Tap water in St. Petersburg is safe to drink, according to the recent release of the City of St. Petersburg water quality report 2010. Those of us in St. Pete may have gotten a flier with our water bill explaining the details about the “award winning tap water and services” that the Water Resources Department delivers to you.
The most important thing to note is that there were no maximum contaminant value violations in the St. Pete water. This simply means that our water has no chemicals in it in amounts above a set threshold of what could be dangerous. Even more simply, this means you can safely drink your tap water in the St. Pete area, which is a good indicator of the water quality in the entire Tampa Bay area, though differences could be looked into.
While this sounds like great news, it also should be noted that our water is not perfect. The amount of contaminants found in tests has been disclosed, and we did come close to the MCL (maximum contaminant level) in a few categories. For example, in the category of chloramines (a type of disinfectant used to control microbes), the MCL goal is set at 4.0 parts per million. The results of monthly tests gave an annual average of 3.7 parts per million and had a range between 0.6 and 5.5. Therefore, in that category we are technically safe, but very close to the dangerous threshold on average and well over it during some months.
