Testing Your Water
The quality and safety of your water is our number one priority. TVWD, the Portland Water Bureau, and the Joint Water Commission (JWC) regularly test your water supply for approximately 200 contaminants. Testing includes all contaminants regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), plus many unregulated contaminants. Sampling is conducted at numerous locations in the water sources, including the JWC water treatment plant and the distribution system.
To ensure that when you turn on your tap your water meets this commitment, we constantly monitor the water by collecting samples. Once these samples have been collected, the testing process proceeds as follows:
- Samples are chilled and taken to a certified drinking water testing laboratory. TVWD only contracts with laboratories that have been approved by the Oregon Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program to analyze drinking water standards.
- The lab and TVWD send all test results directly to the Oregon Health Department Drinking Water Services.
- A Consumer Confidence Report (sampling results from the past year) is provided to customers once a year.
Each element has different regulations to adhere to if they fall outside of the acceptable range. In the extremely rare occurrence that a sample falls outside of the range, we will re-sample it. If it still falls out of the range, TVWD will take whatever action is necessary to correct the situation and follow the proper notification procedures. Because we purchase our water from the Portland Water Bureau and the JWC, some of these corrective actions would be taken directly by the water supplier.
