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Consumer Confidence Reports

Borough of Clayton
Annual Water Quality Report
For the Year 2011, Results from the Year 2010

PWSID #NJ0801001

Click here to Downdoad as a PDF (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader).

We are pleased to present to you this year's Annual Drinking Water Quality Report. This report is designed to inform you about the quality water and services we deliver to you every day. Our constant goal is to provide you with a safe and dependable supply of drinking water. We want you to understand the efforts we make to continually improve the water treatment process and protect our water resources.

In 2010 our Water Department distributed 221,431,300 gallons of water to our customers. Our water source is wells.  Groundwater is pumped from three natural underground aquifers: the Potomac Raritan Magothy Aquifer approximately 800 feet deep, the Wenonah-Mt. Laurel Aquifer approximately 400 feet deep, and the Cohansey Aquifer approximately 85 feet deep.  Your drinking water is treated using filtration and chlorine disinfection to remove or reduce harmful contaminants that may come from the source water. 

We are pleased to report that our drinking water meets all federal and state safety requirements.
 
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) has completed and issued the Source Water Assessment Report and Summary for this public water system, which is available at WWW.state.nj.us/dep/swap or by contacting NJDEP’s Bureau of Safe Drinking Water at (609) 292-5550.  You may also contact your public water system to obtain information regarding your water system’s Source Water Assessment.  This water system’s source water susceptibility ratings and a list of potential contaminant sources is attached.

If you have any questions about this report or concerning your drinking water, please contact Richard Middleton, Director of Public Works, by calling (856)-881-3778 or by writing to this address: 125 N. Delsea Drive, Clayton, NJ 08312. We want our valued customers to be informed about their water utility. You can attend Regular Mayor and Council meetings on the second and fourth Thursday of each month at 8:00 p.m., in the Municipal Building, at 125 N. Delsea Drive.  The Borough of Clayton Water Department is committed to providing our customers with the highest quality of water and service. We believe in education and strongly urge our employees to attend various classes and seminars on water treatment processes and distribution operations.  All licensed water operational personnel are mandated to continue training under the Safe Drinking Water Act Regulations.

DEFINITIONS
In the following table you will find many terms and abbreviations you might not be familiar with. To help you better understand these terms we've provided the following definitions:

Non-Detects (ND) - laboratory analysis indicates that the constituent is not present.
Parts per million (ppm) or Milligrams per liter (mg/l) - one part per million corresponds to one minute in two years or a single penny in $10,000.
Parts per billion (ppb) or Micrograms per liter - one part per billion corresponds to one minute in 2,000 years, or a single penny in $10,000,000.
Picocuries per liter (pCi/L) - picocuries per liter is a measure of the radioactivity in water.
Action Level - the concentration of a contaminant which, if exceeded, triggers treatment or other requirements which a water system must follow.
Treatment Technique (TT) -  A treatment technique is a required process intended to reduce the level of a contaminant in drinking water.
Maximum Contaminant Level - The "Maximum Allowed" (MCL) is 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 -The "Goal"(MCLG) is the level of a contaminant in drinking water below which there is no known or expected risk to health.  MCLGs allow for a margin of safety.
Maximum Residual Disinfectant Level (MRDL) - The highest level of a disinfectant allowed in drinking water.  There is convincing evidence that addition of a disinfectant is necessary for control of microbial contaminants.
Maximum Residual Disinfectant Goal (MRDLG) - The level of a drinking water disinfectant, below which there is no known or expected risk to health.  MRDLGs do not reflect the benefits of the use of disinfectants to control microbial contamination
Secondary Contaminant- Substances that do not have an impact on health. Secondary Contaminants affect aesthetic qualities such as odor, taste or appearance.  Secondary standards are recommendations, not mandates.
Recommended Upper Limit (RUL) – Recommended maximum concentration of secondary contaminants.  These reflect aesthetic qualities such as odor, taste or appearance.  RUL’s are recommendations, not mandates.

The Clayton Water Department routinely monitors for contaminants in your drinking water according to Federal and State laws. This table shows the results of our monitoring for the period of January 1st to December 31st, 2010. The state allows us to monitor for some contaminants less than once per year because the concentration of these contaminants do not change frequently.  Some of our data, though representative, are more than one year old.

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).

Click Here to view Clayton Water Department Test Results

We exceeded the Recommended Upper Limit (RUL) for sodium.  Sodium for healthy individuals the sodium intake from water is not important, because a much greater of sodium takes place from salt in the diet.  However sodium levels above the Recommended Upper Limit (RUL) may be of concern to individuals on a sodium restricted diet.

