PWSID # NJ(0407001)

We are pleased to present to you this year's Annual Drinking Water Quality Report. This report is designed to inform you about the quality water and services we deliver to you every day. Our constant goal is to provide you with a safe and dependable supply of drinking water. We want you to understand the efforts we make to continually improve the water treatment process and protect our water resources.

We are committed to ensuring the quality of your water. We have three wells, all located near the water treatment facility, on Broadway and Town Center. Our wells draw their water from the Potomac-Raritan-Magothy Aquifer over 300 feet deep.

We are pleased to report that our drinking water is safe and meets federal and state requirements. If you have any questions about this report or concerning your water utility, please contact Donna M. Domico at 856-456-7785. We want our valued customers to be informed about their water utility. If you want to learn more, please attend any of our regularly scheduled Borough. Council meetings are held at Borough Hall, 301 Christiana Street. Meetings are held on the third Monday at 6:30 pm.

The Brooklawn Water Department routinely monitors for contaminants in your drinking water according to Federal and State laws. This table shows the results of our monitoring for the period of January 1st to December 31st, 2009.

The sources of drinking water (both tap water and bottled water) 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, radioactive material, and can pick up substances resulting from the presence of animals or from human activity.

Contaminants that may be present in source water include:

1. Microbial contaminants, such as viruses and bacteria, which may come from sewage treatment plants, septic systems, agricultural livestock operations, and wildlife.

2. Inorganic contaminants, such as salts and metals, which can be naturally-occurring or result from urban storm water runoff, industrial or domestic wastewater discharges, oil and gas projection, mining, or farming.

3. Pesticides and herbicides, which may come from a variety of sources such as agriculture, urban storm water runoff, and residential uses.

4. Organic chemical contaminants, including synthetic and volatile organic chemicals, which are byproducts of industrial processes and

petroleum production, and can, also come from gas stations, urban storm water runoff, and septic systems.

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

In order to ensure that tap water is safe to drink, EPA prescribes regulations which limit the amount of certain contaminants in water provided by public water systems. Food and Drug Administration regulations establish limits for contaminants in bottled water, which must provide the same protection for public health.

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 the water poses a health risk. More information about contaminants and potential health effects can be obtained by calling the Environmental Protection Agency's Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1-800-426-4791.

Some people may be more vulnerable to contaminants in drinking water than the general population. Immuno-compromised persons such as persons 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. These people should seek advice about drinking water from their health care providers. EPA/CDC guidelines on appropriate means to lessen the risk of infection by cryptosporidium and other microbiological contaminants are available from the Safe Drinking Water Hotline (800-426-4791).

Nitrates in drinking water at levels above 10 ppm is a health risk for infants less than six months of age. High nitrate levels in drinking water can cause blue baby syndrome. Nitrate levels may rise quickly for short periods of time because of rainfall aor agricultural activity. If you are caring for an infant, you should ask advice from your health care provider.

Children may receive a slightly higher amount of contaminant present in the water than do adults because they drink a greater amount of water per pound of body weight than adults. For this reason, reproductive or developmental effects are used for calculating a drinking a drinking water standard if these effects occur at lower levels than other health effects of concern. If there is inefficient toxicity information for a chemical (for example, lack of data on reproductive or developmental effects), an extra uncertainty factor may be incorporated into the calculation of the drinking water standard, thus making the standard more stringent, to account for additional uncertainties regarding these effects. In cases of lead and nitrate, effects on infants and children are the health endpoints upon which the standards are based.

Infants and young children are typically more vulnerable to lead in drinking water than the general population. It is possible that lead levels at your home may be higher than at other homes in the community as a result of materials used in your home plumbing. If you are concerned about elevated lead levels in your home water, you may wish to have your water tested, and flush your tap for 30 seconds to 2 minutes before use.

Additional information can be obtained from the Safe Drinking Water Hotline ( 1-800-426-4791).

Non-Detects (ND) - laboratory analysis indicates that the constituent is not present.

Parts per million (ppm) or Milligrams per liter (mg/l) - one part per million corresponds to one minute in two years or a single penny in $10,000.

Parts per billion (ppb) or Micrograms per liter - one part per billion corresponds to one minute in 2,000 years, or a single penny in $10,000,000.

Picocuries per liter (pCi/L) - picocuries per liter is a measure of the radioactivity in water.

Action Level - the concentration of a contaminant which, if exceeded, triggers treatment or other requirements which a water system must follow.

Treatment Technique (TT) - A treatment technique is a required process intended to reduce the level of a contaminant in drinking water.

Maximum Contaminant Level - The “Maximum Allowed” (MCL) is the highest level of a contaminant that is allowed in drinking water. MCLs are set as close to the MCLGs as feasible using the best available treatment technology.

Maximum Contaminant Level Goal -The “Goal”(MCLG) is the level of a contaminant in drinking water below which there is no known or expected risk to health. MCLGs allow for a margin of safety.

Recommended Upper Limit - (RUL) Recommended maximum concentration of secondary contaminants. RUL’s are recommendations, not mandates.

Secondary Contaminant - Substances that do not have an impact on health. Secondary contaminants affect aesthetic qualities such as odor, taste or appearance. Secondary standards are recommendations, not mandates.

Maximum Residual Disinfectant Level (MRDL): The highest level of disinfectant allowed in drinking water. There is convincing evidence that addition of a disinfectant is necessary for control of microbial contaminants.

Maximum Residual Disinfectant Goal(MRDLG): The level of a drinking water disinfectant below which there is no known or expected risk to health. MRDLGs do not reflect the benefits of the use of disinfectants to control microbial contamination.

The Safe Drinking Water Act regulations allow monitoring waivers to reduce or eliminate the monitoring requirements for asbestos, volatile organic chemicals and synthetic organic chemicals. Our system received monitoring waivers for all of these types of contaminants.

To ensure the continued quality of our water, we treat it in several ways. We employ an aeration system and a filtration system to lower levels of

iron and manganese, and a softener to remove hardness. We use a polyphosphate solution to protect the distribution system and household

plumbing and, as a precautionary measure, we disinfect our water using a sodium hypochlorite solution.

For healthy individuals, the sodium intake from water is not important, because a much greater intake of sodium takes place from salt in the diet.

However, sodium levels above the secondary recommended upper limit may be of concern to individuals on a sodium restricted diet.

As you can see by the table, our system had no violations. We’re proud that your drinking water meets or exceeds all Federal and State

requirements. We have learned through our monitoring and testing that some constituents have been detected. The EPA has determined that your

water IS SAFE at these levels.

We at the Brooklawn Water Department work hard to provide top quality water to every tap. We ask that all our customers help us protect our

water sources, which are the heart of our community, our way of life and our children’s future. Please call 856-456-2638 with any questions.

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