Report Outages: 256-552-1400
WATER
Background
The Decatur Utilities Water Treatment Plant (WTP) receives water from The Tennessee River. The plant is capable of treating 68 million gallons of water a day with a daily average of 27 million gallons a day. The Water Treatment Plant is staffed with certified operators, at least two of which are on duty at all times throughout the year. Water is pumped from the plant through more than 500 miles of piping making up the distribution system. We have 10 water tanks with a storage capacity of 24 million gallons.
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Gas/Water/Wastewater Operations crews are responsible for building and maintaining more than 500 miles of water mains that serve the city's water customers.
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Water Quality Reports
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Each year, DU publishes a Water Quality Report detailing test results for the previous year.
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Download the 2023 report here.
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Water Quality Reports from previous years:
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Lead and Copper
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Download the 2016 Lead and Copper Sampling Plan and History.
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Awards and Recognition
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2018 Best Operated Plant Award - Alabama Water Pollution Control Association
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Surface Water Systems > 60 million gallons/day
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2013-2017 Five-Year Optimization Plant Award - Alabama Dept. of Environmental Management/EPA Region 4
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Optimization means DU's WTP goes above and beyond state and federal mandates for quality
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2017 Water Fluoridation Quality Award - Centers for Disease Prevention and Control
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Service Line Responsibility​
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Reading Your Meter
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To read your water meter, lift the meter box lid. Your water meter is located inside the meter box. Read the numbers on the water meter left to right. Read all the numbers except the last two. DU bills in hundred gallons. The reading on this sample meter would be 700 gallons. (7 x 100) Subtract the current reading from the previous reading to determine the number of gallons used.
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Leak Checking
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Turn off all water faucets at your home - inside & outside.
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Lift the lid on the meter box.
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Look at the black or red triangle on the water meter.
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If the triangle is spinning while all water is turned off, a leak is present.
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DU Statement Regarding Water Quality, 3M Landfill Testing
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Decatur Utilities (DU) has been made aware of an investigative effort by 3M to determine the level of Perfluorinated compounds, specifically PFOA and PFOS, which may be present at three former landfill sites in Morgan County.
DU wishes to remind all Decatur residents that their DU drinking water is completely safe and meets or exceeds all state and federal regulatory standards. Tests for these chemicals in our water supply have been non-detect, or at near non-detectable levels. The highest value in any recent test was less than 5 parts per trillion combined level for both chemicals, which is near the minimum detection levels.
For reference, one part per trillion is the equivalent of one square inch in 250 square miles OR one second in nearly 32,000 years OR one ounce in 7.5 billion gallons of water.
As a reminder, while not a regulatory limit, the EPA health advisory for lifetime consumption was established at 70 parts per trillion. All compounds in this family of chemicals continue to be studied by EPA; however, they are all currently unregulated.
Customers of DU can rest assured that the City of Decatur’s drinking water is safe and continues to be recognized for outstanding quality. DU’s Water Treatment Plant has been recognized as optimized by the Drinking Water Branch of the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) Safe Drinking Water Program for five consecutive years. This means DU has reached a level of performance that exceeds the requirements established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
DU takes great pride in the quality of water provided to our retail and resale customers and we want to ensure all customers can have great confidence in its safety.
A copy of DU’s current and past Water Quality Reports are available below. If you have any questions regarding your water quality, please don’t hesitate to call us at 256-552-1400.
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