As a resident, visitor or utility customer of the City of Sanford, you may
have questions or concerns regarding the quality of the City’s drinking
water. The City makes every effort to provide safe and high-quality
drinking water and this requires the City to invest significant time, effort
and money.

Providing high quality drinking water requires monitoring for naturally
occurring and man-made contaminants that may reach our water supply
wells. Every drinking water supply utility in the State of Florida, including
Sanford, tests for a variety of contaminants that are regulated by state and
federal agencies, as well as emerging contaminants that are not yet
regulated. Emerging contaminants may not be regulated, but often have a
Health Advisory Level (HAL). A HAL is developed/established when a
chemical is found in drinking water and prior to a regulatory standard or
maximum contaminant level (MCL) being adopted.

The City of Sanford operates its water supply wells and treatment
facilities to meet all U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Florida
Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Florida Department of
Health (DOH) regulatory standards as well as all Health Advisory Levels.
Currently the City of Sanford knows of levels of an emerging contaminant,
1,4-Dioxane, located in the vicinity of its water supply wells and is taking
all the steps necessary to identify the source, including consulting with
DEP, and to ensure that the emerging contaminant does not adversely
impact Sanford’s water supply. As part of Sanford’s operations it samples
its water, sometimes as often as daily, to ensure that its water continues to
be high quality.

Advanced water treatment facilities for regulated standards and HAL’s
are costly to build and operate. In order to protect the City’s rate-payers
Sanford is working with the DEP to determine the source of this
contaminant and will pursue reimbursement of costs from the responsible
party(ies). In addition, the City will seek federal and state grants to fund the
construction and operation of the appropriate advanced water treatment
facilities.

Again, the City is confident that water supplied by the City of Sanford is
currently safe to drink and will continue to be safe. The City has and will
continue to work diligently to provide the highest level of service and the
best quality of water available from the water supply sources upon which
the City relies, while looking toward the future to make it even better.