Millbrook water report dripping with info

MILLBROOK — Did you study your annual water quality report when it arrived in the mail? Or did you throw it away after a quick look at the baffling table of detected contaminants? Did you look at the last page and consider how to save on your water bill?

Each resident of Millbrook uses about 48,000 gallons of water a year, and each household about 93,000 gallons. The cost of that water per meter this year will average out to about $288.

Information contained at the end of the report reminds everyone about the importance of conserving water and suggests easy ways to save. For example, one toilet can consume 100 extra gallons a day from an undetected leak. That’s $90 a year. A slow drip from a faucet can boost usage by 15 to 20 gallons a day.

Leaks can be detected through your water meter. Simply turn off all taps and check the water meter after 15 minutes. Did it move? If so, there’s a leak.

Also, don’t forget to water lawns early in the morning or late in the evening, and do only full loads of laundry and dishes.

For the really compulsive fact-checker who compared this year’s report to last year’s, there might be some questions — perhaps why there was a 40-percent increase in volume pumped through the system. But fear not, that was caused by a typo in last year’s report. Actual village water usage has remained steady at around 180,000 gallons per day.

And what about that radium? It was listed last year but disappeared, along with its other radiological cousins, in this year’s report. They are still present but not listed because they continue to record at low levels that are historically far below the maximum contaminant level allowed. And don’t worry about the barium listed as a violation, that’s a typo also. Water customers should be pleased to know, however, that Millbrook still has good drinking water, according to the report.

Last year Millbrook’s water system had no violations, but this year there was a new inspector who found two violations involving repairs to the physical structure. Neither violation affects water quality in any way and repairs are underway.