Sammamish Plateau Water District’s water is safe to drink, according to water test results the district received Friday.
Those tests that were taken from the district’s production Well 7 in June showed only trace amounts of manufactured perfluorinated compounds, or PFCs, and Well 9 had no detectable PFCs.
While evaluating water quality issues affecting its Well 4, the city of Issaquah took a water sample from the district’s monitoring well 7.3, located approximately 45 feet from production Well 7. Monitoring wells are used to evaluate the aquifer and do not supply drinking water. The test result for the monitoring well showed a minute trace amount of PFC, meaning it is well below the health advisory level and therefore not a danger, according to a press release from the Sammamish Plateau Water District.
The district’s board of commissioners, however, chose on July 5, to take proactive steps to aggressively protect their water. Consultants are being retained to develop continuous and intensive monitoring/testing programs, and study ground water movement. Their work will help determine if and how contaminants are moving towards the district’s production well, whether testing results demonstrate a threat, and if further action is needed.
“We have a history of being extremely protective of our customers’ water. Any potential threat is taken seriously and acted upon immediately,” said Jay Krauss, general manager at Sammamish Plateau Water, in the press release. “In this case, our own tests show that Well 7 has minute amounts of PFCs and Well 9 had no detectable PFCs. Water from both are completely safe. If any of our tests showed otherwise, we’d switch production to other wells or the regional supply to protect the public. We have a flexible supply system and can change water source if needed.”
Even with the Well 7 and 9 test results showing trace to no detectable amounts of PFCs, the district leadership and commissioners took the monitoring well results of a trace amount as a reason to be extra conservative.
According to a letter from Chad Seidel, a recognized expert in complex drinking water quality challenges, and vice president of Corona Environmental Consultants, “Sammamish Plateau Water collected water samples from production Wells 7 and 9 in June and tested for perfluorinated compounds (PFCs). All of the results from both wells were below the USEPA health advisory levels. PFCs were not detected in Well 9 water.
“However, minute concentrations of two PFCs were found in well 7 water — perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS). Sammamish Plateau Water is moving ahead with additional testing and planning to ensure high quality water supply.”
PFCs have been in the press recently after a New York Times Magazine article identified known sites for PFOS/PFOA detection in the U.S. The “safe” levels of PFOA’s and PFOS exposure have also been substantially lowered since the health effects have received more scrutiny and research.
The Environmental Protection Agency initiated testing requirements for a number of potential unregulated contaminants, which may affect water quality or health. The district was selected to begin testing for additional unregulated contaminants in 2015. All test results for 2015 were within the new and stricter advisory ranges, determined to be safe, including PFOS/PFOA, as reported in the recent Annual Water Quality Report.
“It’s always been our policy to get out ahead of a potential threat before it becomes a problem,” according to Scott Jonas, operations manager at Sammamish Plateau Water. “Our testing protocols go beyond what’s required. We owe that to our customers.”
