Source Water Disclosure

The Division of Public Health in conjunction with the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control has conducted a source water assessment for the City of New Castle's community water system. Please contact the Secretary of the Commission at (302) 323-2330 to learn how you may obtain a copy this assessment.

The Municipal Service Commission would like to report the results of extensive independent water quality tests on the Commission's three active wells. The laboratory testing was done by Atlantic Coast Laboratories, Inc. and the results were forwarded to Wik Associates, Inc. for comparison to the EPA's Drinking Water Regulations and Health Advisories. A copy of Wik Associates letter to the Commission dated February 9, 2000 is reported below. TheWik letter indicates two areas of concerns, the pH of the water and the concentration of TCE (trichloroethene) at the Basin Road well. The Commission has always adjusted the pH of the raw water at our treatment facility before distributing it to the public and the Commission has chosen not to pump water from the Basin Road well (even though the levels of TCE fall below the allowable limits) since higher levels of TCE were monitored. 

If you have any questions about this report or other issues related to the Municipal Services Commission please do not hesitate to contact the Secretary of the Commission.

February 9, 2000

Mr. John Moore, Superintendent
Municipal Services Commission
216 Chestnut Street
New Castle, DE 19720

Subject: Review of October 1999 municipal well analytical results
Basin Road, School Lane, and Frenchtown Road Wells
Radon analyzed on 12/3/99; other parameters analyzed from 10/7/99 to
11 /5/99
WIK File #0637.08.51

The New Castle Board of Water & Light (Municipal Services Commission) analytical results from three wells were compared to the Office of Water, October 1996, "Drinking Water Regulations and Health Advisories": U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (EPA 822-B-96-002). In general, all of the provided results are within Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCL) promulgated by the EPA. The only secondary MCL (SMCL) that may be an issue is raw water (before treatment) pH at 5.36 at Basin Road and 5.41 at School Lane. The SMCL for pH is 6.5 to 8.5. However, after water treatment, pH is reported to become 7.2 to 8.4, which is within the SMCL. The suggested pH under the Lead and Copper Rule is > 7.0. The low alkalinity of 13 mg/L (as CaC03) at Basin Road and 12 mg/L (as CaC03) at School Lane indicate potentially corrosive conditions.

At the Basin Road well trichloroethene (TCE) is present at a concentration of 4.3 gg/L. This value is below the EPA h1CL of 5 ug/L for drinking water, but the reported value is close to the standard. It is recommended that previous TCE data at this site be compared to the present result to assess whether there are any discernible trends.

Acetone is present at concentrations of 9.9 pg/L at School Lane and 14 ~tg/L at Basin Road. Because acetone is frequently used for cleaning in laboratories, it was probably introduced by the laboratory during analysis. The EPA does not list acetone in its drinking water regulations and believes "that acetone is unlikely to be present in drinking water or sources of drinking water at levels of concern" (EPA announcement of the drinking water contaminant candidate list).

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