City of Kyle Water-Utility Customer Notice
The following advisory is for Kyle water utility customers from the city of Kyle.
Is Kyle’s drinking water safe?
The Kyle Public Works Department conducts routine testing on the water quality of the city’s drinking water system. Recently, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) notified the city that its levels of trihalomethanes (THMs) exceeds the maximum level allowed on a rolling quarterly average.
TCEQ set the limit at 80 micrograms/liter (UG/L) based on a locational running annual average. According to TCEQ, Kyle’s average THM level across the four testing sites throughout the city was 86 UG/L.
What are trihalomethanes?
THM’s are the byproducts of chlorine disinfection in water. The chlorine interacts with the organic material in the water and causes THM’s to form. They are present is most every water system.
What is the city doing to ensure the continued safety of the water?
The city has taken the following steps to resolve the issue:
- We implemented a change in the amount of chlorine we use to disinfect the water in this area, which has greatly improved the situation.
- We are running additional laboratory sampling and will track the issue through the coming weeks as it is resolved.
- We are aggressively flushing the entire area to ensure that water that might be older is being moved out of the system.
What health concerns are associated with THMs?
In the short term, there is absolutely no danger to anyone drinking the water. There can be health concerns with long-term, high-level exposure. However, when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) establishes the maximum contaminant level for a chemical that is known or suspected to cause adverse health effects from long-term exposure, it is based upon people drinking two liters (about half a gallon) of water daily for 70 years (approximately one lifetime).
Maximum contaminant levels are set at levels that are expected to protect susceptible groups in our population, for example, children, pregnant women, the elderly and people who may have existing health problems. For chemicals that may cause cancer, EPA also considers what amount of the chemical would cause an increased risk of one case in 1,000,000 people who are exposed over their lifetime.
When whttp://www.cityofkyle.com/publicworks/water-utility-customer-noticeas city out of compliance?
There are always some THM’s present in drinking water, the levels, however, are generally low enough that the running average never becomes a concern. In this case, we had a series of spikes in value in June and September at one test site and a minor exceedance at a different testing site in November of last year. When the end of year values were computed we were not in compliance, even though our treatment changes were having a positive effect in reducing the levels.
What are the current THM levels?
The TCEQ testing results from the first quarter of this year show the test site is 48.5 UG/L, which is well under the compliance level.
We will continue running this notice until the running average no longer exceeds the 80UG/L.
The city will continue monitoring the situation and notify our customers as the need arises.
Here is a link to the TCEQ website that shows the test results for Kyle going back to 2004:
www.cityofkyle.com/publicworks/water-utility-customer-notice
