The Macon Water Authority

790 Second Street • Macon, GA 31202-0108 • (478) 464-5600

MWA releases Report on Water Quality

June 27, 2014 by Chris Wood, Ph.D.

If local consumers want to know what is in their drinking water and why, the answers can be found in the most recent (2013) Macon Water Authority (MWA) Consumer Confidence Report (CCR), which is now available on this website through the “Learn More” link below (www.maconwater.org/ccr/index.html). In addition, a hard copy of the CCR is available at the MWA headquarters at 790 Second Street in downtown Macon.

This year’s Consumer Confidence Report provides water quality data collected from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2013, which offers empirical, scientific evidence that MWA customers enjoy some of the cleanest, safest, and highest quality drinking water possible.

Tests to determine MWA water quality are taken continuously at the source for the utility’s water production (Javors Lucas Lake and the Ocmulgee River), as well as at the Frank C. Amerson, Jr. Water Treatment Plant and within the MWA water distribution system.

The MWA goes above and beyond the minimum for regulatory compliance in so many areas of its operations, but especially in water quality testing, says Gary McCoy, MWA Director of Water Treatment Operations. While Georgia EPD requires the utility to conduct 930 tests of water samples per month, the award-winning water quality laboratory at the Amerson Water Treatment Plant conducts nearly 10 times that many – 8,460 tests per month, in fact.

“The number one priority of the Macon Water Authority is to make sure our customers have clean, great tasting and affordable drinking water,” notes McCoy. “Nearly everything we do reflects this mission, so consumers can be confident that our water is safe to drink.”

McCoy cites further evidence of MWA water quality in the utility’s award for producing the ‘Best Tasting Drinking Water in North America,” as judged by the American Water Works Association in 2009.

The MWA posted its 2013 CCR online well ahead of the July 1, 2014 due date, when utilities and systems across the state must have their previous year’s water quality data distributed to their consumers.

No matter the document’s means of delivery, the MWA Consumer Confidence Report is intended to educate Authority customers about what is in their water and why, as well as embrace the public’s “right-to-know” about the nature of the utility’s drinking water quality, while increasing dialogue between the Authority and its customers. The annual CCR provides consumers with local water quality information that allows them to make informed public health choices.

The content of the Authority’s CCR includes: system information and the sources of water, detected contaminants, compliance with regulations, opportunities for public involvement, and more.

As noted in this most recent Report, MWA drinking water met all required regulatory limits for detected levels of inorganic contaminants, organic substances, micro-biological contaminants, disinfectants, and disinfectant by-products, with no issues of non-compliance during the 2013 calendar year, except for one monitoring violation.

On Jan. 8, 2013, the MWA failed to monitor for chlorine dioxide, which is an inorganic substance, and chlorite, which is a disinfection by-product, as the utility normally does every day. This monitoring violation, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), had unknown, if any, health effects. This incident also was explained in its entirety in the 2012 MWA Consumer Confidence Report published this time last year and also available, along with this year’s Report, on this website (http://www.maconwater.org/consumer-confidence-reports).

For more information or questions about the CCR, consumers can contact the Authority’s Water Treatment Operations at 478-464-5650. The complete Report is available by opening the “Learn More” link below.

Media contact:
Chris Wood, Ph.D.
770-757-1681 (phone)
jcwood@uga.edu OR chris@jwapr.com (email)