Drinking Water Frequently Asked Questions
Water Sources
Your drinking water comes from the Upper Floridan Aquifer (UFA), a massive underground limestone layer that supplies water to millions of people across Florida. Before water is treated, this raw groundwater naturally contains organic matter, gases like hydrogen sulfide, and a mix of minerals, such as iron, manganese, sodium, chloride, sulfate, fluoride, bicarbonate, and the calcium and magnesium that cause water hardness. To guarantee it is safe and clean, the City of Sanford processes the water through a treatment plant before pumping it through a network ofpipes straight to your household tap.
Water Treatment
To ensure clean drinking water, the City of Sanford operates two treatment plants. Plant No. 1 currently relies on a basic aeration system to eliminate naturally occurring hydrogen sulfide gas, which causes the rotten egg smell. However, the City is currently upgrading this facility’s treatment processes to introduce more modem and efficient purification technologies.
Plant No. 2 features an advanced treatment system designed for enhanced safety. First, ozone removes the hydrogen sulfide gas. Next, granular activated carbon (GAC) filters trap and remove organic materials. Filtering out this organic matter is critical as it prevents the formation of harmful disinfection by-products (DBPs) when chlorine is added to keep the water safe and clean on its way to your home.
If your tap water comes from the City of Sanford, it is strictly regulated and monitored under federal safety laws. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates over ninety different contaminants under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) to ensure your public tap water is entirely safe to drink.
Please note that if you use a private well instead, water safety is your responsibility, but you can access helpful maintenance resources through the EPA private wells website at https://www.epa.gov/privatewells.
The City of Sanford’s water delivered to your home is safe to drink. Providing clean, high-quality, and reliable drinking water is the City’s absolute priority. Testing frequency changes depending on the population served, the water source and type of contaminants.
Certain contaminants are tested more frequently than others, as established by the Safe Drinking Water Act. The City’s Utilities Engineering Department goes above and beyond with a schedule that includes weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually, and triennially testing across the whole distribution network. This ensures your home or business receives water that meets all state and federal regulations. To check the regulated contaminant levels in your treated water from the past year, you can access the City’s annual water quality report or Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) here.
To keep your tap water safe, the City uses chlorine to destroy waterborne germs and stop bacteria from growing. Because chlorine keeps working as it moves through the pipe network, you might notice a faint chlorine smell, especially if you live close to one of the water treatment plants. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets a Maximum Residual Disinfectant Level (MRDL) of 4.0 mg/L (or 4.0 parts per million – ppm). Even though 4.0 ppm is the safety level, most public utilities like Sanford maintain lower concentrations, typically between 0.5 and 2.0 ppm at your tap. To prevent bacteria from growing back inside the plumbing system, the EPA requires a minimum level of 0.2 ppm throughout the distribution system and the City monitors this closely to make sure your water remains completely safe for everyday use.
Parts per million (ppm): In the context of water chemistry, ppm is equivalent to milligrams per liter (mg/L). Because one liter of water weighs exactly one million milligrams, one milligram of a substance inside that liter is literally “one part per million.”
Fluoride naturally occurs in our groundwater at low levels, but the City no longer adds additional fluoride to your tap water. Florida became the second state in the U.S. after Utah to ban water fluoridation after Governor Ron DeSantis signed Florida Senate Bill 700 in May 2025. This statewide ban officially went into effect on July 1, 2025, shifting the focus of water treatment strictly to purification and safety standards.
The City adds a safe compound called sodium polyphosphate to our water to protect local plumbing networks. This additive acts as a corrosion inhibitor, creating a protective barrier that keeps iron, lead, copper, and other metals from leaching out of pipes and into your water supply. This chemical is strictly certified under the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Standard 60 for drinking water treatment (NSF/ANSI Standard 60), a national safety benchmark ensuring that water treatment additives are non-hazardous and safe for daily drinking.
Forever Chemicals and Emerging Contaminants
Forever chemicals is the common nickname for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS), a group of thousands of man-made compounds used in manufacturing since the 1940s. They get their nickname from their ultra-strong chemical bonds, which keep them from naturally degrading over time. Because they easily resist heat, water, and grease, PFAS are found in many everyday items, such as non-stick pans, rain jackets, stain-resistant furniture, fast-food wrappers, makeup, and airport firefighting foams.
