Important Information About Your Drinking Water
Henderson Water Utility South
Did Not Meet Treatment Requirements

Date 05/20/2009

Our water system recently violated a drinking water standard.  Although this was not an emergency, as our customers, you have a right to know what happened, what you should do, and what we did to correct this situation.

Water samples for February showed that 6.7 percent of turbidity measurements were over 0.3 NTU turbidity units.  The standard is that no more than 5 percent of samples may exceed 0.3 NTU turbidity units per month.  The turbidity levels are relatively low.  However, their persistence is a concern.  Normal turbidity levels at our plant are <0.3 NTU units.

 What should I do?

You do not need to boil your water or take other actions.  We do not know of any contamination, and none of our testing has shown disease-causing organisms in the drinking water.

People with severely compromised immune systems, infants, and some elderly may be at increased risk.  These people should seek advice about drinking water from their health care providers.  General guidelines on ways to lessen the risk of infection by microbes are available from EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1 (800) 426-4791.

 What does this mean?

This is not an emergency.  If it had been, you would have been notified immediately.  Turbidity has no health effects.  However, turbidity can interfere with disinfection and provide a medium for microbial growth.  Turbidity may indicate the presence of disease causing organisms.  These organisms include bacteria, viruses, and parasites which can cause symptoms such as nausea, cramps, diarrhea, and associated headaches.  These symptoms are not caused only by organisms in drinking water.  If you experience any of these symptoms and they persist, you may want to seek medical advice.

 What happened?  What is being done?  When will the system return to compliance?

 For more information, please contact:

KEVIN ROBERTS
111 5TH STREET
HENDERSON, KY  42420
270-869-6616

 fryl@hkywater.org
www.hkywater.org

Please share this information with all the other people who drink this water, especially those who may not have received this notice directly (for example, people in apartments, nursing homes, schools, and businesses).  You can do this by posting this notice in a public place or distributing copies by hand or mail.

 This notice is being sent to you by:

HENDERSON WATER UTILITY SOUTH
Public Water System ID #: KY0510510
Date 05/20/2009

Spanish - Este informe contiene información muy importante sobre la calidad de su agua beber.  Traduzcalo o hable con alguien que lo entienda bien.

[ Top of Page ]

Illicit Discharges to the Sanitary Sewer System
(Published on 06/13/2008)

Henderson's Sewer Use Ordinance (SUO) expressly forbids illicit discharges to the sanitary sewer system.  The prohibitions are contained in Chapter 23, Article II, Division 2 of Henderson's Code of Ordinances.  Both prohibited discharges and prohibited connections are listed.  Sec. 23-27 and Sec. 23-29 (below) summarize the relevant text of the Code of Ordinances.

---

Sec. 23-27.  Use of public sewers.

(e)  Prohibited discharges.  No user shall contribute or cause to be contributed, directly or indirectly, any pollutant or wastewater which will interfere with performance of the publicly owned treatment works (POTW). These general prohibitions apply to all such users of a POTW whether or not the user is subject to national categorical pretreatment standards or any other national, state, or local pretreatment standards or requirements. A user shall not contribute the following substances to the POTW:

(1)  Any liquids, solids or gases which by reason of their nature or quantity are, or may be, sufficient either alone or by interaction with other substances to cause fire or explosion or be injurious in any other way to the POTW or to the operation of the POTW. At no time shall the wastewater exhibit a closed cup flashpoint of less than one hundred forty (140) degrees Fahrenheit or sixty (60) degrees Centigrade using the test methods specified in 40 CFR 261.21.

(2)  Any waters or wastes having a pH lower than 5.5 or higher than 9.0 or having any other corrosive property capable of causing damage or hazard to structures, equipment, and personnel of the POTW.

(3)  Any slug load of pollutants, including oxygen demanding pollutants (BOD, etc.), released at a flow rate and/or concentration that will cause interference with the normal operation of the POTW.

(4)  Solid or viscous substances in quantities or of such size capable of causing obstruction to the flow in sewers, or other interference with the proper operation of the wastewater facilities such as, but not limited to, ashes, cinders, sand, rocks, mud, straw, shavings, metal, glass, rags, feathers, tar, plastics, wood, unshredded garbage, whole blood, paunch manure, hair and flesh, entrails, paper products such as cups, dishes, napkins, and milk containers, etc.

