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Municipal Water Supply System

CITY OF LAS CRUCES DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES

Report to Consumers on Water Quality - 2008

  It’s the water you drink… now it comes with a list of ingredients. According to the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), anything in water that is not H2O is considered a contaminant without regard to whether it is harmful or not. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through the regulatory process has set limits, called Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCL), for certain harmful contaminants that may be found in drinking water. But, there are many potential contaminants that, although not common, may find their way into source waters. For this reason drinking water regulations require monitoring for many possible contaminants. Not all contaminants are regulated. MCLs have not been developed for all contaminants that are monitored. The presence of a particular contaminant does not necessarily pose a health risk.

This report explains where our water comes from, what it contains, and any known health risks that may exist for the level of contaminants in our drinking water. The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) monitors up to 121 potential contaminants at every well in the City’s Municipal Water Supply System at least once every three years. This report presents the results for all contaminants that were found at or above the detection level by EPA approved methods during the 2007 calendar year.

Source Water Assessment and Assessment and Protection Program (SWAPP)
The Municipal, Water Supply System is well maintained and operated, and sources of drinking water are generally protected from potential sources of contamination based on well construction, hydro-geologic settings, and system operations and management. The susceptibility rank of the entire water system is moderately high because of our urban setting. Please contact the city Water Resources Section of Utilities to discuss the findings of the SWAPP report.

Our drinking water meets all requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act.

The Source of Your Drinking Water

The Water Resources Section provides about 7 billion gallons of drinking water to customers in Las Cruces each year. The source of our drinking water is ground water from the Mesilla Bolson. The Mesilla Bolson is a deep aquifer, which extends down the entire length of the Mesilla Valley. The City has a distributed system of 29 wells within or near the City Limits to supply our community with drinking water of high quality. These wells withdraw water from depths between 300 to 1000 feet. Small amounts of naturally occurring minerals from rock in the aquifer, however, dissolve into the water and account for moderate levels of calcium, manganese, and iron. Their presence can affect the aesthetic quality of the water by increasing hardness and by altering the color and taste slightly. The Source Water Assessment by NMED Drinking Water Bureau provides baseline data about the quality of our water before it is treated and distributed to consumers. This is important because it identifies the origins of potential contaminants, and indicates the susceptibility of our water system to contamination. Because we pump water from a deep aquifer the likelihood of this kind of contamination is low, but it can occur under some circumstances and must be evaluated. To learn more about the status of this aspect of our water supply, you may request a copy of the assessment from Mr. John Gillentine, NMED Drinking Water Bureau, 525 Camino de Los Marquez, Suite 4, Santa Fe, NM 87505, Telephone: 827-654-8720. The local NMED contact is Ray Melendrez, (575) 647-7955.

The List of What Is in Your Water
Regulated Contaminants
The table (below) presents a summary of results of water testing done by NMED Drinking Water Bureau and by the City during the 2007 calendar year. Detected contaminants from 2005 and 2006 are also listed, if not sampled in 2007. The table contains the name of each contaminant, the highest level allowed by regulation (MCL), the ideal goals for public health (MCLG), the highest single amount found among all samples taken, the expected sources of such contamination, and the incidence of violations.

Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL): 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 (MCLG): The level of a contaminant in drinking water below, which there is no known or expected risk to health, i.e. zero risk. The MCL usually accepts a risk of 1 in 1,000,000 or 1 in 100,000 persons.
Action Level (AL): The concentration of a contaminant which, if exceeded, triggers treatment or other requirements that the water supply system must follow.

Key to units: ppm = parts per million, or milligrams per liter (mg/L)
ppb = parts per billion, or micrograms per liter (µg/L)
pCi/L = picocuries per liter (a measure of radioactivity)

Test Results

Concerning Lead and Copper

   Lead in our source water is less than Action level (AL) of 10 ppb; copper is less than its AL of 250 ppb. Because of the low occurrence of lead and copper, the City is required to sample once every three years (the minimum monitoring required). The AL triggers required measures when more than 10% of the sites sampled exceed the AL. Sampling has been done at homes built during 1983-86. These homes are in the category of higher risk because some materials used in plumbing during this period may leach these metals. Homes built after this period do not have this potential problem because changes in building codes eliminated the source materials. Sufficient leaching or corrosion has occurred to eliminate the problem in homes before this period.
Infants and young children are typically more vulnerable to lead in drinking water than the general population. Lead or copper levels at your home may be higher than at other homes in our community as a result of materials used in your home's plumbing. If you are concerned about possible elevated levels at your home, you may want to have your water tested by the Drinking Water and Community Services Bureau, NMED District Office in Las Cruces.

