Village of Spring Lake

We’re pleased to present to you this year’s Drinking Water Quality Report. This report is designed to inform you about the quality of water and services we deliver to you everyday. Our constant goal is to provide you with a safe and dependable supply of drinking water. We are committed to ensuring the quality of your drinking water.

Our water source is Lake Michigan. Water is collected by submerged intakes and is pre-filtered as it enters the treatment facility. Our submerged intakes are located several feet under the lake bottom. Natural sand that is above the intakes provides the pre-filter barrier, which compliments our direct filtration process.

"We boast about our pre-filtered Lake Michigan water and consider it the best source in West Michigan".
We’re pleased to report that your drinking water is safe and meets federal and state requirements. The Northwest Ottawa Water Treatment Plant routinely monitors for a variety of dissolved mineral and organic substances in your drinking water according to federal and state laws. The tables in this report show the results of our monitoring for the period of January 1 - December 31, 2004.

All drinking water, including bottled drinking water, may be reasonably expected to contain at least small amounts of these substances. It’s important to remember that the presence of these substances does not necessarily pose a health risk. More information about contaminants and potential health effects can be obtained by calling the EPA’s Safe drinking Water Hotline (800-426-4791).

Visit NOWS on the web: http://www.grandhaven.org

The public is invited to attend the bimonthly NOWS Administrative Committee meetings held at Grand Haven City Hall. Please call our staff at 847-3488 for the meeting schedule.

Tour Your Water Plant

We welcome and encourage the public to tour our facility. We provide a walking tour that takes you through the process of water treatment and laboratory testing. Larger groups are desired. Tour is usually 45 minutes long.

Call our water facility operator at 847-3488 or 847-3487

Northwest Ottawa Water Treatment Plant
30 Sherman Street
Grand Haven, Michigan
Mailing Address: 519 Washington Ave
Grand Haven, Michigan 49417
Phone (616) 847-3487
Fax (616) 850-8700

Water Quality Concerns

Some people may be more vulnerable to contaminants in drinking water than the general population. Immuno-compromised persons such as persons with cancer undergoing chemotherapy, persons who have undergone organ transplants, people with HIV/AIDS or other immune system disorders, some elderly, and infants can be particularly at risk from infections. These people should seek advice about drinking water from their health care providers. EPA/CDC guidelines on appropriate means to lessen the risk of infection by cryptosporidium and other microbiological contaminants are available from the Safe Drinking Water Hotline (800-426-4791).

More on source water

The sources of drinking water (both tap water and bottled water) include rivers, lakes, streams, ponds, reservoirs, springs, and wells. As water travels over the surface of the land or through the ground, it dissolves naturally occurring minerals and, in some cases, radioactive material, and can pick up substances resulting from the presence of animals or from human activity.

Contaminants that may be present in source water:

Microbial contaminants, such as viruses and bacteria, which may come from sewage treatment plants, septic systems, agricultural livestock operations, and wildlife.
Inorganic contaminants, such as salts and metals, which can be naturally-occurring or result from urban stormwater runoff, industrial, or domestic wastewater discharges, oil and gas production, mining, or farming.
Pesticides and Herbicides, which may come from a variety of sources such as agriculture, urban stormwater runoff, and residential uses.
Organic chemical contaminants, including synthetic and volatile organic chemicals, which are by-products of industrial processes and petroleum production, and can also come from gas stations, urban stormwater runoff, and septic systems.
Radioactive contaminants, which can be naturally-occurring or be the result of oil and gas production and mining activities.

In order to ensure that tap water is safe to drink, EPA prescribes regulations which limit the amount of certain contaminants in water provided by public water systems. FDA regulations establish limits for contaminants in bottled water, which provide the same protection for public health.

Special Notes
MTBE
You may have heard about the compound MTBE (Methyl Tertiary-Butyl Ether) that is a gasoline additive. This compound has contaminated some drinking water supplies across the country. We have tested for this compound for several years and will continue to do so. Our drinking water does NOT conatin MTBE.

Unregulated Contaminants Montoring
As your supplier we found it necessary to inform our customers that the required "unregulated contaminants monitoring" results for February 2002 are availabe. These are the first set that is part of a quarterly monitoring program for 2002. The first quarter sampling of the 12 pssible contaminatns all reported as "not detected". Next yars annual report will include all of the results from this program. For more information concerning these "unregulated contaminatns" please fee free to contact our water plant staff at 847-3487.

