So my friend lives in a very small city just outside of my small city.They have their own municipal water treatment plant, Im not sure of what type it is, IIRC theres 3 types(?).
At any rate they have been on a “boil water order”(advisory,whatever) (IOW boil your tapwater or you’ll get sick) for over a year now. Each household pays $60.00 a month water bill for this privilege.
Is this type of thing actionable? How could I go about finding out which type of treatment plant and the operation,maintenance,etc costs? I don’t live there but it is my understanding that several unhappy citizens have been vocal about this at council meetings but the city doesn’t seem to be doing anything.
Im not sure,my paper bill is sent to California,Im in Alaska (long story).I do pay round about $160.00 a mo for utilities (water,garbage,sewer,elect) I dont know how it breaks down as I usually go pay in person.(never actually seeing the itemized bill no interest)
(In case you don’t know what that means, it means that I have yet to buy a home, and so have always rented, and when I have rented, have always had utility payments wrapped into the rent payment.)
The EPA is responsible for monitoring and enforcement of Public Water Systems (which provide water for human consumption through pipes or other constructed conveyances to at least 15 service connections or serves an average of at least 25 people for at least 60 days a year), and it sounds like you’re describing a Community Water System (year round service to the same population), the most strictly regulated of the three classes of PWS.
You can check out the status and violations of you friend’s water system Safe Water Drinking Information System, but it has had known issues with PWSs that don’t report data on known problems or which only report them to the state agencies, so call the EPA if you aren’t satisfied with what you find.
I don’t know the current laws, but I do know that the Safe Water Drinking Act, as amended in 1986, allowed two types of standards: maximum contaminant levels OR approved procedures, so your CWS might be in the clear, if they are following approved procedures, but not getting acceptable results (For all I know a boil-water warning might be an approved procedure) or if they are remedying a known issue. I know that EPA water regulations were tightened somewhat in 1998 and again once since then, but I don’t know the details and how thay might impact you.
Call the EPA – you may not even have to lawyer up. The system may be (over)due for an EPA inspection, and they may force the CWS to -er- clean up its act.
So according to the EPA site KP posted.Said communtiy has a SWTR violation (Suface Water Treatmant Rule) “Failure to filter”. SWTR is a rule that applies specifically to controlling pathogens.And the EPA “follow up” states: “St AO (w/o) penalty issued”. I don’t know what the acronym “St AO” stands for but ‘without penalty’ seems pretty clear.
Failure to FILTER!!. How could a municipality get away with this for a year?? No penalty?
Thanks for the link KP
I’ll encourage my friend to call EPA.
“St AO” means "State issued Administrative Order "
In my ever so humble opinion, the thing to do here is bring the political heat: in most places the town has ultimate control of the water supply (sometimes only through cooperation with other towns, or through a long-term contract with a private company). Your friend should start calling her selectperson/councilman/mayor, reminding them that she votes (she does vote, doesn’t she?) and asking why the water service is so crappy that she’s supposed to boil it.
Your friend could also call the state agency (that might be what you meant when you said EPA).
One possibility is that some part of the ‘treatment train’ inside the plant is broken/needs to be replaced (filters?). Perhaps the city cannot afford to fix it. Perhaps they are waiting to retire an old bond so that they can issue a new bond to fix the plant. Etc, etc.
The Public Works department should be able to tell your friend what’s going on.
There were many water supplies in the US that were considered to be so pure that filtration was not required. In the last 5 or 10 years, the EPA has continuously tightened the standards and is requiring filtration where it was not previously thought necessary.
This system could have been one of those that was in compliance with “the old rules” and is out of compliance with “the new rules”. Takes time and money to add something like this. Several small water suppliers in Maine just abandoned their systems. Gave it up as a lost cause - not taking in enough money to make an upgrade possible. The users have to decide whether to drill their own wells or take over the abandoned system.
I knew this would come to an end some day. So pretty soon the pristine mountain stream goodness of upstate New York water systems will all taste like the overchlorinated crap here in Florida :mad:
In my experience a city is required to test water regularly and provide notice if the water fails to fall within the EPA guidelines. There always seems to be minimal enforcement if any. I don’t think they actually require the supplier to do anything about the problem just inform all users.
I deal with almost exclusively with private well water systems. So don’t keep up with the rules for municipal supplies.
If the town will not provide safe drinking water has anyone looked into suppling there own?(It would make your $60/m look real cheap). If the town prohibits someone from drilling a private well i could see a reasonable grounds for legal action. Otherwise maybe the voters should consider voting until they get someone willing to do something about the water.
FWIW, in 2002 the governor of Alaska took a personal (sort of) interest in reducing the number of boil water orders issued by municipalities. Maybe if turning up the local political heat doesn’t work, you might contact someone here.
IANAL, but AFAIK a municipality is not required to provide drinking water to citizens. But if the city of Decatur continued to charge me for water that they weren’t providing, you can bet that I’d be down at city council meetings, carrying a sign and demanding time at the mike.
And I normally pay about $100 every 3 months for water and sewer, so $60 a month just for water sounds steep to me, especially for product that is non-appearing.
