To answer any questions concerning your bill, starting or stopping service, contact Utility Billing at: (650) 991-8082

To report a leak or other problems (24 hours a day), get water quality information or other technical data, or to ask any water related questions, please call the Water and Wastewater Resources Department at: (650) 991-8200

The main contact person for water quality information issues, or for anything specifically related to this report, is the Director of Water and Wastewater Resources Patrick Sweetland at:
(650) 991-8200

Meetings of the City Council of the City of Daly City begin at 7:00 pm on the second and fourth Monday of each month and are open to the public. Meetings are held in the City Council Chamber located on the second floor of the Daly City Civic Center, 333-90th Street.

We welcome your comments and suggestions on how to improve our water system or methods to better preserve our resources. Contact Patrick Sweetland of the Department of Water and Wastewater Resources for information regarding future public meetings, to voice concerns regarding service or delivery of your water.

Important consumer information is also available on Daly City’s website at: www.dalycity.org.

The City of Daly City has successfully converted the drinking water disinfectant from chlorine to chloramine. The conversion took place during the first week of February 2004.

Converting to chloramine allows the City to provide water that meets the stringent drinking water standards for disinfection byproducts, specifically the federal and state Disinfectant/Disinfection Byproducts Rule (D/DBP Rule). Chloramine, a combination of 5 parts chlorine and 1 part ammonia, is a more stable disinfectant, lasts longer in water, and produces lower levels of disinfection byproducts called trihalomethanes (TTHMs) and halacetic acids (HAA5s), suspected carcinogens. While the current standard is a maximum TTHM level of 80 parts per billion, Daly City water currently tests at 30.4 parts per billion. This represents a decrease by over 50% compared with last year when our water tested at 70.5 parts per billion. And HAA5s currently test at 19.2 parts per billion, well below the standard of 60 parts per billion.

According to the EPA, approximately one-third of all water suppliers in the United States are using chloramine as a drinking water disinfectant. Local agencies include the East Bay Municipal Utility District, Alameda County Water District, Santa Clara Valley Water District, Contra Costa Water District and Marin Municipal Water District. The city of Denver, Colorado, has chloraminated their water supply for 90 years. Everything we know about chloramine points to the fact that it enhances public safety in the drinking water supply.

An operational consideration associated with the use of chloramination is to avoid stagnant water within the system. Chloramination retains a modal contact time of up to 28 days. Stagnant water increases the possibility of taste and odor complaints associated with nitrification.

Part of the City’s response to the chloramine conversion involved a citywide flushing program completed in Fall 2003. The flushing program will become an annual program to clear out naturally occurring sediment from water mains. Crews flush the system by exercising fire hydrants throughout local neighborhoods. Residents will receive advanced flyers announcing when flushing will occur in their area. In addition to clearing water lines, the flushing program enables staff to better assess the condition of water valves in the system and fire flows throughout the community.

Just as they had with chlorine, three groups need to take precautions with chloramine. Those groups include kidney dialysis patients, owners of fish, amphibians and reptiles that live in water, and businesses requiring highly processed water.

Owners of fish, amphibians and reptiles can utilize special treatment methods, either drops or tablets, or a biological filter combined with a chemical agent to neutralize chloramine. However, these same precautions need not be taken for any other household use of drinking water. Chloraminated water is safe for people and animals to drink, cook with, bathe in, and for all other general uses. Again, the three groups mentioned above will not be doing anything different by removing the drinking water disinfectant prior to use; they will now just use a different method of removal.

The Hetch Hetchy watershed is a 459 square mile area located in Yosemite National Park at the headwaters of the Tuolumne River. It provides approximately 80 percent of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) supply.

The Hetch Hetchy system captures water inflows from the watershed in the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. This reservoir, the primary source for the system, is filled by spring snowmelt, runoff and the Tuolumne River. Water in the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir is treated but not filtered because it is of such high quality.

The SFPUC water supply is contained in surface water reservoirs. The term “surface water” refers to water that is collected at ground level. Wells comprise what is termed “groundwater”, or water that is stored below the earth’s surface. When we are not in a conjunctive use agreement, about half of the water served by the Daly City Water System is from local wells. There were six wells in active service during 2004.

