Drinking Water SamplingMRWA’s Annual Meeting

December 10, 2014

Carlton GardnerCompliance Team Leader

Maine Drinking Water Program207-287-8403

www.medwp.com

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DWP’s Core Message

• The ability for a PWS to provide Safe Drinking Water revolves around four principals:

Protect Your SourceTake Your SamplesMaintain Your TreatmentInspect Your Pipes & Tanks

• DWP is here to help public water systems do these things

Protect Your Source Take Your Samples Maintain Your Treatment Inspect Your Pipes & TanksKeep Your Drinking Water Safe: 2

The Drinking Water Program works to ensure safe drinking water in Maine and to protect public health by

administering and enforcing drinking water and subsurface wastewater regulations, providing education,

technical and financial assistance. The program staff includes engineers, geologists,

chemists, environmental and legal specialists and other dedicated professionals. As a result, there is a range of expertise available to the regulated community and the

general public.

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* Protect Your Source from physical damage and protect your ground water from

contamination. Any contamination near your well could affect

your water quality!

*Secure well cap,

*Make sure well cap is properly installed to keep out weather, bugs and animals,

*Keep wellhead area free from potential sources of contamination like pesticide use, chemical and fuel storage, and animal waste,

*Protect wellhead from vandalism,4

* Take your samples to know for sure that your water is safe to drink and to stay in

compliance. Failures to collect samples and sampling errors have cost public water

systems lots of time and money.

*Know when samples are due. (Refer to your Annual Required Testing form.),

*Take samples on time and deliver to laboratory on time,

*Take samples at designated sampling site,

*Take samples properly. Make sure to disinfect the faucet for bacteria samples and take care not to touch the inside of the sample bottles or rinse them out,

*Sample early in your compliance period!!!5

* Maintain your treatment to reduce your customers exposure to contaminants. Failure to regularly and effectively maintain and monitor your treatment system puts the health of your customers at risk.

*Monitor chlorine residuals & report them on Monthly Operating Reports (MOR’s),

*Submit MOR’s monthly to the DWP by the 10th day of the following month,

*Check to make sure treatment system is in good operating condition & labeled,

*Have treatment system serviced on a regular basis and keep maintenance logs,

*Use only chemicals certified to NSF/ANSI Standard 60,6

*Monthly Operating Reports (MOR)*If you add a chemical or use UV,

*Due by the 10th day of the following month,

*MOR templates can be found on the DWP website: Monthly Operating Reports7

* Inspect your pipes and tanks to ensure no outside contamination can get into your pipes or tanks (cross connections), and monitor your piping and tanks for leaks and structural issues to ensure you can continue to provide safe drinking water to your customers.

*Check for cross connections,

*Install vacuum breakers on hose bibs,

*Check for leaks,

*Secure storage tank and screen the vent and overflow,

*Look for dramatic changes in pressure within your water system which could indicate a problem,

*Properly disinfect your water system after any repairs,

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1. Unless a shorter period is specified, the results of tests, measurements, and analyses required by Sections 7, 8 and 9 of these regulations shall be reported by the tenth day of the month following the month in which the samples were analyzed.

2. All reports of laboratory analyses for compliance purposes must be submitted to the Department by the certified laboratory contracted by the public water system to analyze the samples.

Reminder the RULES RELATING TO DRINKING WATER require:

WWW.MEDWP.com

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Lab Code Name of Lab Website City State Telephone

A&L A & L Laboratory http://www.allaboratory.com/

Auburn ME (207) 784-5354

BWDLBrewer Water Department Laboratory (Lab is located at the Water Treatment Plant)

http://www.brewermaine.gov/water-department/water-testing-lab/

Holden ME (207) 843-7182

CLWR ClearWater Laboratory (A Division of Acheron Engineering)

http://www.acheronengineering.com/Environmental%20Lab.htm Newport ME (207) 368-5786

MEWTR Maine Water Company - Mirror Lake Laboratory

http://www.mainewater.com/en/About%20Us/Lab%20Services.aspx Rockport ME (207) 236-8428

MECMaine Coast Laboratory (DBA Water Quality & Compliance Services Inc.)

www.waterqualityservicesme.com

Wiscasset ME 207) 882-5476

HETL Health and Environmental Testing Laboratory

http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/mecdc/public-health-systems/health-and-environmental-testing/standard.htm Augusta ME (207) 287-2727

KTHDN Katahdin Analytical Services http://www.katahdinlab.com

Scarborough ME (207) 874-2400

MEENV Maine Environmental Laboratory http://maineenvironmentallaboratory.com/

Yarmouth ME (207) 846-6569

NLSON Nelson Analytical Lab http://www.nelsonanalytical.com

Kennebunk ME (207) 467-3478

NELAB Northeast Laboratory Services - Portlandwww.nelabservices.com.

Portland ME (207) 878-6481

NELAB Northeast Laboratory Services www.nelabservices.com 

Winslow ME (207) 873-7711

PARIS Paris Utility District Laboratory N/A

South Paris ME (207) 743-5134

Maine In-state Commercial Drinking Water LabsNOTE: A complete list of all labs certified by Maine is available at All Certified Laboratories (xls file)

List of Labs & Annual Required Monitoring Sheets, Can be found at www.medwp.com.

*WATER SAMPLING REQUIREMENTS

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*Pre-Compliance Phone calls and Emails!

