City of Chipley's 2014 drinking water report shows compliance

CHIPLEY, FL – The City of Chipley has released its 2014 Annual Drinking Water Quality Report, confirming that the local water supply met all federal and state requirements during that year. The report, which covers the period from January 1 to December 31, 2014, details the city's efforts to provide a safe and dependable water supply to its residents.

The city's water source is ground water drawn from four wells that tap into the Floridan Aquifer. According to the report, the water quality is high enough that the only treatment necessary is the addition of chlorine for disinfection purposes.

The report includes a table of test results for various contaminants. For radioactive contaminants, alpha emitters were detected at levels ranging from not detected to 1.6 picocurie per liter (pCi/L), with a detected average of 0.53 pCi/L. Radium 226 or combined radium was found between not detected and 0.4 pCi/L, with a detected average of 0.2 pCi/L. Both of these radioactive contaminants were below the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) of 15 pCi/L for alpha emitters and 5 pCi/L for radium.

In the category of inorganic contaminants, nitrate levels were reported. The detected range for nitrate (as Nitrogen) was from 0.34 to 0.88 parts per million (ppm), with a detected average of 0.88 ppm. This is well below the MCL of 10 ppm for nitrate.

The report also provides definitions for key terms such as Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL), Maximum Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG), and Action Level (AL), along with units of measurement like parts per million (ppm) and picocurie per liter (pCi/L).

Residents with questions about the report or the city's water utility are encouraged to contact Tim Ray at (850)638-6347. The City of Chipley also invites customers to attend its regularly scheduled meetings, held on the second Tuesday of each month at 6:00 PM at City Hall, to learn more about their water utility.

The data presented in the report is based on the city's routine monitoring conducted according to federal and state laws. Any data obtained before January 1, 2014, and included in this report, comes from the most recent testing performed in compliance with regulations.