Arsenic

While your drinking water meets EPA’s standard for Arsenic, it does contain low levels of Arsenic. EPA’s standard balances the current understanding of Arsenic’s possible health effects against the costs of removing Arsenic from drinking water. EPA continues to research the health effects of low levels of Arsenic which is a mineral known to cause cancer in humans at high concentrations and is linked to other health effects such as skin damage and circulatory problems (40 CFR 141.154(b)(1)).

Uranium

The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED), following its initial monitoring under the new Radionuclide Rule, notified the City that six (6) City wells exceed the standard for uranium. This was not an immediate risk to public health. If it had been, the City would have notified the public immediately, and provided information about using an alternative water supply. However the City’s water system was required to comply with the new regulation. The uranium-impacted wells have been taken out of service and the City’s water system is in full compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act, Radionuclide Rule.

Unregulated Contaminants

Monitoring of unregulated contaminants helps EPA to determine where certain contaminants occur and whether it needs to regulate those contaminants. No unregulated contaminants were detected. The City does not test for Cryptosporidium in the Municipal Water Supply System because our source of water is ground water, which is not influenced by surface waters. We avoid this and other potential problems with microorganisms because we pump drinking water from deep in the Mesilla and Jornada aquifers.

EPA has delayed promulgating new regulations for radon in drinking water. Radon is a radioactive gas that occurs naturally in the ground, absorbs in water, and is released into indoor air during household use. Radon can also move up through the ground and into the home through cracks and holes in the foundation. Compared to entering the home through the soil, radon entering through tap water, in most cases, will be a small source of radon in indoor air. High exposure levels in indoor air can cause lung cancer, and in drinking water can increase the risk of stomach cancer. No sampling for radon was conducted during 2007.

Additional Information

EPA prescribes limits on the amount of certain contaminants in water provided by public water systems. The Food and Drug Administration regulations establish limits for contaminants in bottled water. Drinking water, including bottled water, may reasonably be expected to contain small amounts of certain contaminants.

Sources of drinking water for 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 radioactive material, as well as, substances resulting from the presence of animals or human activity. Contaminants that may be present in source water include:
(a) Microbial contaminants, such as viruses, bacteria, and protozoa (e.g. Cryptosporidium, Ecoli, Giardia) may come from sewage treatment plants, septic systems, agricultural livestock operations, and wildlife.
(b) Inorganic contaminants, such as salts and metals, can be naturally occurring or result from urban storm runoff, industrial or domestic wastewater discharges, oil and gas production, mining, and farming.
(c) Pesticides and herbicides may come from sources such as agriculture, storm-water runoff, and residential uses.
(d) Organic chemical contaminants, including synthetic and volatile organic chemicals, are by-products of industrial processes and petroleum production, and may also come from gas stations, urban storm-water runoff, and septic systems.
(e) Radioactive contaminants can be naturally occurring or result from oil and gas mining and production activities.

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. Guidelines on appropriate means to lessen the risk of infection by Cryptosporidium are available from EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Hotline. More information about contaminants and potential health effects can also be obtained via the Hotline.

Learn More about Your Drinking Water

Amendments to the SDWA in 1996 require all public water supply systems to provide an annual "Consumer Confidence Report" to their customers. We encourage public interest and participation in our community's water quality and decisions affecting drinking water. The Water Resources Section of Utilities holds public meetings as needed when specific issues concerning drinking water affect our community. Otherwise, the most effective way to make comments or suggestions is to telephone or write directly to the Administrator of Water Resources (528-3515). Concerns may also be brought before the City Council in their biweekly public meeting. The Water Resources Section does not, at this time, conduct regular public meetings, which are devoted to drinking water issues. Water quality data for the Municipal Water Supply System and more information about the Water Resources Section are available at www.las-cruces.org . The Administrator and his staff will be happy to answer any questions, or discuss suggestions you may have, about our drinking water.

Contacts for Information:

This report can be made available in alternative formats upon request.  To make a request call voice telephone 528-3515 or TTY 528-3541.  

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