HAYDEN PINES/GROUSE MEADOWS SERVICE AREA

HAYDEN HAVEN/GEM SHORES SERVICE AREA

NORTH KOOTENAI WATER DISTRICT

DRINKING WATER QUALITY REPORT

2010

We are pleased to provide you with this year's Annual Water Quality Report also known by the federal acronym CCR (Consumer Confidence Report). We want to keep you informed about the excellent water and services we have delivered to you over the past year. Our goal is, and always has been, to provide to you a safe and dependable supply of drinking water.

If you have any questions about this report or concerning your water utility, please contact Mike Galante, District Manager at (208) 772-3619. If you want to learn more, please attend any of our regularly scheduled Board meetings that are held at 12:30 p.m. on the first and third Thursday of each month at the District office: 1841 W. Hayden Avenue, Hayden, Idaho.

North Kootenai Water District monitors for contaminants in your drinking water according to Federal and State laws. The table below shows any detection of contaminants over the past five years. We are pleased to notify you that our water has not exceeded any allowable detection levels. As water travels over the land or underground it can pick up contaminants such as microbes, inorganic and organic chemicals, and radioactive substances. All drinking water, including bottled drinking water, may be reasonably expected to contain at least small amounts of some contaminants. It’s important to remember that the presence of these contaminants does not necessarily pose a health risk.

In the following table you will find some terms and abbreviations that you may not be familiar with. To help you better understand these terms we provide the following definitions:

Action Level - The concentration of a contaminant that, if exceeded, triggers treatment or other requirements which a water system must follow.

GTE – GTE Well located behind the GTE yard north of Prairie Avenue.

Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) - The “Maximum Allowed” is the highest level of a contaminant that is allowed in drinking water. MCLs are set as close to the MCLGs as feasible using the best available treatment technology.

Maximum Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG) - The “Goal” is the level of a contaminant in drinking water below which there is no known or expected risk to health. MCLGs allow for a margin of safety.

Non-Detects (ND) - Laboratory analysis indicates that the constituent is not present.

Parts Per Million (ppm) or Milligrams Per Liter (mg/l) - One part per million corresponds to one minute in two years or a single penny in $10,000.

Parts Per Billion (ppb) or Micrograms Per Liter - One part per billion corresponds to one minute in 2,000 years, or a single penny in $10,000,000.

Picocuries Per Liter (pCi/L) - Picocuries per liter is a measure of the radioactivity in water.

Variances & Exemptions (V&E) - State or Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) permission not to meet a MCL or a treatment technique under certain conditions.

Radiological Contaminants	MCL	MCLG	Our Water	Range of Detection	Sample Date	Violation?	Typical Source of Contaminant
Gross Alpha	15 pCi\L	NA	1.2	.3-2.1	2009	No	Erosion of natural deposits.
Combined Radium 226&228	5 pCi\L	NA	0.3	.2-.4	2009	No	Erosion of natural deposits.

Disinfectant	MCL	MCLG	Our Water	Range of Detection	Sample Date	Violation?	Typical Source of Contaminant
Sodium Hypochlorite	4	4	.91	.2-2.2	2010	No	Disinfection.

Inorganic Contaminants	MCL	MCLG	Our Water	Range of Detection	Sample Date	Violation?	Typical Source of Contaminant
Barium	2.0 ppm	2.0 ppm	0.02 ppm	NA	06-10	No	Erosion of natural deposits.

Volatile Organic Contaminants

MCL

MCLG

Our Water

Range of Detection

Sample Date

Violation?

Typical Source of Contaminant

Trihalomethanes

(TTHM)

80 ppb

37.8 ppb

06/10

By-product of drinking water disinfection

Haloacetic acids

60 ppb

25 ppb

06/10

By-product of drinking water disinfection.

Turbidity

MCL/TT

MCLG

Level Found

Range of Detection

Sample Date

Violation?

Typical Source of Contaminant

Turbidity (NTU)

5.0 NTU

.52

N/A

06/30/10

Soil runoff.

% of samples < 5 NTU

100%

N/A

Daily

Soil runoff.

Lead and Copper	MCL	AL	Our Water	Range of Detection	Sample Date	Violation?	Typical Source of Contaminant
Lead	0.015	0.015	0.003	ND–0.005	2009	No	Corrosion of household plumbing.
Copper	1.3	1.3	0.095	.01-.07	2009	No	Corrosion of household plumbing.

Lead – If present, elevated levels of lead can cause serious health problems, especially for pregnant women and young children. Lead in drinking water is primarily from materials and components associated with service lines and home plumbing. North Kootenai Water District is responsible for providing high quality drinking water, but cannot control the variety of materials used in plumbing components.

When your water has been sitting for several hours, you can minimize the potential for lead exposure by flushing your tap for 30 seconds to 2 minutes before using water for drinking or cooking. If you are concerned about lead in your drinking water, you may wish to have your water tested. Information on lead in drinking water, testing methods and steps you can take to minimize exposure is available from the Safe Drinking Water Hotline or at http://www.epa.gov/safewater/lead.

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. The Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Center for Disease Control (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 1-800-426-4791.

Our water supply is drawn from Hayden Lake.

It was required that 2,4 D be monitored for during the third quarter of 2010. This was not completed. However, sampling results from the fourth quarter of 2010 were nondetect.

North Kootenai Water District works diligently to provide quality water to every tap. We ask that all our customers help us protect our water sources, which are the heart of our community, our way of life and our children’s future.

PLEASE DON’T DUMP ANYTHING ON THE GROUND THAT YOU WOULD NOT WANT TO DRINK!