Quality on Tap

2023 Consumer Confidence Report

Annual Drinking Water Quality

Educational Information

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:

Microbial contaminants, such as viruses and bacteria, which may come from sewage treatment plants, septic systems, agricultural livestock operations, and wildlife.
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 production, mining or farming.
Pesticides and herbicides, which may come from a variety of sources such as agriculture, urban storm-water runoff, and residential uses.
Organic chemical contaminants, including synthetic and volatile organic chemicals, which are by-products of industrial processes and petroleum production, and can also come from gas stations, urban storm-water runoff and septic systems
Radioactive contaminants, which can be naturally occurring or be the result of oil and gas production and mining activities.

Consumer Confidence

We’re very pleased to provide you with the 2023 Consumer Confidence Annual Quality Water Report. We want to keep you informed about the excellent water and services we have delivered to you over the past year. Our goal is and always has been, to provide to you with a safe and dependable supply of drinking water. This report shows our water quality and what it means.

If you have any questions about this report or your water utility, please contact Roger Secrist at 715-528-3330. We want our valued customers to be informed about their water utility. If you want to learn more, please call. Monthly board meetings are typically held on the second Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. at the Florence Utilities office building located at 501 Spring Avenue. If interested in attending, please call our office to confirm the date and time.

A paper copy of the report is available per request at the utility's office, 501 Spring Avenue, Florence, WI 54121.

Protection

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

Our Source

Our water source is from four gravel packed wells approximately 120 feet deep, located on Toppe Road, Norway Street, Tower Drive, and Brewery Lane. We have a source water protection plan available at our office that provides more information such as potential sources of contamination.

The Florence Utility Commission routinely monitors for constituents in your drinking water according to Federal and State laws. The 2023 report shows the results of our monitoring for the period of January 1^st to December 31^st, 2023. All drinking water, including bottled drinking water, may be reasonably expected to contain at least small amounts of some contaminants. It is important to remember that the presence of these contaminants does not necessarily pose a health risk.

Health Information

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 systems 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 Environmental Protection Agency safe drinking water hotline 1-800-426-4791 or at www.epa.gov.

MCL’s are set at very stringent levels. To understand the possible health effects described for many regulated constituents, a person would have to drink 2 liters of water every day at the MCL level for a lifetime to have a one-in-a-million chance of having the described health effect.

What Does It All Mean?

As you can see from our 2023 Consumer Confidence report (link above under Consumer Confidence), our system had no violations. We are proud that your drinking water meets or exceeds all Federal and State requirements. We have learned through our monitoring and testing that some contaminants have been detected. The EPA has determined that your water IS SAFE at these levels.

The Florence Utility Commission works around the clock to provide top quality water to every tap. We ask that all our customers help us protect our water sources (Cross Connection Control For Your Home), which are the heart of our community, our way of life and our children’s future. In addition, we would like to remind you that drinking water is our most valuable commodity. Please learn to conserve.