With all the concerns over drinking water in various parts of the country, it is important to know that our children can drink water at home or from the water fountains at school without the worry that it may contain lead or other heavy metals & chemicals. Media Elementary has the test results from their water testing on their website. Aqua also does testing.

Media Borough’s Environmental Advisory Council recently discussed the safety of drinking water in the borough and the need to promote our tap water as an alternative to bottled water, which has a negative impact on the environment. The following information was supplied by one of the attendees at a recent meeting of Media’s Environmental Advisory Committee:

Public water systems are required to submit annual “Consumer Confidence Reports” (CCRs) that summarize the performance of the system and any violations. The borough’s most recent report covers Aqua’s “Main System” (PA1460073) which consists of eight surface water sources including Ridley Creek, Chester Creek and Crum Creek (attached). The system had one violation for E. coli in 2017 which appears to be the result of a contaminated storage tank in the Cynwyd service area; however no residents in Media were impacted. Aqua sampled for lead 71 times in 2016 and had one value over the action level of 15 parts per billion. Aqua also recommends that residents routinely flush out their water lines by running taps for 30 seconds to 2 minutes prior to drinking or cooking.

Although the report covers multiple plants/wells in the Main System, a majority of Media’s water is supplied by the Aqua’s Ridley Creek Water Filtration Plant. This plant is designed to produce 6.0 million gallons per day of drinking water from Ridley Creek and Chester Creek. Ridley Creek is considered a High Quality Water protected for Trout Stocked Fish under Ch. 93 of PA State Code from its source water up to the water intake near Media. A majority of the Chester Creek is also designated as a trout fishery. This is significant because trout are excellent indicators of water quality and extremely sensitive to a wide range of pollution. The water is treated with alum, lime and carbon to remove any suspended/dissolved particles and sanitized via chlorination. The water is then treated with ammonia (to increase the effectiveness of the chlorine) and fluoride prior to final filtration.

See the Media Borough water quality report here.

It is also encouraging to know that residents can drink tap water. The use of bottled water has a serious impact on the environment. This is not only because of the waste of the empty bottles but the products used to produce plastic bottles can negatively impact the environment as well.

All residents are encouraged to drink our clean and healthy tap water and to know that it continues to be tested and monitored. Media Borough tap water is good for you and the environment!