Consumer Confidence Report for Calendar Year 2024

Public Water System ID# AZ0410006

Este informe contiene informactión muy importante sobre el aqua usted bebe. Tradúscalo ó hable con alguien que lo entienda bien.
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We are pleased to present this year’s Annual Water Quality Report (Consumer Confidence Report) as required by the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). This report is designed to provide details about where your water comes from, results of sampling that we have performed, and any issues or violations that happened over the previous year. We are committed to providing you with information because informed customers are our best allies.

Click here for a downloadable copy (PDF format).

Do I Need to Take Special Precautions?

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/Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines on appropriate means to lessen the risk of infection by Cryptosporidium and other microbial contaminants are available from the EPA’s Safe Water Drinking Hotline (800-426-4791) or visiting their website: epa.gov/safewater

Where Does My Water Come From?

The sources of drinking water (both tap 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 can pick up substances resulting from the presence of animals, human activity, or radioactive material. Our water system has three wells that draw water from the Avra Valley sub-basin of the Tucson Active Management Area basin.

Source Water Assessment and Its Availability

Making the water safe to drink starts by protecting the place it comes from. We work with state scientists at ADEQ to examine water at its source to look for possible pollutants. We examine the hydrogeological nature of the land surrounding the water source and focus on how well the water source is  rotected from contamination. This is called a Source Water Assessment (SWA). ADEQ has given a high risk designation for the degree to which this public water system drinking water source(s) are protected. A high risk designation indicates that there may be additional source water protection measures that can be implemented at the local level. It does not mean that the source water is contaminated or that contamination is imminent; rather, land use activities or hydrogeological conditions exist that make the source water susceptible to possible future contamination. Further SWA information can be found on ADEQ’s website: azdeq.gov/source-water-protection

Source Water Protection Tips

Protection of drinking water is everyone’s responsibility. You can help protect your community’s drinking water source in several ways:

• Eliminate excess use of lawn and garden fertilizers and pesticides – they contain hazardous chemicals that can reach your
  drinking water source.
• Pick up after your pets.
• If you have your own septic system, properly maintain your system to reduce leaching to water sources or consider
  connecting to a public water system.
• Dispose of chemicals properly; take used motor oil to a recycling center.
• Volunteer in your community. Find a watershed or wellhead protection organization in your community and volunteer to
  help. If there are no active groups, consider starting one. Use EPA’s Adopt Your Watershed to locate groups in your
  community, or visit the Watershed Information Network’s How to Start a Watershed Team.
• Organize a storm drain stenciling project with your local government or water supplier. Stencil a message next to the street
  drain reminding people “Dump No Waste – Drains to River” or “Protect Your Water.” Produce and distribute a flyer for
  households to remind residents that storm drains dump directly into your local water body.

Drinking Water Contaminants

Contaminants are any physical, chemical, biological, or radiological substance or matter in water. Contaminants that may be present in source water include:

How Can I Get Involved?

Anyone can get involved with water awareness and conservation by being mindful of your water usage. Turn off the tap while brushing your teeth, wash only full loads of laundry, water plants only when it is necessary (turn off irrigation when it is raining). You can also get involved by joining us at 7:00 p.m. every third Wednesday in November at our Annual Meeting of the Board of Directors at the Picture Rocks Elementary School. We discuss what has been happening over the past year, what we plan to do in the future, and of course we always talk about conservation efforts. We have other regularly scheduled Board of Directors meetings each month at 6:00 p.m. Check the website calendar or call the office for more information

Lead Informational Statement

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. Avra Water Co-op is responsible for providing high
quality drinking water and removing lead pipes, but cannot control the variety of materials used in plumbing components in your home. You share the responsibility for protecting yourself and your family from the lead in your home plumbing. You can take responsibility by identifying and removing lead materials within your home plumbing and taking steps to reduce your family’s risk. Before drinking tap water, flush your pipes for several minutes by running your tap, taking a shower, doing laundry or a load of dishes. You can also use a filter certified by an American National Standards Institute accredited certifier to reduce lead in drinking water. To address lead in drinking water, public water systems were required to develop and maintain an inventory of service line materials by Oct 16, 2024. Developing an inventory and identifying the location of lead service lines (LSL) is the first step for beginning LSL replacement and protecting public health. Avra Water Co-op completed the inventory by the due date and found no lead lines in the system. Please contact us if you would like more information about the inventory or any lead sampling that has been done. If you are concerned about lead in your water and wish to learn about testing your water, please contact us. Information on lead in drinking water, testing methods, and steps you can take to minimize exposure is also available at
epa.gov/safewater/lead.

