What should I do?
You do not need to boil your water or take other corrective actions. However, if you have specific health concerns, consult your doctor.
People with severely compromised immune systems, infants, and some elderly may be at increased risk. These people should seek advice about drinking water from their health care providers. General guidelines on ways to lessen the risk of infection by microbes are available from the EPA Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1 (800) 426-4791.
What does this mean?
Turbidity has no health effects. However, turbidity can interfere with disinfection and provide a medium for microbial growth. Turbidity may indicate the presence of disease causing organisms. These organisms include bacteria, virus, and parasites that can cause symptoms such as nausea, cramps, diarrhea, and associated headaches. The symptoms above are not caused only by organisms in drinking water. If you experience any of these symptoms and they persist, you may want to seek medical advice.
What about COVID-19?
COVID-19 has not been detected in drinking water. The Office of Drinking Water at the Washington State Department of Health and public water system operators work every day to protect public water supplies from bacteriological and viral contamination.
We use chlorine to disinfect your water. Chlorine is very effective in killing coronaviruses. COVID-19 is a coronavirus and the Department of Health believes chlorine will be effective in killing COVID-19 as well.
What happened?
Normal turbidity is about 0.2 units at this time. This instance of turbidity, in excess of 1.0 units, lasted only two minutes and was an isolated incident that is not typical. Since January 2021 the treatment plant has otherwise been producing drinking water well within drinking water standards.
What is being done?
We have adjusted the timing of the treatment plant alarm and automatic shutdown system to trigger more quickly in the future. The turbidimeters were recently calibrated and have continued to operate normally otherwise. We are in regular communication with the DOH and doing everything in our power to produce low turbidity levels. LISECC is in the process of starting a pilot test program to confirm that a new treatment plant will address turbidity issues
Reducing the turbidity in our drinking water is our first priority.
We will notify LISECC customers as this issue is resolved.
Please share this information with other people who drink your water (for example, tenants and guests).
For more information, please contact Kevin Southworth, Operations Manager
phone: (360) 758-7055
email: kevin@lisecc.com
mailing address: 1211 Island Drive, Lummi Island, WA 98262
