No violations in Poughkeepsie’s drinking water

POUGHKEEPSIE – The annual report on Poughkeepsie’s drinking water shows the system, which gets its supply from the Hudson River, had no violations.         The report, prepared by the city, studied samples taken from its water distribution center and found none that exceeded legal limits.
Detected contaminants included total coliform, copper, lead, turbidity, orthophosphate, free chlorine residual, disinfection byproducts, strontium, chlorate, vanadium, hexavalent chromium and chromium.
Regulated contaminants detected in Poughkeepsie’s water treatment facility’s plant effluent included acetone, barium, sodium, chlorine, iron, manganese, zinc, plant effluent, raw Hudson River water and sulfate.
In all tests, none of the samples resulted in violations.
The state Health Department has issued a violation, though, in respect to the protection of the distribution reservoir because of the water that is leaking into and out of the storage tank.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency has granted the Poughkeepsie Water Treatment Facility, City and Town of Poughkeepsie an additional 24 months for capital improvements to comply with upgrades for disinfection byproduct, which are formed when naturally-occurring organic and inorganic materials in the water react with chlorine that is applied to drinking water for disinfection.
The 2014 report said the City and Town of Poughkeepsie have not failed that standard, but customers in Hyde Park and East Fishkill have had exceedences. To improve water quality for those customers, the city has initiated a treatment upgrade that will be operational in May 2016.
While water from the Poughkeepsie system met or exceeded state and federal regulations, city officials said some people may be vulnerable to disease-causing microorganisms or pathogens in drinking water than the general population. Immuno-compromised persons include those with cancer undergoing chemotherapy, persons who have undergone organ transplants, people with HIV/AIDS or other immune system disorders, some elderly, and infants can be particularly at risk from infections.
Those people should seek advice from their health care provider about their drinking water, city officials said.