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December 20, 2016
The City of Evanston confirms that the water is safe for use. This confirmation is based on water samples collected at several locations in the James Park area and other areas in Evanston.
On November 14, 2016, the Evanston City Council approved Round 4 collection of drinking water samples for testing. Staff contracted with SCS Engineers, the firm that collected the previous samples, to collect the additional samples and have them analyzed for Volatile Organic Compounds and Semi-volatile Organic Compounds (including fluoranthene and phenanthrene). Samples from a total of 63 sites were collected between November 28 and December 2, which included samples from sites in each of the City’s nine wards.
SCS Engineers will provide a data summary report summarizing the results of all tests performed, including a map showing the sample locations and locations where detections of VOC and SVOC occurred by mid-January 2017.
View the Round 4 water quality sampling sites map.
Water samples were tested for two types of coal-tar compounds, fluoranthene and phenanthrene. These compounds are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Neither the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) or the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) haveestablished a maximum contaminant level (MCL) for fluoranthene or phenanthrene in public drinking water supply systems.
During the last three rounds of testing, the highest concentration of phenanthrene found was 0.054 ppb and the highest concentration of fluoranthene found was 0.029 ppb. The potable water standard for phenanthrene is 210 ppb and for fluoranthene is 280 ppb. The water testing results are significantly (99.9%) below the potable water standards.
The James Park Water Quality Updates newsletter is sent out monthly with the latest developments on this topic.
Staff Contact:
Kimberly Richardson
Assistant to the City Manager
847-448-8029
krichardson@cityofevanston.org
www.cityofevanston.org
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