A bottle of water approved by the Federal Drug Administration has fewer regulations imposed upon it than the water you get out of your tap, according to Chuck Murray.
Murray, chief of plant operations with the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission, spoke before the West Montgomery County Citizens Association on March 13 at Potomac Elementary School.
Questions from citizens centered around four main topics: how terrorism could impact the region's water supply; the state of the drought; possible health implications from byproducts of the chlorination process; and the impact of Fairfax Water Authority's mid-river intake pipe.
"THERE'S NOT A LOT I'm free to say about safeguards, we don't want to share that information," said Murray, when asked about the measures WSSC has taken to prevent possible infiltration of the region's water supply by terrorists or terrorist activity.
"What I can tell you is that we have water-quality monitoring in the distribution center at 350 locations a month.
"Can I give you absolute assurance that [terrorists] won't contaminate our water system? I know how difficult it is to successfully do what you're saying."
BEFORE THE RAIN this past weekend and Tuesday, the state of the drought was on the minds of many of the citizens at the meeting.
Twenty five percent of the water flow of Potomac River is withdrawn by WSSC, Fairfax Water Authority and the City of Rockville every day. More than 1.6 million people are served in a 1,000 square mile .
In severe droughts when the water level of the Potomac River drops below the amount necessary to safely draw water for consumers, two upstream reservoirs in Bloomington are available to supplement WSSC. They can provide 35 billion gallons of water, according to Murray.
CHLORINATION BYPRODUCTS, compounds created when chlorine used to disinfect water reacts with organic matter in source water, was also a concern.
Murray called the use of chlorine to treat water as the most important public health advancement to preventing disease.
"You have to put chlorine in the water or tomorrow you will die of cholera," said Murray.
Of all the regions within the state of Maryland, those in the WSSC watershed had the lowest birth defect rates, according to Dr. Carol Garvey, the top public health officer in Montgomery County. "THMs are not causing a lot of birth defects."
Keeping water in a container for drinking allows the chlorine to dissipate.
"The best thing you can do is pour a jug of water and put it into the fridge," said Murray.
The Fairfax Water Authority recently began building its mid-river intake pipe. Maryland, which owns the Potomac River, fought the mid-river intake on environmental grounds, though the Supreme Court granted Virginia the right to build its intake pipe.
"It is a water quality issue," said Murray. "Water at the center of the river is cleaner and has less risk of biological contaminants than water near the shore. We are all trained to draw from the cleanest source available."