The Village of Glencoe Water Utility is pleased to provide you with the annual Consumer Confidence Report which is available in PDF format below. Please take some time to read and understand what the report says. Under federal and state regulations, your Water Department tests hundreds of water quality samples each month. The results for 2012 are excellent. The Glencoe Water Utility once again met every standard for over 100 contaminants tested for each year. Ongoing capital improvements at the water plant and in the distribution system help ensure safe and reliable drinking water.
We did experience a slight exceedence of the lead action level in a few homes during monitoring in the summer of 2008 and can report that follow-up testing performed in February 2009 and over the summer of 2009 show that our system was below the federal Lead Action Level of 15 parts per billion and our system was in compliance with the regulation. The next round of monitoring occurred during the summer of 2012 and results were better than ever with not one sample exceeding the 15 parts per billion action level. We attribute the reduction to the investment in a pH control system that minimizes the corrosive effects of the water.
Lead in water is a major concern for pregnant women, infants and young children. It is important to remember that lead is not in the source water, but can enter the water through your home’s lead service line (the underground pipe that connects your home to the water main in the street) or household plumbing that contains lead, so your home could have higher levels than what was found during our testing. If your home was built after WWII you will not have a lead service line. Recent research shows that the largest contributor to lead levels is a lead service line but other sources in the home's premise plumbing such as lead-soldered copper pipes (prior to 1986 lead ban), brass fixtures and even scale build-up in old steel pipes that were or are supplied by a lead service can contribute to lead levels as well. Any disruption to plumbing from, for instance, lead service line repairs or replacement or in-home plumbing work can temporarily but significantly increase lead levels. The only way to tell if your water has any lead in it is to have it tested. Local laboratories can provide this through the mail. If you want to learn about how to get your water tested, what the Glencoe Water Utility is doing to help reduce lead at the tap, and what you can do to reduce lead exposure in your home, please contact the Water Plant at 847-835-4183 or send an email to tomw@villageofglencoe.org.