Evanston water chemist says system meets standards; lab audit found no deviations

Eleanor Mead, chemist for the Evanston Water Department, told city officials that the city’s drinking water meets and in some cases exceeds federal and local standards and that a March audit of the department’s laboratory recorded no deviations.

Mead said the department recently published its Consumer Confidence Report, commonly called the CCR, and that the laboratory holds certification from the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency for coliform analysis.

"Evanston is very proud that we are meeting and exceeding all regulations," Mead said. She described the department's process for testing at the plant and in the distribution system, saying staff sample from the pure lake intake through treatment steps and at tap-sample points that represent the distribution network and satellite connections.

"This is our lab sampling sink, and this allows us to sample from various points of our system," Mead said, describing the sampling setup that covers points "from the pure lake water to where we add our chemicals to, pre and post the filtration." She listed routine tests the department runs, including chlorine and turbidity, and said the lab analyzes for fluoride, orthophosphates, pH, hardness and alkalinity, among other general water-quality parameters.

Mead said the IDPH conducts a certification audit every two years that reviews records and procedures. "Our audit was in March, and we received 0 deviations, which means that we basically got 100%," she said.

The department also emphasized public access to testing results: the CCR is posted on the City of Evanston website, and residents can find it by searching for "CCR," "consumer confidence report" or "water quality." The presentation was informational; no formal votes or policy actions were taken at the meeting.