Travis' water report available online

  • Published
  • By 60th Civil Engineer Squadron Environmental Flight
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Many of us take our tap water for granted, but there are people behind the scenes working hard to ensure drinking water is safe. Water systems are held accountable for this by the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. This act also requires community water systems to inform consumers about the sources and quality of water delivered by making an annual report available.

Travis' annual drinking water report is now available on Travis' public Web site. For off-base residents, most public water systems will mail an annual report. The cities of Fairfield and Vacaville also typically make their reports available online.

In order to ensure that tap water is safe to drink, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the State Department of Health Services limit the amount of certain contaminants in water provided by public water systems to amounts considered safe for public consumption. Drinking water, including bottled water, may reasonably be expected to contain at least small amounts of some contaminants. The presence of contaminants does not necessarily indicate that water poses a health risk. More information about contaminants and potential health effects can be obtained by calling the USEPA's Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1-800-426-4791.

The drinking water at Travis comes from two sources. The primary source is the Water Treatment Plant located on Travis that is owned and operated by the city of Vallejo. It treats surface water from the North Bay Aqueduct and from Lake Berryessa via the Putah South Canal. When the treatment plant is shut down for maintenance, water is supplied by three wells owned and operated by Travis.

Travis' water supply is regularly monitored for more than 100 contaminants. The 2007 report shows that although some contaminants were detected in the water supply, they were all within acceptable legal limits. Travis and the city of Vallejo are dedicated to supplying safe drinking water that continues to meet federal and state requirements and achieve customer satisfaction.

The 2007 Consumer Confidence Report is available electronically at http://public.travis.amc.af.mil/enviro. Hard copies of the report are available on base at the Asset Management Flight, 411 Airmen Drive, Bldg. 570.