Central Marina and Ord Community Water Quality

Water quality is diligently monitored by Marina Coast Water District. Before the water reaches your tap, samples from wells, water treatment plants, and point-of-use locations have been collected and tested in state certified laboratories. This regular program of water analysis and prudent system operation and maintenance ensures that you receive drinking water of the highest quality possible. Your water meets and surpasses both state and federal standards. It is also important that we provide you with accurate and easy to understand water quality information. So please review the summaries in the Water Quality Reports above.

The Marina and Ord water supply comes mainly from groundwater wells. Water pumped from the source wells is generally clean and clear. It is disinfected with chlorine as a safeguard against microorganisms. In Marina, chlorine also treats the naturally occurring sulfides that can cause odor. Up to thirteen per cent of the water supply in Marina may come from seawater desalination.

The District's state-certified laboratory performs extensive water quality monitoring of the Marina and Ord's drinking water supply. Regulations require that we monitor for coliform bacteria in the distribution system every week. The presence of coliform bacteria may indicate the presence of disease-causing organisms. One water sample from each of five sampling sites in Marina and from each of five in Ord is collected and analyzed each week. A different set of five is analyzed each week in a month for each water system. There are a total of twenty different sample sites in Marina and twenty different sample sites in the Ord community from which water samples are collected.

To make sure that water quality is maintained from the source to your tap, the District laboratory also performs weekly monitoring of general physical and chemical parameters. Each week we collect five water samples from the Marina and Ord coliform sampling sites, from the Marina and Ord source wells, from the water reservoirs in Marina, and rom the Intermediate and Sand Tanks in Ord. The water samples are tested for color, odor, turbidity, temperature, pH, conductivity, free chlorine residual and sulfides. In addition, the Marina and Ord source wells and water reservoirs are also tested for chloride, fluoride, nitrate, bromide and sulfate. The purpose of this monitoring is to detect any abnormal concentrations that might indicate problems within the system. Weekly monitoring helps us identify and remedy problems more quickly.

The State requires that we monitor water quality at different stages of the Marina Desalination Plant treatment processes. We collect water samples from the ocean (Monterey Bay), its seawater intake well and its finished product water, daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly. Water samples are tested for coliform organisms, free chlorine residual, pH, turbidity, conductivity, total dissolved solids, temperature, chloride, sulfate, alkalinity, hardness and corrosive index. This monitoring program ensures that the desalination plant is operating properly and is producing water that meets or exceeds state and federal standards.

The District and our state certified contract laboratory monitor compliance for over 110 constituents in drinking water in varying schedules. Many of these constituents are naturally occurring substances. The Marina and Ord's source wells and Marina's reservoirs and the desalination plant are tested for general minerals such as calcium, magnesium, hardness; inorganic chemicals such as arsenic, chromium and other metals; organic chemicals such as solvents, pesticides and herbicides; radioactivity including radon; asbestos and other chemicals that are still not regulated and have no state or federal standards. Regulations also require that we test for disinfection by- products such as total trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids in the distribution system. Lead and copper are tested from indoor water samples to check if materials used in your home or building plumbing contribute to levels of lead and copper.