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*Bacteria Sampling Plans

*Routine bacteria samples should be taken from a site listed on sampling plan,

*DWP Field Inspectors will verify your sample locations during a sanitary survey,

*Routine bacteria sample site(s) should be representative of the distribution system,

Not from the well building!

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*Bacteria

*Sterile Bottle,

*Remove aerator and disinfect end of faucet,

*Sodium Thio-Sulfate to neutralize chlorine,

*Do not rinse out bottle,

*Do not touch inside of bottle or cap with fingers,

*Need 100ml of sample,

*30 hour hold time, 17

Depending on where you are first class US Mail is now a 2 – 3 day

service.

No matter which lab you are using, bacteria and nitrate

samples will have to be rejected if they do not make it to the

laboratory within 30 hours for bacteria and 48 hours for

nitrates.

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*Bacteria Sampling Locations

*It is recommended to collect bacteria water sample’s at a fixed bathroom faucet with the aerator removed, (Hose bibs and kitchen faucets with swivel arms are not recommended locations for bacteria sampling).

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*BACTERIA CHAIN OF CUSTODY

REQUIRED INFORMATION

*PWSID Number,

*System Name, Address,

*Contact name & Phone #,

*Collection Date & Time for each sample,

*Sample location (kitchen faucet; bar sink; raw water tap; etc…),

*Chlorine Residual, Reminder: All CWS & NTNC systems that

chlorinate must take and record chlorine residuals for any Total Coliform bacteria sample.

*Signature,

*Is this a compliance sample?20

*COMMON PROBLEMS WHEN LAB RECEIVES

SAMPLES*Paperwork not filled out completely, especially collection date and time.

*Wrong sample date (future date).

*Not enough sample volume.

*Compliance forms not signed.

*Sample collected one day, but not mailed until the following day.

*Paperwork not returned with sample.

*Air bubbles in Vials,21

There are no labs in Maine that analyze these contaminants…

*Radium, Diquat, & Endothall Monitoring

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Raw Water sampling port,

Before any treatment,

Before any storage,

*Groundwater Rule Samples

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*LEAD & COPPER*1 liter container

*Water must sit motionless in plumbing for minimum of 6 hours

*Collect as 1st Draw by placing open container under faucet then turn on faucet to collect first draw of water

*Record date and time the water was last used and the date and time the water was collected on the 141A form and the chain of custody form(s)

*14 day hold time

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*Reminder:

*Lead & Copper sample collection: Most systems on annual and triennial samples need to be collected June, July, August, or September.

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*VOC TEST KIT

*(3) 40ml voa vial’s with septa cap treated with ascorbic acid

*(3) small plastic tubes of Hydrochloric Acid

*(1) Trip Blank

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*WHAT IS A TRIP BLANK?

*Trip Blank: Is a clean sample shipped from the laboratory to the sampling site and transported back to the laboratory without having been exposed to sampling procedures.

*Purpose: Assess contamination introduced during shipping and field handling procedures.

*DO NOT OPEN TRIP BLANKS! Just return to the lab with your sample.

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*VOC SAMPLING

* Remove any screen, hoses and aerators from end of faucet.

* Run COLD water for 3 to 5 minutes to make sure water has

not been sitting for a long time in pipes or tanks and is fresh

from the well.

* Turn water down to a flow rate slow enough so you can

collect the samples without splashing.

* Remove cap from vial. Do not allow inside of cap, inside of

bottle, or bottle threads to be touched by any object. The

vials contain a small amount of white powder. This is

ascorbic acid used to dechlorinate the sample.

* Run the water into the bottle until it is ¼” from full. Fill the

other two vials in the same manner. 28

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*So you missed a sample!

*Now what?

*You sampled but your lab did not send the results in!

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*Revisions to the Total Coliform Rule

*Effective April 1, 2016,

*MCL Violations will be based on E.coli results,

*Positive TC samples require a Level 1 Assessment,

*Positive Total Coliform trigger a treatment technique violation if???

*Positive E.C require a Level 2 Assessment,

*Public Notice required for E.coli violation, failure to conduct assessment, failure to correct sanitary defects,

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*RTCR

*Public Notice required for E.coli violation, failure to conduct assessment, failure to correct sanitary defects,

*All Community systems on Monthly,

*All Non-community systems on Quarterly,

*Seasonal system on monthly,

*Seasonal systems have to have a start up plan,

*And certify annually the start up plan has been completed.

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*RTCR

*NC Systems need satisfactory 12 month history to go back to quarterly and no sanitary defects,

*All systems required to collect 3 rechecks for each positive sample,

*Systems on quarterly collect 3 samples the next month,

*All systems need to have a bacteria sampling plan..

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SECTION 3 FACILITIES APPROVAL

No new construction, addition, or alteration involving the source, treatment, or storage of water in any system shall be commenced until the plans and specifications have been submitted to and approved in writing by the DWP.

Allow 30 days for approvals

Changes in treatment processes which involve the addition or deletion of any chemicals require prior approval by the Department.

DWP Compliance Staff

• Darren Brann 287-5545

• Jennifer Grant 287-3962

• Jed Haws 287-8402

• Jason Pushard 287-8487

• Bill Wallace 287-197935

Questions?

Carlton GardnerMaine Drinking Water Program

207-287-8403carlton.gardner@maine.gov

www.medwp.com

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