For More Information please contact: Cathy Kuefler, Administrative Manager, or Sal Madrid, Operations Superintendent
11821 W. Picture Rocks Rd.
Tucson, AZ 85743
520-682-7331
or you can email customerservice@avrawater.com. You can also find real-time information about our water system at the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) Drinking Water Watch website at: azdwis.azdeq.gov/DWW_EXT/

Water Quality Data Table

In order to ensure that tap water is safe to drink, EPA prescribes regulations which limit the amount of contaminants in water provided by public water systems. The table below includes the most recent water testing results within the last five years. Although many more contaminants were tested, only those substances listed below were found in your water. All sources of drinking water contain some naturally occurring contaminants. At low levels, these substances are generally not harmful in our drinking water. Removing all contaminants would be extremely expensive, and in most cases, would not provide increased protection of public health. A few naturally occurring minerals may actually improve the taste of drinking water and have nutritional value at low levels. Unless otherwise noted, the data presented in this table is from testing done in the calendar year of the report. The EPA or the State requires us to monitor for certain contaminants less than once per year because the concentrations of these contaminants do not vary significantly from year to year, or the system is not considered vulnerable to this type of contamination. As such, some of our data, though representative, may be more than one year old. In this table you will find terms and abbreviations that might not be familiar to you. To help you better understand these terms, we have provided the definitions for you.

Water Quality Data – Regulated Contaminants

The following terms are related to water quality data presented in the following table(s):
Action Level (AL): The concentration of a contaminant which, if exceeded, triggers treatment, or other requirements.
Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL): The highest level of a contaminant that is allowed in drinking water.
Maximum Contaminant Level Goal MCLG): The level of a contaminant in drinking water below which no known or expected risk to health exists.
Maximum Residual Disinfectant Level (MRDL): The level of disinfectant added for water treatment that may not be exceeded at the consumer’s tap.
Maximum Residual Disinfectant Level Goal (MRDLG): The level of disinfectant added for treatment at which no known or anticipated adverse effect on health of persons would occur.
Minimum Reporting Limit (MRL): The smallest measured concentration of a substance that can be reliably measured by a given analytical method.
Not Applicable (NA): The EPA has not established a MCL and/or a MCLG for this contaminant.
Picocuries per liter (pCi/L): Measure of the radioactivity in water.

The following water quality data only contain results for detected contaminants in your drinking water. Some results are from earlier years than the current year. This is because, according to regulation, some contaminants are monitored less frequently than once
per year. The most recent results are shown in the table.

 

Water Quality Table – Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (Required Reporting)

In 2024 your drinking water was sampled for the presence and concentration of 29 different per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). PFAS are man-made chemicals that are resistant to heat, water, and oil. They have been used since the 1940s to manufacture various consumer products, including fire-fighting foam and stain resistant, water-resistant, and non-stick items. Many PFAS do not break down easily and can build up in people, animals, and the environment over time. Scientific studies have shown that exposure to certain PFAS can be harmful to people and animals, depending on the level and duration of exposure.

To learn more about this group of chemicals, we encourage you to visit the ADEQ website at:
azdeq.gov/pfas-resources

You may also read the ADEQ-provided “PFAS 101 Fact Sheet” or view ADEQ’s Introduction to PFAS video on YouTube at:
youtube.com/watch?v=t44kSh0uKXE

In 2027, six of the PFAS compounds will become regulated contaminants with the following proposed MCL’s:

Your drinking water was also tested for lithium. Lithium is a naturally occurring metal that may concentrate in brine waters; lithium salts are used as pharmaceuticals, in electrochemical cells and batteries, and in organic syntheses.

No PFAS Contaminants were detected in your water.

Violation Summary

Please share this information with other people who drink this water, especially those who may not have received this notice directly (for example, people in apartments, nursing homes, schools, and businesses). You can do this by posting this notice in a public place or distributing copies by hand or mail.

For more information please contact:

Cathy Kuefler, Administrative Manager or Sal Madrid, Operations Superintendent

Address:
11821 W. Picture Rocks Rd.
Tucson, AZ  85743

Phone:
520-682-7331

You can also email your questions to: customerservice@avrawater.com

If you would like a copy of this report mailed to you, please call, stop by, or email the office and we will be happy to get one to you
or click here for a downloadable copy (PDF format).