Municipal Services Committee Receives Report on City’s Drinking Water

Water from Pasadena Water and Power taps met all drinking water quality standards set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Department of Public Health, according to the 2020 Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) on Water Quality for PWP.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, the EPA sets standards and regulations for many different contaminants in public drinking water, including disease-causing germs and chemicals.

EPA also sets legal limits on over 90 contaminants in drinking water.

The legal limit for a contaminant reflects the level that protects human health and that water systems can achieve using the best available technology. EPA rules also set water-testing schedules and methods that water systems must follow.

PWP reported on the full details of the CCR before the Municipal Services Committee on Tuesday.

“The drinking water that is delivered to the Pasadena community meets all standards regulated by the US Environmental Protection Agency and the CA Division of Drinking Water,”said Margie Otto, public information officer for DWP.

“ Like all water sources, there is a variety of chemicals that exist, most natural but some are man-made. Most of these chemicals are harmless but the drinking water is treated to ensure that it meets all regulations.”

The report said that in 2020, PWP provided 31,182 acre-feet of water – about 10.16 billion gallons of water on an annual basis – to serve more than 168,000 consumers in Pasadena, portions of the unincorporated areas of Altadena, East Pasadena and San Gabriel.

Of the volume, approximately 39 percent was pumped from local groundwater, and 61 percent came from imported surface water purchased from the Metropolitan Water District (MWD). Less than one percent was purchased from neighboring agencies that combine surface water and groundwater.

Since 1989, PWP has been mailing these CCR reports directly to customers as mandated by state and federal law. Early in 2013, the EPA began allowing drinking water purveyors to send annual CCRs in electronic format, helping them save on printing and mailing costs and reducing the environmental impact of producing many thousands of printed CCRs.

PWP posts the annual CCR on its webpage such that customers can open them with a single click of a mouse or return key stroke and read the contents with ease.

For PWP customers, the final 2020 CCR is available for direct download in PDF format at www.PWPweb.com/CCR2020. It can also be viewed electronically, along with more information about PWP’s water quality and state and federal reporting requirements, at www.PWPweb.com/WaterQuality.