Manteca’s municipal drinking water meets all federal and state health and safety standards.

That’s the bottom line of a state-mandated Public Health Goals report presented and accepted by the City Council on Tuesday.

The clean bill of health was possible after state agencies last month confirmed the effective removal of the containment TCP — 1,2,3-trichloropapne — from municipal water that has been priority for the city since it was first detected in a well in 2013.

As a result, the city is no longer required to mail quarterly public notices about the TCP concern to its 30,000 plus ratepayers.

The report noted there are seven constituents detected above their Public Health Goals in some of the city’s 15 groundwater wells that account for roughly half of the city’s annual water use. The rest is surface water from the Stanislaus River basin treated by the South San Joaquin Irrigation District.

The seven detected constituents are arsenic, Chromium VI (hexavalent chromium) 1,2-Dibromo-3-chloropropane (DBCP), Tetrachloroethylene (PCE), Gross Alpha, and uranium.

Some of the constituents such as arsenic are naturally occurring in groundwater.

Public Health Goals (PHG) are not regulatory standards.

They are non-enforceable, health-based goals to help water systems monitor constituents of interest that were established by California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.

For some constituents, current laboratory methods cannot reliably detect it at PHG levels.

Treatment does not currently exist to get to most PHG levels. Some treatment does exist, but the costs are extremely high.

George Montross, Deputy Director of Public Works for Water, noted available methods of water treatment to mitigate some of constituents below PHG targets would result in a significant fiscal impact to Manteca’s water ratepayers. 

 As analyzed in the report, the potential costs would be $18.3 million, not including ongoing operation and maintenance costs.

 That said, the health benefits of installing treatment would be uncertain since some PHGs are set below what laboratories can reliably measure.

“I believe our standards are higher than most bottled water?” Councilman Mike Morowit asked.

That drew an affirmative reply from Montross.

Councilman Dave Breitenbucher, who like Morowit regularly drinks Manteca tap water, noted that bottled water has microplastics in trace amounts that people are consuming.

He re-emphasized that Manteca’s municipal drinking water meets state and federal standards.

“Pick your poison,” Breitenbucher said of choosing between Manteca tap water and bottled water.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com