Pasadena’s 2019 Water Quality Consumer Report Showing Promising Results

The Pasadena City Council’s Municipal Services Committee on Tuesday will review a final draft of the Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) on Water Quality, prepared by the Pasadena Water and Power Department.

CCRs, also known as drinking water quality reports, are mandated by state and federal law and must be released to water consumers on an annual basis. The report contains information about local drinking water sources, constituents, or contaminants, found in drinking water and how the quality of the local water supply compares to regulatory standards. 

According to the final CCR draft posted online by PWP, Pasadena’s tap water has met all drinking water quality standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and those set by the California Department of Public Health.

“PWP’s mission continues to be about providing safe, healthy drinking water while preserving environmental vitality, planning for future generations and maintaining public confidence,” Gurcharan Bawa, PWP General Manager, wrote in the CCR draft. 

“Our Water Quality Laboratory is state-certified, and monitors the water system every day, drawing samples from 200 locations throughout Pasadena to test for more than 170 constituents, ensuring that high standards are maintained. I am proud to share that Pasadena’s water complies with all federal and state drinking standards,” the document states.

PWP’s service area, which includes Pasadena and surrounding communities, uses approximately 26 million gallons of water each day. PWP receives water from two types of sources: local groundwater in the Raymond Basin aquifer, and imported water from the Colorado River and Sacramento Delta. 

Over the past year, PWP has been focused on identifying capital investments that will improve and create the infrastructure necessary to capture more local water, and use it more efficiently throughout the city, PWP said. 

From 1989 through 2013, PWP has produced, printed, and mailed water quality information directly to its customers in the form of CCRs. In 2013, the EPA revised its guidance and enabled water purveyors to provide the annual CCR in electronic format, saving them thousands of dollars in printing and mailing costs. 

PWP’s final CCR draft can be viewed online through www.PWPweb.com/CCR2019 and may be downloaded in PDF format. 

More information about PWP’s water quality and state and federal reporting requirements is also available through www.PWPweb.com/WaterQuality. The page contains CCRs dating back to 2001, PWP said.