Emerging contaminants, also called Contaminants of Emerging Concern, are materials or microbes newly found in nature that carry potential environmental risks. The term “emerging” does not mean the chemical itself is new; many have been around for decades. Rather, it means that modem laboratory technology can finally track them at microscopic levels, or new health science is finally revealing their long-term dangers. Common examples include 1,4-dioxane, microplastics, endocrine disruptors, and leftover traces of pharmaceuticals or personal care products.
Water Quality Report
Providing safe, clean, and reliable drinking water is our top priority. To back up this commitment, the City’s Utilities Engineering Department performs extensive, regular testing to make sure your tap water meets or exceeds all federal and state safety laws. Each year by July 1st, we send a summary of these testing results directly to your home in our Annual Drinking Water Quality Report (also called a Consumer Confidence Report or CCR). Our testing proves that local water constituents are safely below the legal maximum limits set by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP).
If you rely on a private well instead of city water, remember that safety is in your hands, be sure to test your well water annually through a certified lab for coliform bacteria, nitrates, pH, and dissolved solids. You can access helpful maintenance resources through the EPA private wells website at https://www.epa.gov/privatewells.
Lead in Water
Lead typically does not originate in the main water source. It enters water when older indoor plumbing, brass faucets and fixtures, or outdated pipe solder begin to corrode. Providing safe, high-quality drinking water is our absolute priority. To protect our community and meet the EPA’s new Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI), the City of Sanford is employing a combination of historical records review and field verification to identify all pipe materials used on both the city’s side and your side of the water meter.
Because our water has exceptionally low lead levels, the state only requires us to test tap water once every three years. Our most recent official tests showed lead levels far below the EPA’s safety limit of 15 parts per billion (ppb) or micrograms per liter (ug/L). Looking ahead, our water will meet the EPA’s stricter upcoming limit of 10 ppb as well. You can look up your home’s pipe materials on our interactive map by visiting the City of Sanford Lead Safe Community webpage at https://sanfordfl.gov/LeadSafeCommunity We will continue to update our service line inventory as more records are located, and through ongoing field investigations conducted by City staff and contractors.
Water Quality Complaints
Changes in your water’s taste or smell are usually caused by natural minerals, treatment methods, or your home’s plumbing. While these differences can be unpleasant, they rarely mean the water is unsafe to drink. In fact, the EPA considers taste, odor, color, and clarity to be cosmetic issues rather than health risks, grouping them under non-enforceable secondary guidelines. Even so, a sudden change should not be ignored, as it can highlight a plumbing problem. For example, a foul smell when you tum on the faucet is often caused by bacteria feeding on soap and food waste inside your drain trap. If the water itself has a strong rotten-egg smell, it is likely hydrogen sulfide gas (H2S). This gas is common in Florida because groundwater naturally filters through limestone, though it can also be caused by harmless bacteria multiplying inside home water heaters set below 120°F.
If your tap water suddenly looks yellow, orange, or brown, it is usually due to loose sediment. A disturbance to the pipeline in the City’s water distribution system (e.g., pipeline repair work) or changes in your home’s internal plumbing can stir up natural particles or sediments that rest at the bottom of pipes. If crews are working on water lines in your neighborhood, once construction is entirely over, tum on your faucets and outside spigots to flush the interior plumbing for up to 15 minutes until the water runs clear to flush out mineral discoloration. It will also allow trapped air (which causes a sputtering sound) to be released. When you perform this flush, only run your cold-water taps. Always wait until the cold water runs clear at every faucet before turning on your hot water lines or running appliances like dishwashers and washing machines.
To isolate the issue, run a quick test: if your outside hose water is clear but your indoor faucets run brown, the problem is inside your home. This is often caused by rusting internal pipes, a broken water softener, or a clogged carbon filter that needs maintenance. In this scenario, you should contact a licensed plumber or a water treatment technician for repairs.
If you see tiny black flakes in your water, they are usually caused by breaking down rubber plumbing parts. Over time, the rubber gaskets and washers inside your home’s faucets, pipes, or filtration systems (i.e., water softeners) can dry out and disintegrate. When this happens, little black particles break off into your water supply. Because this issue is located inside your home’s internal plumbing, we recommend hiring a professional plumber to inspect your fixtures and swap out the old parts.
If your tap water looks milky or white, it is almost always just tiny air bubbles that become trapped in water. This temporary cloudiness usually happens for several reasons:
- Water Pressure: Water inside city pipes is kept under high When it pours out of your faucet into the open air, the sudden drop in pressure causes dissolved air to rapidly tum into bubbles.
