Los Alamos County Water Quality Data Table. Courtesy/DPU
COUNTY News:
Los Alamos Department of Public Utilities announce today that results published in the 2020 drinking water quality report demonstrate excellent water quality throughout Los Alamos County.
Covering the period of January through December 2020, the report highlights the county’s drinking water source information, how the county’s water is protected and test results, including all substances and levels of substances detected in the water.
Los Alamos County customers should receive a printed copy at their place of residence or business through the U.S. Postal Service by the first week of July. Customers may view and download a pdf version of the report on the department’s website at https://ladpu.com/dpu under Top Features.
With cooperation from Los Alamos National Laboratory, the DPU tested for perfluoralkyl and polyfluoralkyl (PFAS) levels in the drinking water this past year. While the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is in the rule making process of setting a maximum contaminant level (MCL), it has established health advisory levels at 70 parts per trillion.
PFAS levels in the Los Alamos drinking water range from 0.568 to 0.725 parts per trillion (ppt), well below EPA’s health advisory level. More information about PFAS is available at https://www.epa.gov/pfas.
The EPA’s website on Basic Information on PFAS states:
“Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of man-made chemicals that includes PFOA, PFOS, GenX, and many other chemicals. PFAS have been manufactured and used in a variety of industries around the globe, including in the United States since the 1940s. PFOA and PFOS have been the most extensively produced and studied of these chemicals. Both chemicals are very persistent in the environment and in the human body – meaning they don’t break down and they can accumulate over time. There is evidence that exposure to PFAS can lead to adverse human health effects.”
When PFAS are found in drinking water it is typically localized and associated with a specific facility (e.g., manufacturer, landfill, wastewater treatment plant, firefighter training facility). Not surprisingly, levels of PFAS are low as the county’s ground water supply is pumped from hundreds to thousands of feet underground away from any sources that might release such chemicals.
