TURN ON THE TAP

Every year at about this time, the valley's largest water utility sends local residents a detailed analysis of what comes out of their taps.

But the 2008 Water Quality Report from the Las Vegas Valley Water District also includes something a little different: a sales pitch.

Mixed in with the usual references to clarity and concentration are colored bubbles containing reasons for residents to "turn on the tap."

One reason: Tap water is tested daily while the U.S. Food and Drug Administration examines bottled water once a week, the report said. Another reason: Tap water is thousands of times less expensive per gallon than the bottled stuff.

The blurbs were included in the report in part as a response to unscrupulous tactics being used by some vendors of home water filtration systems, said water district spokesman J.C. Davis.

A few vendors are lying about what's in local tap water in order to make a sale, he said.

Ultimately, water district officials don't really care whether or not people drink tap water.

"We care a lot whether or not they feel comfortable drinking tap water," Davis said. "We just want people to make their choice based on preference, not out of concern for safety."

With that in mind, this year's water quality report is titled "Turn on the Tap with Confidence."

The 12-page report, which began hitting local mailboxes last week, found that water delivered by the district continues to meet or exceed all standards set by the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.

About 90 percent of the valley's water comes from Lake Mead. The regulated contaminants most commonly found in local tap water are byproducts of the water treatment process.

The district's water quality figures are based on tens of thousands of samples taken from the valley's two treatment facilities.

Under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, utilities nationwide are required to report their water quality test results once a year.

This year's numbers echo those reported last year, with a few small variations.

"We're detecting stuff at really, really small levels so you're going to see some flux," Davis explained. "This is a good example of how you're chasing technology around a little bit."

Until last year, for example, the district's lab could not detect selenium in concentrations of less than 5 parts per billion so the pollutant did not appear in the water quality report. Now it does show up because district equipment can finally detect it at 2.7 parts per billion.

The EPA limit for selenium is 50 parts per billion.

In another change from last year's report to this one, the level of perchlorate in valley tap water rose from less than 2 parts per billion to about 3 parts per billion, roughly the same level reported in 2006.

The increase is roughly equivalent to one extra drop of water in an Olympic-sized swimming pool, an amount so small its hard to be sure of the cause, Davis said.

Despite the slight uptick in perchlorate, he said the state's program for keeping the rocket-fuel ingredient out of Lake Mead and the local water supply is going "screamingly well."

As recently as 2004, valley drinking water contained about 10 parts per billion of perchlorate.

There is no federal safety standard for the chemical, but Nevada has adopted an advisory standard of 18 parts per billion.

But just because the valley's tap water is safe, that doesn't mean it tastes good.

It's flavor can be off-putting to some people because of the amount of chlorine used to disinfect it, Davis said.

And since most of the water used in the valley washes down from the Rocky Mountains and comes here by way of the silt-laden Colorado River, Las Vegas has some of the "hardest" water in the country, as measured by its mineral content.

There isn't much the water district can do about that. The prospect of trying to soften the entire supply by removing the dissolved calcium and magnesium was rejected long ago because the process is expensive and produces no real health benefits.

It also would be inefficient since so little of the valley's tap water winds up in drinking glasses. Roughly 70 percent of it is used instead to water lawns and other landscaping.

Contact reporter Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350.