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Where Does My Water Come From?
- The Chelmsford Water District draws water from the Merrimack and Concord river basins.
- Our reservoirs hold one of the state's largest capacities - 15.2 million gallons of water.
- Combined, our facilities provide over 1 billion gallons of clean drinking water every year.
How Is My Water Treated and Purified
The District uses 14 gravel-packed wells that are filtered naturally from the earth. The water is then tested to meet DEP regulations for quality.
Chlorine is added at the lowest quantity necessary to protect the safety of your water.
Potassium Hydroxide 45% is added to adjust pH and a corrosion inhibitor is used to protect the distribution system pipes.
What Substances Are Expected to be in Drinking Water?
The sources of drinking water (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, in some cases, radioactive material, and can pick up substances resulting from the presence of animals or from human activity.
Substances that may be present in source water include:
- Microbial Contaminants, such as viruses and bacte-ria, which may come from sewage treatment plants, septic systems, agricultural livestock operations, and wildlife.
- Inorganic Contaminants, such as salts and metals, which can be naturally occurring or result from urban stormwater runoff, industrial or domestic wastewater discharges, oil and gas production, mining, or farming.
- Pesticides and Herbicides, which may come from a variety of sources such as agriculture, urban stormwater runoff, and residential uses.
- Organic Chemical Contaminants, including synthetic and volatile organic chemicals, which are by-products of industrial processes and petroleum production, and can also come from gas stations, urban stormwater runoff, and septic systems.
- Radioactive Contaminants, which can be naturally occurring or be the result of oil and gas production and mining activities.
In order to ensure that tap water is safe to drink, EPA prescribes regulations that limit the amount of certain contaminants in water provided by public water systems.
Food and Drug Administration regulations establish limits for contaminants in bottled water, which must provide the same protection for public health. Drinking water, including bottled water, may reasonably be expected to contain at least small amounts of some contaminants.
The presence of contaminants does not necessarily indicate that water poses a health risk.
More information about contaminants and potential health effects can be obtained by calling the USEPA's Safe Drinking Water Hotline (800-426-4791).
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