As you can see from the table we had a positive Total Coliform Bacteria sample in March 2010.  We immediately re-sampled and all test results were negative and in compliance.  We believe that this was a possible sampling technique or laboratory error.   Coliforms are bacteria that are naturally present in the environment and are used as an indicator that other; potentially-harmful, bacteria may be present.

Lead   

If present, elevated levels of lead can cause serious health problems, especially for pregnant women and young children.  Lead in drinking water is primarily from materials and components associated with service lines and home plumbing.  The Clayton Water Department is responsible for providing high quality drinking water, but cannot control the variety of materials used in plumbing components.  When your water has been sitting for several hours, you can minimize the potential for lead exposure by flushing your tap for 30 second to 2 minutes before using water for drinking and cooking.  If you are concerned about lead in your water, you may wish to have your water tested.  Information on lead in drinking water, testing methods, and steps you can take to minimize exposure is available from the Safe Drinking Water hotline or at http://www.epa.gov/safewater/lead.

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 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 storm water runoff, industrial or domestic wastewater discharges, oil and gas projection, 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 byproducts 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.

Clayton Water Department is a public community water system consisting of 4 well(s), 0 wells under the influenceof surface water, 0surface water intake(s), 1 purchased ground water source(s), and 0 purchased surface water source(s). This system's source water comes from the following aquifer(s) and/or surface water body(s) (if applicable): Kirkwood-Cohansey water-table aquifer system, Mount Laurel-Wenonah aquifer,upper Potomac-Raritan-Magothy aquifer. This system purchases water from the following water system(s) (if applicable): GLASSBORO WD.

Susceptibility Ratings for Clayton Water Department Sources

The table below illustrates the susceptibility ratings for the seven contaminant categories (and radon) for each source in the system. The table provides the number of wells and intakes
that rated high (H), medium (M), or low (L) for each contaminant category. Forsusceptibility ratings of purchased water, refer to the specific water system's source water assessment
report. The seven contaminant categories are defined at the bottom of this page. DEP considered all surface water highly susceptible topathogens, therefore all intakes received a high
rating for the pathogen category. For the purpose of Source Water Assessment Program, radionuclides are more of a concern for ground water than surface water. As a result, surface
water intakes' susceptibility toradionuclides was not determined and they all received a low rating. If a system is rated highly susceptible for a contaminant category, it does not
mean a customer is or will be consumingcontaminated drinking water. The rating reflects the potential for contamination of source water, not the existence of contamination.
Public water systems are required to monitor for regulated contaminants and to install treatment if any contaminants are detected atfrequencies and concentrations above allowable
levels. As a result of the assessments, DEP may customize (change existing)monitoring schedules based on the susceptibility ratings.

Click Here to view Susceptibility Ratings Chart.

• Pathogens: Disease-causing organisms such as bacteria and viruses. Common sources are animal and human fecal wastes.
• Nutrients: Compounds, minerals and elements that aid growth, that are both naturally occurring and man-made. Examples include nitrogen and phosphorus.
• Volatile Organic Compounds: Man-made chemicals used as solvents, degreasers, and gasoline components. Examples includebenzene, methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), and vinyl chloride.
• Pesticides: Man-made chemicals used to control pests, weeds and fungus. Common sources include land application andmanufacturing centers of pesticides. Examples include herbicides such as atrazine, and insecticides such as chlordane.
• Inorganics: Mineral-based compounds that are both naturally occurring and manmade. Examples include arsenic, asbestos,copper, lead, and nitrate.
• Radionuclides: Radioactive substances that are both naturally occurring and manmade. Examples include radium and uranium.
• Radon: Colorless, odorless, cancer-causing gas that occurs naturally in the environment. For more information go to http://www.nj.gov/dep/rpp/radon/index.htm or call (800) 648-0394.
• Disinfection Byproduct Precursors: A common source is naturally occurring organic matter in surface water. Disinfectionbyproducts are formed when the disinfectants (usually chlorine) used to kill pathogens react with dissolved organic material (for example leaves) present in surface water.

In order to ensure that tap water is safe to drink, EPA prescribes regulations which 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 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.

The Safe Drinking Water Act regulations allow monitoring waivers to reduce or eliminate the monitoring requirements for asbestos, volatile organic chemicals and synthetic organic chemicals. Our system received monitoring waivers for asbestos and synthetic organic chemicals.

Hydrant flushing is normally done in April and October. We do this to check the hydrants to make sure they are working properly. It is also done for taste and odor control of our system.

We at the Clayton Water Department work hard to provide top quality water to every tap. We ask that all our customers help us protect our water sources, which are the heart of our community, our way of life and our children's future. Please call our office if you have questions.