Jolisa Gilmore

August 9, 2015
ENVR 1302 Salazar
Summary Report (SR) 4
The subject of this week's Summary Report was the 2013 Drinking Water Quality Report,
for the city of Galveston, TX. The results of the tests required came from the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA).
Results
The results of the tests conducted concluded that water in Galveston is safe to drink,
unless the individual drinking the water suffers from certain conditions, or is at an age that is
more susceptible to sickness (infants and elderly). Galveston receives its water supply, "from the
Gulf Coast Water Authoritys Thomas A. Mackey Water Treatment Plant in Texas City".
Whenever a person decides to drink water from the tap, they are drinking water that has been
subjected to testing, which means that it is safe to drink this water instead of purchasing bottled
water or a water filter. However, all tap water still poses the risk of containing contaminants. If
you would rather avoid these contaminants altogether, a water filtration system or bottled water
would be the better alternatives.
Contaminants
The U.S. EPA requires testing up to 97 contaminants for our drinking water. The
following list states the contaminants that were found in Galveston's water: barium, fluoride,
nitrate, gross beta emitters, simazine, atrazine, lead and copper. While the list of contaminants
seems fairly long, the overall quality of the water was safe and each of these contaminants all
have a logical explanation for how they were introduced into our water supply. Some of these

contaminants were a result of factors such as soil runoff, erosion, fertilizer runoff, decay of
deposits, etc. While the small amounts of these contaminants found in Galvestons drinking
water are safe to consume at the levels they are present at, consumption of some of these
contaminants over a long period of tie could pose health risks in the future.
Conclusion
While the contaminants found in Galvestons drinking water were those commonly found
in drinking water, the important thing to note is this report was from the year E. coli was found
present in Galvestons water. E. coli indicates the presence of fecal matter in the water. At the
time, residents of Galveston were advised to boil their water in order to avoid the side effects of
ingesting water with E. coli bacteria present and to avoid giving their pets water from the tap. In
the report for 2013, the chart stated that the number of positive fecal coliform samples was one.
This report is consistent with the advisory for residents to boil their water, which was given at
the time. Despite the E. coli eventually being cleared from Galvestons water supply, the event
served as a lesson for why we should pay more attention to how our activities affect our water
supply and what changes we can make to ensure that were doing what we can to keep our water
safe. This is extremely important because freshwater sources are limited and the fresh water we
do have is small, in proportion to the total amount available on Earth.

Works Cited
City of Galveston Water Quality Report 2013 For the Year Ending 12/31/12
http://www.cityofgalveston.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/49