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WS – Item #1 <br /> <br />WORK SESSION STAFF REPORT <br />Work Session Item No. 1 <br /> <br /> <br />Date: January 6, 2020 <br /> <br />To: City Council <br /> <br />From: Rick DeGardner, Public Services Director <br /> Greg Johnson, WSB and Associates <br /> <br />Re: Public Water System - Manganese Test Results (UCMR4) <br /> <br />Background <br />The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) sets safe drinking water standards. There <br />are primary standards and secondary standards. The primary standards are regulated through <br />Maximum Contaminate Levels (MCL). Testing by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) <br />shows the City’s municipal water supply continues to meet all Safe Drinking Water Act <br />standards. <br />The Safe Drinking Water Act requires that every five years secondary unregulated contaminants <br />are evaluated. As a result the EPA issues a new list of 30 unregulated contaminants to be <br />monitored by Public Water Systems (PWSs). The Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule <br />(UCMR) provides the EPA and other interested parties with scientifically valid data on the <br />occurrence of contaminants in drinking water. This national survey is one of the primary sources <br />of information on occurrence and levels of exposure that EPA uses to develop regulatory <br />decisions for contaminants in the public drinking water supply. <br />UCMR4 monitoring is currently occurring thru 2020 and includes manganese, which was not <br />previously identified to cause health effects. Developing research, reviewed by the MDH <br />indicates that children and adults who drink water with high levels of manganese for an extended <br />period time may have problems with memory, attention, and motor skills. Infants (babies under <br />one year old) may develop learning and behavior problems if they drink water with too much <br />manganese in it. Although MDH tested manganese levels in municipal water systems state-wide <br />in 2011, the effects of manganese were not clearly understood or published until additional <br />research was recently completed by MDH. The attached MDH fact sheet provides additional <br />information: <br />▪ If you have an infant who drinks tap water or drinks formula made with tap water, a safe level <br />of manganese in your water is 100 micrograms of manganese per liter of water (μg/L)* or less. <br />▪ If you have an infant who never drinks tap water or formula made with tap water, a safe level <br />of manganese in your water is 300 μg/L or less.