M5.4- Consumer Confidence Reports and Water Quality

I live in Petaluma, California, and the water comes from the Russian River Aqueduct. I could not find the CCR for my town or county on either of the sites provided, so I had to go a roundabout way on multiple county public works cites to find this information.

Where does your water come from? The source! Track it from the source to your tap.

• 1. The Sonoma County Water Agency has an Inflatable Dam that is put up across the Russian River during the summer. This dam helps the Agency meet the peak demand for water in the summer. There are fish ladders on both sides of this dam so that migrating salmon can swim past it to lay their eggs further upstream.
• 2. Behind the Inflatable Dam, water is diverted from the Russian River and into infiltration ponds, where it filters down into the ground. The ponds help the agency meet summertime water demand.
• 3. The water is naturally filtered as it trickles down deep into the gravels next to the Russian River.
• 4. The Sonoma County Water Agency has constructed six collector wells near the Russian River near Forestville. Groundwater is pumped by each collector well from 50 to 60 feet below the ground.
• 5. Aqueducts are underground pipes that transport water from the Collector Wells to the Agency’s water customers. The naturally filtered water entering the collector wells is extremely clean and requires no additional treatment. However, chlorine is added as a precaution against possible contamination as it travels through the aqueduct.
• 6. Whenever the water needs to be moved uphill, Booster Pump Stations lift the water up and over. It takes a lot of energy to lift water, which is why the Agency has implemented its Carbon Free Water by 2015 program.
• 7. The water is lifted by the Booster Pump Stations into the Storage Tanks, the large green circular water tanks you usually see on hillsides. Since the tanks are usually situated higher than the cities, once the water is in the storage tank, it is delivered by gravity to the customers.  

Do you use a filter for your water?

• No, we do not use a separate for our water. Our water either comes out from the tap or the filter built into our refrigerator. The only reason I prefer to drink the water from the refrigerator is because it comes out very cold. 

What did you find out about your water quality?

• The water quality here in Sonoma County actually seems very healthy. The water coming from our aqueduct do not violate EPA regulation levels in 2015 and all detected values of substances were on the lower end of tolerable ranges. The City of Petaluma states there is excellent natural filtration contributing to the quality of the water and the only addition is chlorine to keep the water pure in the delivery pipeline and a small amount of sodium hydroxide to raise the pH to minimize corrosion of household pipes.

What are you trying to filter out?

• Aluminum, Arsenic, Nitrate, Barium, Combined Radon, Chromium, Fluoride (but some is good), 

Do you drink bottled water? How does this square with what you learned

when you watched the Story of Bottled Water?

• No, I do not drink bottled water. I’ve always struggled with drinking enough water as it is, and one of my nutrition teachers in undergrad told us to buy a reusable water bottle that we really loved to incentivize us to drink more water. As I’ve been drinking more and more water throughout the years, I noticed it would be such a hassle to “recycle” every single water bottle I used. After watching this video I’m so happy I drink out of my reusable bottle and actually feel really happy that I’m helping the environment in such a small way.