Campus water update
June 17, 2015
Associate vice chancellor for facilities services
In April, UAF Facilities Services issued a notice to the campus community that the campus drinking water had exceeded federal limits for total trihalomethanes, also known as TTHMs.
On Friday, we will issue a similar notice. As was the case in April, the campus water is safe to drink. If it was not, we would be required by law to tell you so. You don’t need to do anything different regarding your water. The Environmental Protection Agency does suggest that you check with your doctor if you are pregnant, have a compromised immune system, have an infant or are elderly.
It’s important to understand that the EPA sets TTHM limits based on a yearlong average. Because of that, it will take several low quarterly readings to bring the average below the EPA limits.
Since April, we have upgraded our water treatment system. We installed activated carbon filtration, which is designed to reduce the amount of natural organic material in our water. That system came online May 31.
Trihalomethanes form in drinking water when chlorine, which is used to disinfect drinking water, reacts with natural organic material. Filtering the water to reduce the amount of organic material in our water should, in turn, reduce TTHM levels. In September, UAF will report the results of the next quarterly water test, and we hope to see reduced TTHM levels by that time.
Until then, it is still safe to continue using campus water for bathing, drinking and cooking. Please visit this link for answers to frequently asked questions about this issue and trihalomethanes: http://bit.ly/uaffacilities. If you have additional questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Facilities Services at 474-7000.