Water Quality InformationWritten By Actual Experts

Analies Dyjak  |  Policy Nerd

For Hydroviv’s assessment of Mountain View, California’s drinking water, we collected water quality test data from the city’s website and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. We cross referenced Mountain View’s water quality data with toxicity studies in scientific and medical literature. The water filters that we sell at Hydroviv are optimized to filter out contaminants that are found in Mountain View’s drinking water.

Where Does Mountain View Source Its Drinking Water?

Mountain View supplies 8 million gallons of water to 80,000 residents on a daily basis. The city purchases 88% of its drinking water from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC). A majority of this water is drawn from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park. 10% of Mountain View’s water is purchased from Santa Clara Valley Water District (SCVWD). Half of the SCVWD water is drawn from the San Joaquin Delta and the other half comes from local surface water and groundwater reservoirs. The remaining water comes from groundwater wells around the city.

Lead In Mountain View Drinking Water

In recent years, Mountain View has had a huge problem with lead in drinking water. 10% of sites that were tested for lead had concentrations over 7.7 parts per billion. Though Mountain View's water quality is currently in compliance with the federal Action Level of 15 parts per billion, Environmental Protection Agency and Center for Disease Control EPA both recognize that there is no safe level of lead, especially for children. Additionally, these measurements may not be a true indication of your tap water if your home has lead plumbing or lead fixtures. Treated water leaving the plant may be in compliance with loose EPA standards, but could become contaminated once it enters older infrastructure. Lead enters tap water through old lead service pipes and lead-containing plumbing. Houses built before 1986 were most likely built with lead plumbing and lead fixtures. Lead exposure can cause developmental issues, lowered IQ, and damages to the kidneys and brain.

Chromium 6 In Mountain View Drinking Water

Chromium 6 is a highly toxic metal that is currently unregulated by the EPA. In recent years, Mountain View's water quality has had a major problem with this dangerous contaminant. Chromium 6 pollution is associated with metal processing, tannery facilities, chromate production, stainless steel welding, and pigment production. The report found an average concentration of 1 parts per billion of Chromium 6 in Mountain View drinking water. These levels are as high as 50 times higher than the concentration determined to have a negligible impact on cancer risk. EPA has acknowledged that Chromium 6 is a known human carcinogen through inhalation, but is still determining its cancer potential through ingestion of drinking water. Lung, nasal and sinus cancers are associated with Chromium 6 exposure. Ingestion of extremely high doses of chromium 6 compounds can cause acute respiratory disease, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, hematological, hepatic, renal, and neurological distress which may result in death.

Chloramine In Mountain View Drinking Water

While most municipalities use chlorine as the primary drinking water disinfectant, Mountain View’s drinking and tap water is disinfected with chloramine. Chloramine is primarily responsible for what many customers report as the “bad taste” or “pool smell” of tap water. Unlike chlorine, chloramine does not dissipate if a container of water is left in the refrigerator overnight. Most one-size-fits-all water filters use filtration media that doesn’t do a great job removing chloramine, but the filters that we design and build at Hydroviv for Norman use a special filtration media that is purposefully designed to remove chloramine.

It’s important to note that only a handful of contaminants are required to be included in annual Consumer Confidence Reports, and that there are hundreds of potentially harmful unregulated contaminants that aren’t accounted for. If you’re interested in learning more about water filters that have been optimized for Mountain View tap water quality, feel free to visit www.hydroviv.com to talk to a Water Nerd on our live chat feature or send us an email at hello@hydroviv.com.

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Michelle Scire  |  Scientific Contributor

What Is 1,2,3 Trichloropropane And Where Does It Come From?

1,2,3 Trichloropropane (TCP) is a synthetic chemical that is commonly used as an industrial solvent, cleaning and degreasing agent, and paint and varnish remover.  In California’s Central Valley, widespread TCP contamination was caused by a now-banned fumigant DBCP, which was used to kill nematodes (small worms that live in the soil). When applied to the soil, TCP leaches from the deeper soil to groundwater. When DBCP was banned in 1977 by the EPA, it was commonly used on over 40 crops in California. Unfortunately, TCP is persistent in the environment, and as of November 2017, 395 of the 5863 wells used by public water supplies had levels of TCP that exceeded the California regulatory limit. When looking at a map of contaminated wells (above), you will see a strip right up the center of California from south of Bakersfield to Sacramento with some prominent outliers in Los Angeles, San Diego, Salinas, San Jose, San Francisco, and Chico counties. 

Why Do We Care About TCP?

TCP is some nasty stuff. In the short-term, high levels of inhalation exposure to TCP can cause irritation of eyes, respiratory tract and skin, and has the ability to depress the central nervous system. Moreover, studies in rodents have confirmed it may affect memory, focus and muscle coordination. Long term exposure studies have found exposure in rodents can lead to liver and kidney damage as well as reduced body weight and tumor growth. To get an idea of how toxic TCP is, the 5 part per trillion MCL (legal limit) is equivalent to a single drop of water being diluted into about 5.5 olympic sized swimming pools!.

Timeline of Public Knowledge Related To TCP Toxicity

Data from: HERE

What Took Regulation Of TCP So Long?

While it’d be great if regulatory bodies were able to act quickly, the reality is that regulations take time, often decades to execute. In the case of TCP specifically, Cindy Forbes, the deputy director for Californiawater board’s drinking water program, insists that TCP regulation was a “top priority,” but explained that they had limited resources preventing them from reaching“the finish line.” In California, the process to establish a maximum contaminant level (ie regulatory limit) includes: conducting their own peer-reviewed research, evaluating cost of detection and cleanup, as well as allowing public comment (which undoubtedly includes comments from companies responsible for contamination). Forbes claims, “It’s my priority, it’s the board’s priority,” but one has to wonder what the word priority means when there is scientific research going back 25 years explicitly showing the repercussions of this contaminant. There is only one carcinogen with a lower state public health goal for drinking water, and that is dioxin.

What Can Be Done To Treat Water That Has Been Contaminated With TCP?

Large Scale TCP Remediation Techniques

Because of the contamination primarily leaching into the ground water in California's Central Valley, ground water remediation methods have been established. TCP can be removed with traditional methods such as, “pump and treat granular activated carbon filters (GAC), in-situ oxidation, permeable reactive barriers (zero-valent zinc), dechlorination by hydrogen-releasing compounds, and emerging biodegradation techniques.” A new method was developed recently using, “in-line, pressurized advanced oxidation process (HiPOx) that has the ability to remove TCP from groundwater to below 0.005 μg/L.” The treatment techniquewill depend on the level of contamination in groundwater or soil being treated. While these methods are indeed effective, they are expensive and require long planning/execution periods.

Small Scale (Residential) TCP Removal of TCP

If your home’s water is contaminated with TCP, and large-scale treatment isn’t happening in an acceptable time frame, some residential water filters do remove TCP. Our advice is to find a water filter that is advertised to remove volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and ask the manufacturer for a data sheet that shows effective removal of TCP specifically. 

If you have any more questions about 1,2,3 Trichloropropane contamination, we encourage you to reach out to our “Help No Matter What” technical support through live chat or email (hello@hydroviv.com). Our Water Nerds are happy to answer any questions you may have!

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