American Canyon Water System

[Jason]

With all the talk lately about the drought, we have had several questions about the City’s water system, so here is a quick explanation. The City receives all of its raw water from the North Bay Aqueduct (State Water Project). The water is pumped from Barker Slough which is located in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, near Travis Air force Base. The pumping plant is shared with the City of Fairfield, City of Vacaville, City of Vallejo, City of Napa, City of Benicia and Travis Air force Base.

The American Canyon Water Treatment Plant actually consists of two separate plants located next door to each other. The first is a conventional plant that uses coagulants (which cause fine suspended particles to clump together) followed by sedimentation and mixed media filtration. The other plant is a membrane plant which also uses coagulants but uses membranes for filtration instead (with pores small enough to filter out contaminants, including microorganisms). The filtered water from both plants is then disinfected with chlorine before entering the distribution system.

The City takes hundreds of water samples each year. Those samples show that the quality of the treated water meets all state standards established to ensure it safe to consume. The 2013 Water Quality Report is available on our website at www.cityofamericancanyon.org; search “Water Quality 2013”. These processes are continually monitored and adjusted for optimum performance by highly trained operators certified by the California Department of Public Health. For more information on drinking water and the professionals who provide it, visit http://drinktap.org.