Quality Control
The goal of the City of Lawrence, Department of Utilities is to ensure customer satisfaction by consistently delivering high quality water today and in the future. We provide you and your family with water that meets or surpasses State and Federal requirements on health and safety standards for drinking water.
The Quality Control Division at the Department of Utilities includes a Water Quality Manager and three Water Quality Technicians. They are at the three different laboratories located at the Kaw River Water Treatment Plant, Clinton Reservoir Water Treatment Plant and the Wastewater Treatment Facility.
Division responsibilities include monitoring, reporting and knowledge of drinking water and wastewater parameters required for compliance for both State and Federal regulations.
Monitoring and reporting requirements
Federal and state regulations include procedures and schedules for the monitoring water at source, in the distribution system, and at the tap. KDHE ensures that public water systems comply with all of the regulations, follow monitoring schedules,and report monitoring results. The Quality Control Division monitors the physical, chemical and microbial characteristics of the drinking water, which includes more than 120 substances ranging from arsenic to zinc, and tests more frequently than required by the regulations. This helps us in making the Lawrence tap water superior to State and Federal standards.
Disinfecting and treating drinking water
Naturally water carries microbes that cause disease. To prevent disease, Lawrence disinfects the water with chlorine. Also Ammonia is added with chlorination to form chloramines, so that the disinfection does not end at the plant itself, but continues in the distributions system as well. The water is also pH and alkalinity controlled, to reduce the corrosion of plumbing and levels of lead and copper in standing tap water.
How do we know water is safe to drink?
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) sets regulations for the amount of contaminants in the drinking water. This procedure includes technical and scientific assessment of minimum amount of contaminant occurences on human health exposure, health effects and toxicology, using analytical methods, monitoring, treatment and cost. The outcome of the regulatory process are enforceable limits, called maximum contaminant levels (MCLs), which specify the concentration of a contaminant that is considered as "No Adverse Health Impact" or a treatment technique. The contaminant concentration as well as period of exposure identifies the MCL. Thus, a regulatory violation of one contaminant may be a series of daily tests while some might be an average of several quarterly samples.
The water quality leaving the water treatment facility must meet all the regulations of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) and the USEPA. The Department of Utilities has not been out of compliance of these regulations and continues to consistently exceed the requirements of the State regulations. The Water Treatment and the Quality Control Divisions work together in testing the water on a daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly sampling period.
Wastewater Quality
The City of Lawrence Wastewater facility continued to achieve and maintain compliance with regard to the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit parameters this year. The NPDES permit was reissued for the Lawrence Wastewater Treatment facility in February 2000. The NPDES permit program controls water pollution by regulating point sources that discharge pollutants into waters of the United States. Point sources are discrete conveyances such as pipes or man-made ditches. Industrial, municipal, and other facilities must obtain permits if their discharges go directly to surface waters. However individual homes that are connected to a municipal system, use a septic system, or do not have a surface discharge do not need an NPDES permit.
Industrial Pretreatment program
The EPA was required by the Clean Water Act to develop pretreatment standards to control industrial discharges into the sanitary sewer collection system. All Public Owned Treatment Works (POTWs) must enforce these Federal pretreatment standards and establish a local pretreatment programs.
The Quality Control staff is responsible for the Lawrence Industrial Pretreatment Program, which includes over thirtyfour (34) industrial facilities. These facilities are monitored at least four times a year. Site inspections are done at other smaller industrial facilities by staff when time allows.
The Pretreatment program focuses on large industrial users known as Significant Industrial Users (SIUs). SIUs are identified by set criteria from the Federal pretreatment regulations. The Pretreatment program for the City of Lawrence was approved and implemented in 1986. Presently, Lawrence has four SIUs out of the thirty four industrial users.
Quality Control Division staff at the Department of Utilities monitors and conducts laboratory analyses on the wastewater discharge from these facilities. The SIUs are permitted and are also required to conduct self-monitoring on their wastewater effluent once every six months. This data is submitted to the City for review. Annual site inspections of each SIU are also included in the program.
Records kept by the staff on the industrial users are subject to review by the KDHE and the EPA on an annual basis. Apart from that, compliance reports are submitted to both agencies every year.
