The City Of Port Orange

2006 Annual Drinking Water

Quality Report

The City of Port Orange is very pleased to provide you with this annual water quality report. This report is being mailed to you in accordance with Federal and State requirements. The City of Port Orange hopes you are pleased with the excellent water and services we have delivered to you over the past year. Our goal is and always has been, to provide to you a dependable supply of drinking water. Our water source is forty (40) deep wells that draw water from the Floridian Aquifer.

In 2004 the Department of Environmental Protection performed a Source Water Assessment on our system and a search of the data sources indicated no potential sources of contamination near our wells. The assessment results are available on the FDEP Source Water Assessment and Protection Program website at www.dep.state.fl.us/swapp .

The well water is pumped to the Garnsey Water Plant, which is where the treatment begins. The treatment process consists of water softening, disinfection using sodium hypochlorite and anhydrous ammonia to form a chloramine residual, pH stabilization using carbon dioxide, fluoridation for dental protection, and filtration to further clarify the water.

This report shows our water quality results and what they mean

If you have any questions about this report, please contact Steven Miller (Chief Operator) or Michael McClendon or Pat Marsh ( Lab Technicians) at 506-5770. We encourage our valued customers to be informed about their water utility. If you want to learn more, please attend any of our regularly scheduled meetings. The public is welcome to participate in decisions that may effect water quality by attending regularly scheduled city council meetings at the first, third and fourth Tuesday of every month at 7:00 p.m. at City Council Chambers, in the City Hall Complex.

The City of Port Orange routinely monitors for contaminants in your drinking water according to Federal and State laws, rules, and regulations. Except where indicated otherwise, this report is based on the results of our monitoring for the period of January 1 to December 31, 2006. As authorized and approved by EPA, the State has reduced monitoring requirements for certain contaminants to less often than once per year because the concentrations of these contaminants are not expected to vary significantly from year to year. Data obtained before January 1, 2006 and presented in this report represents the most recent testing done in accordance with regulations.

In the table below, you may find unfamiliar terms and abbreviations. To help you better understand these terms we've provided the following definitions:

Test Results Table

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.

Contaminants that may be present in source water include:

•  Microbial contaminants, such as viruses and bacteria, which may come from sewerage treatment plants, septic systems, agricultural live-stock operations, and wildlife.

•  Inorganic contaminants, such as salts and metals, which can be naturally-occurring or result from urban storm-water 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 storm-water 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 storm-water 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 the tap water is safe to drink, the EPA prescribes regulations, which limit the amount of certain contaminants in water provided by public water systems. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 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 the water poses a health risk. More information about contaminants and potential health effects can be obtained by calling the Environmental Protection Agency's Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1-800-426-4791.

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. EPA/CDC guidelines on appropriate means to lessen the risk of infection by Cryptosporidium and other microbiological contaminants are available from the Safe Drinking Water Hotline (800)-426-4791.

We, at the City of Port Orange , would like you to understand the efforts we make to continually improve the water treatment process and protect our water resources. We are committed to insuring the quality of your water. If you have any questions or concerns about the information provided, please feel free to call any of the numbers listed or visit our website @ www.port-orange.org.