Come On, Take a Glass; Water’s Fine

The city’s 2000 Water Quality Report is out and once again Garden Grove’s water is cleaner than state standards require and has never violated a water-quality standard.

Todd Martindale of Garden Grove knows this but still won’t drink the tap water.

“I don’t trust it,” he said, “which I guess is odd because I brush my teeth with it.”

The 25-year-old computer technician, who spends about $5 a week on bottled water, received a copy of the report in the mail this week but said he still plans to buy bottled water.

“I’ve lived [in Garden Grove] all my life and it’s just that I prefer not to drink [tap water],” he said. “It’s not a health thing. It’s a taste thing.”

Terry Lane, water services manager for Garden Grove, understands Martindale’s attitude. “We do have to disinfect the tap water, and for some people, it puts a funny taste in their mouth,” Lane said. “It has to do with the temperature of the water.”

After going through treatment plants and sitting in storage tanks, the temperature goes up and the taste of the water changes. “We can’t match the taste of bottle water,” Lane said.

However, Lane says that bottled water doesn’t necessarily guarantee safety. “People don’t understand that bottled water is less regulated than tap,” he said. “We can’t run a well that has a certain level of contaminants, but you find that much and more in beer and wine and milk.

“We monitor [the tap water] on a daily and almost hourly basis to make sure it meets the standards and is safe to drink,” Lane said.

But that does not mean that tap water is 100% free of contaminants. Certain people should check with physicians before drinking from the tap.

Garden Grove residents get their water from three sources: from ground-water wells, from the Sierra Nevada Mountains and from the Colorado River. While water from these sources is treated to remove contaminants and is cleaned for better color, odor and taste, some levels of at least a dozen organic and man-made contaminants are still present.

Most people are unaffected by the microscopic amount of contaminants in the water, but people undergoing chemotherapy for cancer; those using home-dialysis equipment; people with HIV, AIDS or other immune-system disorders; some elderly persons and infants could be at risk. The federal Environmental Protection Agency offers a safe-drinking-water hotline at (800) 426-4791, from 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in California.

Copies of the report have been mailed to residents this week and copies are also available at City Hall, 11222 Acacia Parkway, and the Municipal Service Center, 13802 Newhope St.

Chris Ceballos can be reached at (714) 966-7440.