Water Quality

In an effort to enhance public awareness about the water supplied to our customers, the Board of Commissioners wish to provide the following water quality information. Beyond providing general information about the regulatory aspects of the industry, we hope this information answers questions you may have about the quality of your drinking water.  Click here to view the 2007 Annual Report  You need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this document.  If you do not have Acrobat Reader you can download it at www.adobe.com.  Lakehaven Utility District provides water and sewer service to Federal Way and surrounding communities.

The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) requires that each public groundwater source be sampled for a range of inorganic chemicals at least once every three years. Additionally, bacteriological tests must be performed on no less than a monthly basis. To comply with these requirements, groundwater from our 21 production wells is sampled and tested both annually for inorganic chemicals and monthly for bacteriological conditions.

The first page lists values for PRIMARY Inorganic Chemicals and the average concentration levels of these chemicals found in our groundwater. Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCL's) for PRIMARY inorganic chemicals have been developed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) based upon their capacity to impact human health. All of the groundwater sources in our water district comply with these PRIMARY standards.

The second page lists values for SECONDARY Inorganic Chemicals and the corresponding average concentration found in our drinking water. SECONDARY inorganic chemicals can affect the taste, odor, and clarity of drinking water, but do not pose a threat to human health. Some groundwater sources exceed the Secondary MCL for iron and manganese (commonly found in groundwater within this region). With the concurrence of DOH, this problem is managed with an aggressive main cleaning and flushing program which removes deposited iron and manganese scale from water supply lines.

Page three is a current spreadsheet report on the inorganic chemical (IOC) analysis of untreated groundwater pumped from deep wells owned and operated by Lakehaven Utility District.

Second Supply Project Water Quality

In the early to late 1990’s, the District utilized water from the City of Tacoma to supplement its supply needs, so the water quality is known to many of our water customers. However, for those customers that did not receive this water in the past, the differences from Lakehaven Utility District’s well water are generally as follows:

1. A difference in taste may be noticeable since the water is drawn from a surface water supply, the Green River, rather than from groundwater wells.

2. The water can be warmer in the summer and slightly cooler in the winter.

3. The water will typically have a higher chlorine content compared to the District’s well water.

4. The water will contain fluoride per the City of Tacoma’s standard practices.

5. The water may have some color (greenish/yellow tint) from time to time.

6. The water may have a slightly musty smell to it seasonally.

All water will be tested to ensure it meets all the federal and state drinking water standards before it will be delivered to the District customers. The testing will be done by both the City of Tacoma Water Quality staff and the District Water Quality staff. If you have any water quality questions please contact Stan French, our Water Quality/Production Engineer, at (253)946-5410 or e-mail at sfrench@lakehaven.org.