Source Water Assessment Report (SWA)
The State performed an assessment of our Lake Michigan source water in 2003 to determine the susceptibility or the relative potential of contaimination. The susceptibility rating is on a six-tiered scale from "very-low" to "high" based primarily on geologic sensitivity, water chemistry and contaimination sources. The susceptibility of our source is "moderate". A copy of the report can be obtained by contacting the Water Facilities Manager at 847-3487.

Listed below are contaminants/substances detected in Northwest Ottawa’s Water System

Not listed are the hundreds of other contaminants for which we tested that were not detected

Parts per million (ppm): A measurement of concentration. One part per million corresponds to one minute in two years.

Parts per billion (ppb): A measurement of concentration. One part per billion corresponds to one minute in 2000 years.

Maximum Contaminant Level: The "Maximum allowed" (MCL) is the highest level of contaminant that is allowed in drinking water. MCL’s are set close to the MCLG’s as feasible using the best available treatment technology.

Action Level (AL): The concentration of a contaminant, which if exceeded, triggers treatment or other requirements, which a water system must follow.

Maximum Contaminant Level Goal: The "Goal" (MCLG) is the level of a contaminant in drinking water below, which there is no known or expected risk to health. MCLG’s allow for a margin of safety.

Treatment Technique (TT): A treatment technique is a required process intended to reduce the level of a contaminant in drinking water.

NTU: Nephlometric Turbidity Unit. Turbidity level shall not exceed 0.5 NTU in 95% of the samples every month. This is the measurement of suspended material that is found in water. We monitor it because it’s a good indicator of effectiveness of our filtration system.

Unregulated Monitoring: Unregulated contaminants are those for which EPA has not established drinking water standards. Monitoring helps EPA to determine where these contaminants occur and whether it needs to regulate those contaminants.

Alpha emitters, Radium 226 & 228: Radionuclide contaminants that give off ionizing radiation. The state allows us to monitor for certain contaminants less than once per year because the concentrations of these contaminants are not expected to vary significantly from year to year. All data is representative of the water quality, but some are more than one year old.

Maximum Residual Disinfectant Level:Means the highest level of a disinfectant allowed in drinking water, (MRDL). There is convincing evidence that an addition of a disinfectant is necessary for control of microbial contaminants.

Maximum Residual Disinfectant Level Goal:Means the level of a drinking water disinfectant below which there is no known or expected risk to health, (MRDLG). MRDLG's do not reflect the benefits of the use of disinfectants to control microbial contaminants.

Filter Backwash Recycling Rule - Treatment Technique Reporting Violation
We did not return all recycled flows to the required location by the deadline of June 8, 2004, and did not receive state approval for the location other than the required recycle return location (referred to as an alternate location). Inadequately treated water may contain disease-causing organisms. These organisms include bacteria, viruses, and parasites, which can cause symptoms such as nausea, cramps, diarrhea, and associated headaches. However, there were no health effects associated with this failure to return our recycle flows at an approved location by the deadline. Treatment of the water did not change during that time and we continued to meet water quality standards. Our system received approval from the state for our location on August 4, 2004. This violation was resolved and your drinking water is safe.

The Village of Spring Lake purchases water from the Northwest Ottawa Water System (NOWS) for distribution to its 1,100 customers.

The NOWS system replaced the Village’s isolated supply system that had been very efficient and cost-effective since its inception in the early 1900’s. The Village’s groundwater-based supply system was abandoned in favor of connecting to the Lake Michigan-based NOWS as the result of the discovery of TCE and PCE in the Village’s groundwater aquifer in 1987. The Village joined NOWS to supply and treat water in April, 1992.

Water bills received by Village residents and businesses are based upon the cost to purchase water from NOWS plus the cost to maintain the Village’s distribution system.

Cross connections are the links through which it is possible for contaminating materials to enter a drinking water supply. The contaminant enters the drinking water system when the pressure fo the polluted source exceeds the pressure of the drinking water source. To prevent backflow and back-siphonage use properly installed, certified devices and be aware of potential hazards such as hoses in standing water and cennections of pipe to private wells.