Due to a violation for one drinking water chemical byproduct, the Baltimore City Department of Public Works (DPW)  announced Friday, May 27, that it will send a legally required notice to approximately 3,000 customers in the Dundalk area of Baltimore County who may have used this water.

Although this incident was not an emergency, DPW customers have the right to know what happened and what we are doing to correct the situation. Customers do not need to boil water or take other corrective actions.

Quarterly sampling from February 2015 to January 2016 resulted in an average value for haloacetic acids (HAA5) at the Wise Avenue sampling location that exceeded the maximum contaminant level by 3 parts per billion. Haloacetic acids (HAA5) are five compounds which form when disinfectants react with natural organic matter in water. HAA5 levels at the Wise Avenue sampling location have returned to normal.

DPW routinely monitors dozens of sampling stations across our distribution area for the presence of drinking water contaminants. The maximum contaminant level for HAA5 is 60 parts per billion; this location indicated a value of 63 parts per billion. The annual averages for all other sampling locations were below the maximum contaminant level, including one in the same hydraulic zone of the water distribution system as the Wise Avenue site.

DPW performs monthly sampling for HAA5, three times as often as the mandatory quarterly sampling. If monthly values were used to calculate the annual average, the result would have been 54 parts per billion (ppb). The overall range of monthly data for the Wise Avenue sampling location was 32 -83 ppb.