Daly City completed a source water assessment of its local groundwater sources in 2003. Groundwater in many ways is a much more protected source than surface water. We draw water from an average depth of 300 feet below ground from a large aquifer known as the Westside Basin that serves a large portion of the northern San Mateo Peninsula and extends north to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Because of its protected environment and the consistency of our monitoring results, our well water is only required to have a disinfectant added to it prior to being served in our system.

It should be noted that the City’s wells are checked regularly for bacteriological levels, and the nonchlorinated/untreated well water is consistently determined to have a rating of “non-detect” for any coliform organisms. Daly City well water is blended with San Francisco water and then distributed throughout the community.

Results from nitrate testing showed detected amounts of nitrate in excess of the MCL of 45 mg/L (ppm) at Well #4 and A Street Well, but the blended average in the distribution system was 2.61 mg/L. Nitrate is one of the major anions in natural water, but concentrations can be greatly elevated due to leaching of nitrogen from fertilizers.

While there are no significant health effects of nitrate levels in your tap water due to blending, the following information statement is required because of the elevated findings in the well water and is not an indicator or statement of the quality of water distributed to you.

Daly City maintains 35 sampling sites located throughout the community that are tested weekly for microbiological contaminants. Tests are run by the City’s contract laboratory, Sequoia Laboratory in Morgan Hill, for maximum contaminant levels of certain types of bacteria. Coliforms Coliforms are bacteria that are naturally present in the environment and are used as an indicator that other, potentially harmful, bacteria may be present. In 2004, certified Water Operators collected 1,293 samples of which there were 6 instances of a positive test for coliform that equates to just 0.46 percent of all samples taken. Upon re-sampling of the locations, all tests came back negative for coliform, and on no occasion did a test detect the presence of fecal coliform or E. Coli. Lead and Copper Lead in amounts in excess of established notification levels (previously called action levels) in drinking water can cause delayed physical and/or mental development in infants and attention span and learning deficits in children. In adults it can cause kidney problems and possible high blood pressure. Because of these concerns the EPA mandated in 1993 that lead and copper monitoring be conducted by all water systems. Daly City completed the required monitoring and corrosion study in 1994. The results of the study were well under any notification levels and met all quality standards. Due to these favorable results, Daly City was reduced to triennial monitoring (every three years). In 1998, under advisement from the EPA, DHS required local water systems to complete their studies. A joint effort was organized by the SFPUC for collection and analysis by the member agencies. Since Daly City had previously conducted the study, an agreement was reached with DHS to do a special water quality study to determine the aggressiveness (corrosivity) of our well water and determine ways to meet the requirements for corrosion control in our water system. The study was performed in September 1999, and the results of the second Daly City study showed results were again under any notification levels (0.015 mg/L for lead and 1.5 mg/L for copper) and met all quality standards. In December 2001, lead and copper samples were collected and this third Daly City study showed results remained under any notification levels. The results of the second and third Daly City studies indicate that the well water blend with Hetch Hetchy supply provided a buffering effect, which lowered the corrosivity of the water. The fourth round of testing took place in August 2004 and test results for lead and copper were again well below notification levels. The 90th percentile was 0.0049 mg/L for lead and 0.086 mg/L for copper. None of the 52 homes tested at or above notification levels.

The sources of drinking water (both tap and bottled) include rivers, lakes, streams, ponds, reservoirs, springs and wells. As water travels over the surface of the land or through the ground, it dissolves naturally occurring minerals and in some cases even radioactive material. Surface waters in particular can be susceptible to substances resulting from the presence of animals or human activity. Contaminants that may be present in source waters include:

Microbial Contaminants such as viruses and bacteria that may come from septic systems, agricultural livestock operations and wildlife.

Inorganic Contaminants such as salts and minerals which can be naturally occurring or result from urban stormwater runoff, industrial or domestic wastewater discharges, oil and gas production, mining or farming.

