James City County’s drinking water met all state and federal requirements for cleanliness and purity in 2014, with either no trace or safe levels of more than 100 contaminants.
The county relies on the James City Service Authority to provide drinking water for much of the county.
The state and federal government have established safe levels for contaminants like natural erosion, byproducts of water chlorination, discharge from petroleum refineries and dozens of other potential pollutants. The testing revealed that contaminants in the main JCSA water system are all within safe levels.
All drinking water — even bottled water — may contain small amounts of contaminants, according to the JCSA report for 2014. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has established safe limits for contaminants in water sold by public water systems.
JCSA derives its water from underground aquifers. That water is disinfected as required by federal regulations before entering the central water system for distribution across the county. Tests are routinely taken to ensure the water in the system is thoroughly disinfected, according to the report.
The utility operates the Five Forks Water Treatment Facility and numerous other water production sites throughout the county. Those sites produced an average of 4.75 million gallons of water per day in 2014, serving 20,732 residential and business customers.
JCSA also operates water systems separate from the primary one in Glenwood Acres, Kings Village, Racefield, Wexford Hills and Riverview Plantation, The Retreat and Ware Creek Manor. Testing on those systems also came back showing contaminant levels are in full compliance with state and federal regulations. Full reports on each of those systems are available here.
For a list of contaminants that were detected in the system, read the JCSA’s report for 2014.
