Public drinking water in Columbus met federal and state drinking water quality standards in 2018, according to Columbus City Utilities’ annual water quality report.
The report, which covers the 2018 calendar year, looked at a range of potential contaminants, including microbes found in animal or human waste, inorganic compounds such as fluoride or nickel, and heavy metals such as lead and arsenic, among others. Columbus City Utilities officials found that public drinking water in Columbus met all drinking water quality standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the report said.
Under the 1996 reauthorization of the Safe Drinking Water Act, public water systems are required to publish a water quality report each year that includes information on the source of their water and if drinking water meets EPA quality standards. The quality report also includes a table comparing potential contaminants found in drinking water to maximum containment levels set by the EPA.
Maximum containment levels are the highest level at which, in most cases, a contaminant is permitted in public drinking water, according to the EPA’s website.
Though no potential contaminants in Columbus’ public drinking water were found at levels that exceeded maximum containment levels, one mineral, manganese, was detected precisely at the EPA’s maximum containment level of 0.05 milligrams per liter at Water Plant 2, located near the Bartholomew County 4-H Fairgrounds. Water Plant 1, located in Lincoln Park, tested at 0.03 milligrams per liter. Both water plants detected manganese at levels less than 0.05 milligram per liters the year prior, according to the 2018 water quality report.
Scott Dompke, director of Columbus City Utilities, said manganese “is a normal groundwater element,” and that the public should not be concerned about the amount of manganese detected in the city’s public drinking water last year.
“Manganese falls under the National Secondary Drinking Water Standards,” Dompke said. “The secondary standards are non-enforceable guidelines regulating contaminants that may cause cosmetic effects such as skin or tooth discoloration or aesthetic effects like taste, odor, color or staining toilets. …EPA recommends secondary water standards but does not require systems to comply.”
Not hazardous
Manganese is frequently detected in water that contains iron, according to a paper published in 2014 by researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension’s Institute of Agricultural and Natural Resources.
“Common water contaminants iron and manganese are not health hazards but can cause offensive taste, appearance and staining,” the paper said. “… Iron and manganese can affect the flavor and color of food and water.”
Water with concentrations of manganese below 0.05 milligrams per liter “should not have an unpleasant taste, odor, appearance or side effect,” the researchers determined.
Columbus’ public drinking water comes from groundwater accessed via 22 wells and two filtration plants, according to Columbus City Utilities’ 2019 annual water quality report.
2 wells still closed
A couple of the wells, however, have had some issues with the unregulated contaminant 1,4 dioxane, an organic chemical used as an industrial solvent that the EPA considers to be “a likely human carcinogen.”
In October 2017, wells Nos. 14 and 15 were shut down after tests revealed the presence of low amounts of 1,4 dioxane. Dompke emphasized there is no federal standard for 1,4 dioxane limits.
In January, Columbus City Utilities awarded a $68,300 contract to Peerless Midwest Inc. to map the extent of chemical contamination in the aquifer that supplies Columbus’ drinking water and drill three test wells and three monitoring wells in the south well field near wells Nos. 14 and 15.
Dompke said the two wells are still out of service and that officials from Peerless Midwest Inc. are almost done with drilling the test and monitoring wells. Dompke said he expects to have more information on the wells “in the near future.”
“They are nearly complete with drilling the wells,” he said.
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Visit columbusutilities.org/water-quality-report for more information or to download a copy of the report.
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