Bloomfield Township water quality good in report

By Lisa Brody

Bloomfield Township Public Works Manager Katie Fotherby presented at the township board of trustee meeting on Monday, July 12, the annual Department of Public Works Water Quality Annual Report, which she noted is also published on the township's website.

In her reprot to trsutees, Fotherby explained how the township receives its water, and noted there are no lead service lines to worry about in the township.

Fotherby said the annual water quality report is required by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes & Energy (EGLE). Bloomfield Township receives its water from the Lake Huron Watershed, via the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA), which provides water and sewer services to southeast Michigan communities. She said as in previous years, in 2020, Bloomfield Township and GLWA surpassed the water quality standards required by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and EGLE.

“Since 2011, Bloomfield Township has purchased its water directly from Southeast Oakland County Water Authority (SOCWA) instead of GLWA to get getter rates and to allow us keep the rates more steady,” Fotherby said, as SOCWA has large storage capacities.

She said the main purpose of the report is to share information about contaminants in the water, which are not necessarily all bad. “Some occur naturally,” she said.

GLWA does all of the testing for the region, although the testing sites are in Bloomfield Township. Bloomfield Township had no water contaminant or quality violations, and did not exceed any allowable levels.

“We were well below health goals,” she said.

As for lead and copper testing, Fotherby said as for the water received from GLWA, “We do not have any lead. There may be some that has leached through an owner's pipes or service lines.”

They tested 34 samples for lead and copper, and all results were well below any action level.

“At this point, there are no lead service lines on either the public or private side,” Fotherby reported. “It's our expectation that there is no lead in the water system.”

As for minerals in the water system, it has not been previously tested, and they are inspecting for cross connections.