(5)  Any wastewater having a temperature which will inhibit biological activity in the POTW treatment plant resulting in interference, but in no case wastewater with a temperature at the introduction into the POTW that will result in a treatment plant influent temperature which exceeds forty (40) degrees Centigrade (one hundred four (104) degrees Fahrenheit).

(6)  Any pollutant(s) which result in the presence of toxic gases, vapors or fumes within the POTW in a quantity that may cause acute worker health and safety problems.

(7)  Any substance which may cause the POTW's effluent or any other product of the POTW such as residues, sludges, or scum, to be unsuitable for reclamation and reuse or to interfere with the reclamation process where the POTW is pursuing a reuse and reclamation program. In no case shall a substance discharged to the POTW cause the POTW to be in non-compliance with sludge use or disposal criteria, guidelines or regulations developed under Section 405 of the Act; any criteria, guidelines, or regulations affecting sludge use or disposal developed pursuant to the Solid Waste Disposal Act, the Clean Air Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, or state criteria applicable to the sludge management method being used.

(8)  Any substance which will cause the POTW to violate its NPDES/KPDES permit and/or sludge disposal system permit.

(9)  Any trucked or hauled pollutants except at discharge points designated by the General Manager.

(Ord. No. 55-95, Art. II, 11-28-95; Ord. No. 40-02, 12-21-02)

---

Sec. 23-29.  Building sewers and connections.

 (b)  Prohibited connections.

(1)  No person shall make connection of roof downspouts, basement wall seepage or floor seepage, exterior foundation drains, areaway drains, or other surface runoff or groundwater to a building sewer or building drain which in turn is connected directly or indirectly to a public sanitary sewer. Any such connections which already exist on the effective date of this division shall be completely and permanently disconnected within sixty (60) days of the effective date of this division. The owner(s) of any building sewers having such connections, leaks or defects shall bear all costs incidental to removal of such sources. Pipes, sumps, and pumps for such sources of ground and surface water shall be separate from wastewater facilities. Removal of such sources of water without presence of separate facilities shall be evidence of drainage to public sanitary sewer.

(2)  Floor, basement, or crawl space drains which are lower than ground surfaces surrounding the building shall not be connected to the building sanitary sewer. No sanitary inlet which is lower than six (6) inches above the top of the lowest of the two adjacent public sanitary sewer manholes shall be connected by direct drainage to the building sanitary sewer.

(3)  Construction of new combined sewers and the introduction of inflow sources to the sanitary sewer system is strictly prohibited by this division. All new construction tributary to the combined sewer system must be designed such that inflow contribution to the combined sewer system is minimized and/or delayed as much as is possible. The domestic waste connection(s) of any new buildings constructed after the effective date of this division must be distinct from the building inflow connection in order to facilitate disconnection if a storm sewer becomes available.

(Ord. No. 55-95, Art. IV, 11-28-95)

[ Top of Page ]

Technical Manuals (Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)

Potable Water Facilities - Requirements and Specifications
(Revised April 27, 2004) (2,741 KB)

Sanitary Sewer Facilities - Requirements and Specifications
(Revised April 27, 2004)  (3,598 KB)

Technical Storm Water Manual
(Revised April 27, 2004) (4,393 KB)

[ Top of Page ]

Pretreatment Program Documents

          What’s a Pretreatment Program?

HWU Wastewater Application List and Instructions

HWU Wastewater Application - Introduction

HWU Wastewater Application

Slug Control Questionnaire

Grease Management Brochure

2008 Local Limits Overview

Current Surcharge Rates

Calculating Total Toxic Organics (TTO)

Septic Hauler Wastewater Application

Pretreatment Resources

[ Top of Page ]

Ordinances

Sewer Use Ordinance - Ordinance 55-95
Note: This is an EXTERNAL link to MUNICODE.com.
To access the ordinance, choose the following from the frame on the left:

• Chapter 23 UTILITIES, then
• ARTICLE II. WATER AND SEWER SERVICE, then
• DIVISION 2. SEWER USE REGULATIONS

[ Top of Page ]