No worries for Torrington water

Bud Patterson
Posted 5/19/17

Every year the City of Torrington is required, by the Environmental Protection Agency, to report to residents on the safety and quality of the city’s drinking water.

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No worries for Torrington water

Posted

TORRINGTON — Every year the City of Torrington is required, by the Environmental Protection Agency, to report to residents on the safety and quality of the city’s drinking water. This year’s report, released a few weeks ago, is almost a carbon copy of last year’s  report … and the one before that and the one before that.
“(Our reports) reflect our system and our system is pretty trouble free,” said Torrington Water Treatment Plant Operator Jeff Craig. “We’re required to take samples every month, all kinds of samples, and those are sent in to a third-party, EPA compliant lab, who then generates our end of the year report.”
“We only have to test for lead and copper every three years because our numbers are so good we are on reduced monitoring,” explained Craig. “And on top of all the required samples we take, we also take some process control samples for our own edification, but they’re not required. At the end of the year, the lab compiles all that data into the report.”
Torrington’s water is supplied by wells located at the municipal golf course, three main wells and one back up. The groundwater is pumped approximately two miles to the treatment plant where it passes through four reverse osmosis units, has chlorine added and then blended with other water. Finally, the treated water is pumped, by way of four high service pumps, through the city’s distribution system. All totaled, with pumps, wells, pipelines, treatment units and maintenance and repair, Torrington’s safe, clean water with the EPA’s stamp of approval costs around $4.3 million annually

to produce.
“Before we installed the new treatment facility in 1997, we treated over one billion gallons of water a year,” Craig said. “Now we treat less than 600 million gallons a year. And 70 percent of the water we treat is used on lawns.”
Even with a steady supply of water from the city wells and high marks from the EPA, Craig said he still fields plenty of questions from residents about the city’s water.
“Most of the calls we get are from people wanting to know where to set there water softener or how hard is the water. In fact, most complaints about water pressure are caused by water softeners.”

The 2016 Annual Water Quality Report for the City of Torrington is available at the water treatment plant, located on Industrial Park Avenue or digitally from
the city’s website, www.torringtonwy.gov.