Utility: Decatur’s drinking water is clean and safe

Warriors for Clean Water claims Decatur’s water is contaminated with heavy metals and can cause kidney failure.
Decatur Utilities calls the claims unwarranted and unsubstantiated.
Here’s what Decatur Utilities wrote in a letter it sent to WAAY 31: “Decatur Utilities assures customers that its drinking water is safe Decatur Utilities monitored a press conference held today by Ron Mixon of Warriors for Clean Water and Dr. John Rose, DO (Doctor of Osteopathy).
The Decatur Utilities service area was lumped into a region referenced in a study alleging a link between levels of heavy metals in local drinking water and instances of kidney failure.
Decatur Utilities provides its customers with safe, clean drinking water that exceeds state and federal quality standards.
Contrary to the claim made by Mr. Mixon, DU’s water treatment process is multi-staged and includes screening, chemical addition, settling, filtration, and disinfection.
Decatur Utilities performs more than one million tests in-house and at third-party independent laboratories each year to monitor the level of contaminants in the drinking water provided.
Levels of other contaminants are well below the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM).
In August, Decatur Utilities received notification from the EPA that its Water Treatment Plant (WTP) had surpassed state and federal regulatory treatment standards for water quality for the fourth straight year (2013-2016).
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