Mesa water gets sparkling grade in report

Jennifer Kho

COSTA MESA -- The city’s water has a clean bill of health, according

to a water-quality report now available to residents.

The annual report shows that Mesa Consolidated Water District’s water

has lower levels of contaminants than state regulations allow.

“By all means, I am happy with the report,” said Trudy Ohlig-Hall, the

water district’s board president. “Our water is healthy to drink. If you

put it in the refrigerator, the next day it is better than bottled water

because you know what’s in your tap water and you don’t know what’s in

your bottled water.”

One test taken the week of July 10, 2000, did not show the same good

results of tests taken the rest of the year.

The test showed the presence of fecal coliform or E. coli, which is

not allowed by the state.

But another water sample taken immediately after that one tested clear

of any contaminants and the water district concluded that the first

sample’s test result was a mistake.

“Mesa independently investigated our entire sampling process to

determine if there may have inadvertently been accidental contamination

of the sample during the collection or laboratory process,” according to

the report. “Mesa has collected 38,000 samples for E. coli over the past

20 years, which met all drinking water standards.”

Karl Kemp, general manager of the water district, said the water

quality has been very consistent and very high throughout the last

several years.

“That [sample] was an isolated incident and, in our view, it’s not

indicative of the quality of the water,” he said. “We’re very pleased

with the quality of our water and the water-quality report.”

Keith Coolidge, associate general manager for the Municipal Water

District of Orange County, said water quality isn’t likely to change from

year to year.

“Last year, every city in Orange County was ranked either an A or B,

and the county itself had the highest overall average of any other region

in the state,” he said. “That says that we do a good job of reporting

water quality, and the report itself says we have good water quality.

This year’s rankings won’t come in until probably March, but the water

quality is the same as last year. Mesa didn’t do anything erratically

different this year, and I can tell you Mesa is meeting all the

standards, as is everybody in Orange County.”

The water-quality reports are required by the Environmental Protection

Agency and the California Department of Health Services.

FYI

Copies of the Mesa Consolidated Water District water-quality report

are mailed to residents and are also available at the district office,

1965 Placentia Ave., Costa Mesa.

For more information, call (949) 631-1205.