KANSAS CITY, Mo. – When you turn on the faucet and fill up your water bottle, you may notice a difference in the odor or taste of the tap, depending on where you’re located in the state of Missouri.
Each year, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) conducts a census of public water systems across the state to determine how different chemical levels impact the aesthetics of water distributed throughout various systems.
The census analyzes secondary maximum contaminant levels (MCLs), referring to biological, chemical or physical characteristics of water that may adversely affect the taste, odor, color or appearance. Secondary MCLs are not regulated by the EPA, but the agency does have recommended guidelines for water systems to follow in order to appease its consumers.
Primary MCLs, on the other hand, refer to harmful contaminants that are regulated and strictly monitored under the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
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The census doesn’t test for the majority of regulated contaminants listed under the EPA, but it does provide insight to customers as to how different water treatment methods impact the aesthetics of the final product.
“If you get too much iron in your water (for example), it can make your water orangish-redish, so when you wash your clothes, you could actually have some whites that come out stained in that color,” Medlock said. “It’s not harmful to it, other than the fact that you probably don’t want orange clothes or to be drinking water that looks like iced tea when it’s not iced, that type of thing.”
Where does my water come from?
While some water systems collect, treat and distribute their own water from the source, other systems purchase water from larger systems that have collected and treated the water for them.
“The census is designed to give people information (about) where the water’s from, where it originated from,” Medlock said.
He said Kansas City is one of several water systems that sells water to other water systems that then resell the water to their own customers. Because some water systems do not produce their own water, some systems are exempt from submitting samples for analysis to the census, as it would be deemed redundant.
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“They’re just basically getting water from Kansas City, so Kansas City does all the testing because the EPA and the regulations require that entry point after treatment testing, because a lot of these contaminants don’t change once it gets into the distribution system,” Medlock said.
Data shows the DNR tested at least 42, or 37%, of public water systems that distribute and serve the Kansas City area, with 26 of those systems submitting samples that exceed the recommended secondary MCLs for one or more chemicals.
Unity Village public water system in Jackson County, for example, submitted results indicating its secondary MCL chloride was at 341 mg/L, while the recommended limit is 250 mg/l, 36.4% less than what was found in Unity Village.
“If you have a high chloride content (for example), it’ll be more of a salty taste or just different taste. So it’s kind of a recommendation and you can see that in these reports, why your water might taste a little different,” said Eric Medlock, environmental program manager with Missouri’s Public Drinking Water Branch.
Unity Village also tested high for sodium and total dissolved solids (TDS), which is a measurement of the inorganic salts and small amounts of organic matter present in a solution of water. TDS can impact the taste and smell of water if a chemical, like chlorine, for instance, interacts with organic matter in a water system for too long.
“There’s a disinfection byproduct rule where we’re actually looking out in the distribution system for levels of that (contamination after treatment) because the longer chlorine has to react with that organic matter, you can actually have higher levels of those disinfection byproducts,” he said.
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Medlock said treatment methods for water are different for varying water sources. For example, surface water, referring to water taken from rivers, lakes and other reservoirs exposed to air, typically must be treated more than groundwater.
“Because we have good quality water, Missouri does not have a standard for those types of groundwater systems to disinfect that water, so there’s sometimes very little treatment that’s needed when you tap into that type of water,” he said.
“Unlike a surface water system, where you’re basically getting exposed to the air, other potential contaminants, there’s a lot of treatment processes that are a part of a surface water system that makes that water safe — meeting those maximum contaminant levels before it’s served to the public.”
Medlock said the Missouri River functions as a border for water system sources, as the majority of water sourced from north of the river comes from surface water sources, while those south of the river come from groundwater sources, like the Ozark aquifer.
While surface water sources tend to require more treatment, Medlock said some groundwater sources, especially those close to the bootheel area of southern Missouri, may experience palatability concerns as well.
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“The water table is very high, so you don’t have to dig very deep to get a high quantity of water. But because it’s shallow, you can get other contaminants like iron and manganese that can be very high in concentration in those areas,” he said.
Is my water safe?
Medlock said if consumers notice a change in the taste or smell of their water, though it may be a slight inconvenience, it does not mean it is unsafe to drink. He said consumers can mitigate water aesthetic concerns straight from home.
“There’s filters out there you can put in your home and things to remove some of the secondary type things, but the water’s still considered safe. So it’s not something the department would necessarily step in and make a water system correct, unlike a maximum contaminant level, where you exceed something like arsenic or benzene, one of those regulated contaminants, we will step in,” Medlock said.
Citizens interested in learning more about harmful contaminants found in their public water systems can visit the Drinking Water Watch online to track contamination results in real time.
“As soon as we get a result in that database, the public can actually see it in real time and that has every regulated contaminant that they can see,” Medlock said.
Customers should also browse through their water system’s annual consumer confidence report to track their system’s MCL violations. Medlock said this can provide consumers with transparency in regard to harmful chemicals that may pop up in their taps.
Water systems will be releasing their 2021 consumer confidence report in early April. They can be found on the EPA’s website.
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