Organic Chemical Contaminants including synthetic and volatile organics which are by-products of industrial processes and petroleum production and can also come from septic systems, urban stormwater runoff, and agricultural chemicals such as chemical fertilizers and gas stations.

MTBE, a gasoline additive, has become a recent water quality concern. This organic contaminant has rapidly been made a primary contaminant by DHS and is regularly monitored. All test results for MTBE in the City’s wells and distribution system have been rated “non-detect”.

Radioactive Contaminants which can be naturally occurring, or the result of oil and gas production and mining activities.

Pesticides and Herbicides may come from a variety of sources such as agriculture, urban stormwater runoff and residential uses.

Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring helps the U.S. EPA and the State Department of Health Services (DHS) to determine where certain contaminants occur and whether the contaminants need to be regulated. During 2000, the SFPUC monitored for twelve unregulated contaminants including MTBE, perchlorate, herbicides, and pesticides. These contaminants were not detected in any of Daly City’s or SFPUC’s supplies.

Source Protection is the primary barrier to water pollution. A contaminant that does not get into the water source does not need to be removed. SFPUC maintains a comprehensive watershed control and management program to protect source water. The water from Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park is so well protected that the Hetch Hetchy water supply is one of only six major water supplies in the country that is exempt from filtration. SFPUC controls activities on the watershed lands around their East Bay reservoirs, limiting activities to those compatible with maximum protection of the water quality.

Daly City, through proper design, construction, operation, maintenance and source control monitoring, achieves the same high level of source protection at the five active wells. The quality of the water supplied by local wells is high enough so as to not require further treatment other than disinfection for your protection. The City is committed to providing the highest quality, safe water from its system to our customers.

Water Treatment is the next protective barrier. Water from the remote Hetch Hetchy reservoir and our wells is unfiltered because it meets all state and federal requirements without filtration. Water from the other Bay Area watersheds near populated areas is filtered to meet standards for clarity. All of Daly City’s water is disinfected in order to retain distribution system residuals that meet state and federal quality standards.

Effective Operation & Maintenance of the distribution system assures that the water maintains its quality as it travels through the system to your tap. Minimal chlorine residual is maintained in the distribution system to prevent any regrowth of organisms during storage and transmission of the water as it travels to you. Active flushing of water mains and rotation of stored water supplies also keeps the water fresh and limits growth of organisms.

Daly City conducts continuous water quality monitoring and testing to assure your drinking water is safe and healthy. Daly City, working with the San Mateo County Health Dept., maintains an active cross-connection control program to prevent the intrusion of potentially harmful materials into the drinking water system. Cross-connection control is done by isolating hazards (boilers, cooling towers, fire sprinklers, etc.) from the drinking water supply by requiring and overseeing the installation of approved backflow prevention devices, which are annually inspected and certified by trained staff to insure their continued effectiveness.

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An assessment of local municipal groundwater production wells that provide approximately one-half of the drinking water source for the City of Daly City was completed in March 2003. The work was performed in accordance with regulations established under California’s Drinking Water Source Assessment and Protection Program administered by the State Department of Health Services (DHS).

Five of Daly City’s six municipal production wells assessed (‘A’ Street, Vale, Jefferson, Junipero Serra and Westlake) were noted as being highly protected from potential pathways of contamination. Well #4 was noted as being moderately protected.

The City’s municipal wells are considered most vulnerable to automotive related activities (gasoline stations, repair facilities), highways, roadways, sewer lines and railroads (BART) that result from the commercial and urbanized character of the overlaying land in the community. While the source assessment results are positive, they underscore the importance of ongoing monitoring and remedial activities now taking place to ensure the water quality of this local resource is preserved for potable purposes.

A copy of the complete assessment is available from the DHS Drinking Water Field Operations Branch, 2151 Berkeley Way, Room 458, Berkeley, CA 94704-1011. You may also obtain a summary of the assessment by contacting either DHS District Engineer Eric Lacy at (510) 540-2413, or Daly City’s Director of Water and Wastewater Resources Patrick Sweetland at (650) 991-8200.