Water Quality

Departments

Annual Water Quality

The Consumer Confidence Report is designed to inform you, the customer, about the water that is being supplied through the water utility. Copies of the report are not mailed out to all customers. Consumer Confidence Reports are available by request at Town Hall or at the links provided below. 

 

2023 Water Testing

The Safe Drinking Water Act requires continuous monitoring and testing of the drinking water quality that we provide to our customers.  This year we had a number of contaminates to test for including Radium, Lead, Copper, and PHAS and I am pleased to report that we are in compliance with all of the test results.  As in the past, we are on a reduced monitoring schedule and hope to continue on a reduced monitoring schedule in the future.  We took our first PHAS testing this year and due to extremely low results and no detects the DNR waived the remaining tests for this year, we also will be placed on a reduced monitoring schedule for future PHAS testing.         2023 test results

 

Lead and Copper

In 1991, EPA published a regulation to control lead and copper in drinking water. This regulation is known as the Lead and Copper Rule (referred to as the LCR).

The purpose of the Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) is to protect public health by minimizing lead and copper levels in drinking water. Lead and copper enter drinking water mainly through the corrosion of service line pipes and plumbing materials. The LCR establishes action levels for lead and copper based on a 90th percentile level of tap water samples. An action level exceedance (ALE) is not a violation but triggers additional requirements to minimize exposure to lead and copper in drinking water, including water quality parameter monitoring, corrosion control treatment, source water monitoring/treatment, public education and lead service line replacement. The rule requires systems to monitor drinking water at customer taps. If lead concentrations exceed an action level of 15 ppb or copper concentrations exceed an action level of 1.3 ppm in more than 10% of customer taps sampled, the system must undertake a number of additional actions to control corrosion.  If the action level for lead is exceeded, the system must also inform the public about steps they should take to protect their health.

The Town of Brookfield regularly tests for Lead and Copper as required by the EPA and Wisconsin DNR and the results are below the action level.   Test results can be viewed in the Consumer Confidence Reports.

Service Line Inventory

Since 1991 the LCR has undergone various revisions, including the Federal Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR) that went into effect on Dec. 21, 2021. Under the LCRR, all public water systems (PWS) in Wisconsin are required to develop and submit a lead service line inventory to the DNR by Oct. 16, 2024.

We have created a water service line inventory list as required by the Lead and Copper Rule Revision and have found no known lead or galvanized services in the water system.  We will continue to update the service inventory during water meter change outs and cross connection control inspections.  The service line inventory is available upon request at Town Hall.

For more information on the Lead and Copper Rule, visit the Wisconsin DNR at   dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/DrinkingWater/LeadCopperRule.

 

Water Hardness

What Makes Hard Water Hard? 

Rainwater that falls is “soft”, it does not contain any minerals. As it percolates through the soil, water dissolves minerals which can include calcium and magnesium. Water with substantial amounts of calcium and magnesium is referred to as “hard water”.  The minerals in hard water can be deposited as scale on pipes and in water heaters. They also chemically interact with soaps and detergents and make them less efficient. For example, it takes 50% to 75% less detergent to clean laundry in soft water than hard water.

Hardness is measured in terms of grains per gallon (g/gal) or milligrams per liter (mg/L).  If you were to evaporate one gallon of water that had a hardness of 5 g/gal, the residue would be equal to one – 5 grain aspirin tablet.  Laboratories often record hardness as mg/L of hardness or parts per million (ppm).  One g/gal hardness is equal to 17.1 mg/L of hardness.  In the example above, 5 g/gal equals 85.5 mg/L hardness.

The hardness of water in the Town of Brookfield Water is typically between 32 to 35 g/gal (549 – 598 mg/L).  Various minerals that are pumped from the Town’s six wells make our water hard.

 

Water Chemistry & Water Heaters

To answer some questions and comments we often hear, we thought an article on water and water heaters might be helpful.

People comment that the water is bad because of the particles on the bottom of ice cube trays or in coffee pots. We can’t fight the fact that there is an enormous amount of calcium in the water. That is because we have shallow wells in the limestone aquifer. We do filter the water to remove the iron but we can’t remove the calcium. That means our water is hard as a brick and needs softening.

We also hear that “my water heater only lasted, insert any amount of time, because the water around here ate it up.” Water heaters have steel tanks that are lined with a thin glass coating to prevent corrosion, but the glass coating doesn’t cover the steel inlet and outlet pipes. When installing a new water heater, it is imperative that di-electric connectors are used between the heater and the copper water pipes. These connectors separate the dissimilar metals that can cause corrosion thru electrolysis.

Because we know that there will be some sort of corrosion in the tank, water heaters all have “anodes” in them. Anodes, usually made of magnesium, are the sacrificial part of the water heater. Since the anode is consumed easier than the steel tank, they corrode first. If there is too much corrosion or too much time, the anode may go away, and then the tank is next in the corrosion food chain.

When salt is added, as in softened water, the anodes corrode more quickly. One more interesting thing, when we heat water as in steam cleaning, the water gets more aggressive. Bear in mind this corrosion should take years to happen.

So calcium is not bad, but it makes water hard. If the water heater is installed properly, you and your heater should have a long and happy relationship.

Water is our greatest resource, embrace it.