- Line Repairs: If utility crews temporarily tum off the water in your neighborhood to fix a pipe, air can get trapped inside the When the water is turned back on, that trapped air creates a cloudy look.
- Changing Temperatures: Cold water is excellent at holding trapped When the weather warms up, the water temperature rises slightly, and those trapped gases are naturally pushed out as tiny bubbles. This white color is short-lived and completely harmless. If you let a glass of water sit on the counter for a minute, you will see the bubbles clear up on their own from the bottom to the top.
Water Flushing
The City of Sanford uses a proactive cleaning method called Unidirectional Flushing (UDF) to keep the hydrants and interior of water supply pipes clean and reliable. This process works by closing specific valves to isolate sections of the pipe network. Crews then force water to flow through those sections in a single direction at a high speed, cleaning the hydrant and the inside of the water lines. This routine maintenance is important for preserving water quality, clearing out natural sediment, and keeping the city’s hydrants and pipe infrastructure in top shape.
A Hydro-Guard is an automated, programmable water-flushing system used to keep your neighborhood’s drinking water clean, and safe. The City installs these units in areas where water tends to sit still for extended periods, such as dead-end streets, cul-de-sacs, or areas with very low water usage.
Water sitting in underground pipes degrades over time, a concept known as “water age”. A Hydro-Guard automatically flushes out this older water to draw fresh, treated water into the area. This helps with three major issues:
- Restores Disinfectant Residual: The chlorine used to keep water safe naturally fades over time. Flushing pulls fresh, fully treated water into your neighborhood to meet strict federal safety standards.
- Prevents Bacterial Growth: Still water creates a breeding ground for bacteria and microscopic slime. Regular, automated flushing stops this buildup before it even starts.
- Stops Chemical Buildup: When chlorine sits stagnant with natural organic materials for extended periods, it can form microscopic, unwanted chemical compounds called disinfection byproducts. Keeping the water moving ensures these byproducts never have a chance to form.
Water Filtration Systems & Water Test Kits
The City’s tap water is completely safe to drink and meets all government health standards, meaning you do not need an extra home water filter. Installing a filter is entirely the customer’s choice. Residents usually buy them to adjust the taste, accommodate a sensitivity to chlorine, or remove lead if they live in an older home with aging pipes. If you choose to use a home system, it helps you to understand the two main types available:
- Point-of-Use Filters: These clean the water at a single faucet. Examples include water pitcher filters, countertop units, or attachments that screw directly onto your sink tap.
- Point-of-Entry Systems: These treat all the water entering your entire house. Examples include whole-home water softeners, large carbon filters, or central reverse osmosis
Remember that home filters require strict, regular maintenance to remain safe. Without proper upkeep, filters can become dangerous sources of contamination (breeding grounds for bacteria and slime). For example, devices like water softeners remove hard minerals like calcium and magnesium, but they make the water more corrosive, which can damage your indoor pipes over time. Softeners also introduce hidden sodium to your drinking water. While this small amount of salt is harmless for most people, it can interfere with blood pressure control and cause serious health issues for anyone on a strict medical, low-sodium diet.
Home water test kits are not reliable to test drinking water for several reasons:
- Regulation: many home water testing kits are unregulated and not certified, which can lead to inaccurate results.
- Accuracy: kits that test multiple analytes/parameters may not be as accurate as lab Also, kits that test single analyte/parameter only work for that analyte or parameter. The range of analytes tested by the water kit can vary significantly and may not accurately represent the water quality of a specific distribution system.
- Performance: kits can differ based on the water source and kit used
Water Advisories
A precautionary boil water notice is a public notification issued by water utilities to warn consumers that their tap water may be contaminated with disease-causing microbes and is unsafe to drink without being boiled first. Precautionary notices are issued when an event might have allowed contamination to enter the system (like a pressure drop below 20 psi), but testing is still underway to verify safety. They are also issued due to water main breaks or pipe repairs.
To disinfect your drinking water during a boil water notice, you should boil your tap water at a rolling boil for at least lminute before consuming it. Boiling your water for at least 1 minute at a rolling boil will kill or inactivate all harmful disease-causing bacteria, viruses, and parasites from drinking water.
If you have additional questions or concerns about the quality of your water, please contact the City’s Water Quality Engineer at 407-688-5113.
