The Annual Fort Worth Drinking Water Quality Report Has Me Wanting To Get The Lead Out Of My Water Along With Nasty Microorganisms

You are looking at the cover of a mailing from the City of Fort Worth's Water Department which showed up in my mailbox this morning.

On the cover we learn that Lake Worth has turned a century old. And when Lake Worth was built it was the largest lake in Texas.

In Texas lakes are built?

There is a lot of information in this mailing about things like immunocompromised people and microorganism testing for things like Cryptosporidium and Giardia Lamblia.  With the source of those two microorganisms being human and animal fecal waste. Apparently low levels of those microorganisms were detected.

If low levels of fecal matter microorganisms were found at the location of the Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats in the Trinity River that information was not included in the Drinking Water Quality Report.

Reading through this Drinking Water Quality Report I also learned that I should be concerned about lead in my drinking water. I have never worried about lead in my drinking water.

Til  now.

Apparently the Fort Worth Water Department Laboratory offers lead and copper testing to its customers, costing only $15 per each lead and copper test. I am not drinking another drop til I get my test results.

At the very start of the Drinking Water Quality Report frequently asked questions are answered. The first frequently asked question is "Why am I receiving this report?"

I know I wondered about that.

Well, according to the report the answer to that frequently asked question is that in 1996 Congress amended the Safe Drinking Water Act to include a requirement that water utilities annually notify customers about their drinking water quality, with the law being quite specific regarding what information must be included.

I was still aboding in Washington in 1996. I do not recollect ever receiving a Drinking Water Quality Report in the mail.

Did this amendment to the Safe Drinking Water Act only apply to areas of America where the drinking water has serious issues, with more pristine parts of America exempt from worrying about too much fecal matter in the drinking water?

I know this much for certain. If my old home zone had Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats in the Skagit River no one would raise concerns about getting in a polluted river. The issue would be why would anyone want to go floating in that cold water.....