What's in the Water - Public Water

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By Kyle Midura

Story Published: Nov 24, 2009 at 7:38 PM MST

Story Updated: Nov 24, 2009 at 7:38 PM MST

BILLINGS - It's easy to take safe running water for granted, but some Colstrip residents can tell you what it's like to do without. Some residents settled for $25 million dollars after realizing coal ash had tainted well water in the area.

So KULR-8 investigated what goes into, and is taken out of Billings' water.

Every year public water utilities are required to release a consumer confidence quality report, and Billings has scored quite well over the past few months and years.

Officials deserve credit, but so does the Yellowstone River. "We use the same kind of treatment technology that everyone else does, and we end up with a superior product," said Water Production Superintendent Michael Rubich, "we start with a superior source, and we end up with a superior product."

Of the slew of contaminants water engineers must deal with, arsenic is the only one present in source water that registers above the legal limit for tap water. Luckily for water staff, there's a simple fix.

Experts said turbidity is the stat to really keep your eyes on. Rubich said Billings water is "well below any of the mandated requirements by the state and federal government, and I'm absolutely confident in its safety." The figure is a measure of total contaminants in the water, and experts said they try to exceed guidelines by as much as possible.

The utility conducts more than 3,000 tests per month to make sure drinking water is safe, if not crystal clear.

Water experts take pride in their work, and laugh at the idea that one needs a water filter. "The quality of the water delivered to you is 10 times under the standard of what most filters will remove," Rubich said, "I don't know of anyone on our staff on city water that uses a filter."

Rubich said the filters don't trap small enough particles to pull anymore from the water than they've already cleared. He said if you don't like the slight chlorine taste, simply letting water sit in a pitcher will allow heavier chlorine particles to sift to the bottom.

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Shawn Wetzel said on Tuesday, Jan 12 at 1:02 PM

I appreciated the nature of this story and am now curious as to where one, like myself, could acquire a list of what is actually in our tap water. Specific amounts of chlorine per ? unit of liquid measurement, and sodas and lyes used, and other things like that. Is that accessible online perhaps? Thanks again! shawn_wetzel44@yahoo.com

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