FORT RILEY, Kan. -- The quality of drinking water at Fort Riley is under close watch as a matter of routine, not by one or two agencies, but by three, according to David Jones, water quality regulations manager for Fort Riley's Directorate of Public Works.
The comprehensive testing procedures not only meet, but exceed requirements set forth by those agencies, Jones said.
For the federal government it is the Environmental Protection Agency; for the state it is the Kansas Department of Health and Environment; and for the Department of the Army it is a joint effort between the Fort Riley Medical and Dental Command's Public Health Services team as well as the Environmental Division of DPW.
"(The quality of) our drinking water is regulated by federal and state guidelines and governed under the by the Safe Drinking Water Act," Jones said. "So our regulations are the same as any other municipality throughout the United States. Also, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment regulates our drinking water."
The KDHE inspects Fort Riley's systems, which include eight wells that supply water to the majority of the post's housing and work areas, the post's distribution system and the water treatment plant, Jones said.
Aside from the eight wells that service the largest portion of Fort Riley, Jones said, there are separate wells that each serve the Digital Multi-Purpose Range Complex and the Automatic Qualification Range respectively. They too are subject to the same regulations and testing procedures.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the minimum requirement is for municipalities to test for micro-organisms such as bacteria and viruses, disinfectants and disinfectant-by-products such as chlorine-based agents, inorganic chemicals like copper and lead, organic chemicals which are the result of industrial processes, and radionuclides that emit radioactive particles
The EPA's regulations provide specific limits on all materials in these categories.
The KDHE's Bureau of Water exercises control through its Primary Drinking Water Regulations. According to the website www.kdheks.gov/pws/drinkingregulations.html KDHE follows the EPA testing requirements.
For its part, Army leadership monitors water quality through the U.S. Army Environmental Command. The AEC website aec.army.mil/Services/Protect/DrinkingWaterManagement.aspx, prescribes full compliance with EPA regulations as well as additional testing not required by other guidelines, at places such as all post child development centers and schools.
"So we are highly regulated just like any municipality would be," Jones said.
He said that the SDWA has a variety of rules that require "sampling for bacteria, and sampling for lead and copper."
All water coming directly from a well is called "raw water," and it is pumped to the water treatment facility. The water is then treated to remove contaminates and suspended solids.
"All raw water has suspended solids in it," Jones said.
Then the water is chlorinated which kills pathogens like bacteria or viruses.
A challenge for water treatment professionals, Jones said, is that when water sits for too long in storage, as it may do in a water tower, the chlorine that was added to disinfect it changes chemically and becomes the type of disinfectant by-product mentioned above.
"In that case, the water must be flushed out and replaced with fresh water from the distribution system," Jones said.
As far as testing goes, most of it is performed by KDHE and their laboratory.
"We also have testing done by our partners at Irwin Army Community Hospital's Public Health service," Jones said. "They do the testing for bacteria. But other than that we go to KDHE or sometimes we have to go to other laboratories, because there might be some kind of sophisticated test required by the EPA that the state can't do."
According to Stephen Grau, environmental health technician at IACH, water on Fort Riley is collected by Public Works Environmental Division and tested by personnel from Irwin Army Community Hospital's Public Health Service.
Forty-four samples are tested each month for the presence or absence of total coliform bacteria and E. Coli as required by KDHE under guidance from the EPA.
In addition, public health personnel collect another 36 samples monthly as required by United States Army Medical Command.
Positive samples are confirmed with additional testing, if repeat samples are found positive, KDHE is notified. Depending on the seriousness of the contamination KDHE will make the public announcement.
If a repeat sample is positive, corrective actions are taken, identified and the situation creating a positive is resolved and retested within 24 hours.
Also regularly tested by public health, Grau said, are source ground water, swimming pools and public ice machines. Each source is tested to ensure compliance with EPA and Department of Defense standards for bacteria types that are known to cause illness in humans such as well as total coliform and E. coli.
The Consumer Confidence Report is published by Public Works Environmental section and can be found at www.riley.army.mil/Portals/0/Docs/Services/RileyServices/Environmental/2016CCR.pdf.
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